How bad is this house wiring?

[EFLImpudence]

Well if it is external then entering to become internal it is the same short length of pipe any way.

So, let us imagine the entering pipe is plastic; where would you bond the internal metal pipes?

Do you think of a "point of entry" to be on the outside comming in or on the inside comming thru the wall?
I see either as "point of entry" and see in this case "internal" and "external" having the same understood meaning.
I suppose if we changed it all to "somewhere near where the pipework is in the property from outside/thru the ground" we might be agreed and providing the connection is durable and reasonably protected from accidental or criminal damage then it should be OK?

What has any of that got to do with what you are querying about what I wrote?

Personally I always install just on the internal bit (or within 600mm or thereabouts and before any branches or tees if possible) but I`d not chastise anyone who makes it a meter or three further away.

So, pointless writing that then as "point of entry where practicable" covers it.

 

[Risteard]

View attachment 326106

That is not actually correct.

It is the entering external gas and water pipes which must be connected to the installation's earth terminal.

It's also incorrect because there's no such thing as "Earth bonding".

 

[ebee]

I disagree with the statement is not "Earth Bonding" as until not that long ago we correctly called main bonding "Earthed Equipotential Bonding And Disconnection of Supply" Known officially as EEBADS or EEBAD or EEBADOS

so how come the Earthed Equipotentil Bonding portion is not Earth Bonding then?

 

[ebee]

So, let us imagine the entering pipe is plastic; where would you bond the internal metal pipes?

Well yes you can not connect to plastic I agree , I was talking about the conductive metal bit which could be down to earth-ish potential either by running thru the ground or even thru a sufficiently dampish wall.

What has any of that got to do with what you are querying about what I wrote?

Well I was thinking an equal contestant for "the point of entry" being say a conductive pipe etc running from outside in or inside out.
Both ends being considered as a point of entry, one is external and the other is internal so an earth clamp at or about either end would do me as such.

So, pointless writing that then as "point of entry where practicable" covers it.

Yes near any point of entry because 1/ easy for next person to find to check and 2/ actually neaby the offending voltage gradient if any.
If someone put it 2, 3 or 4 times the oft standard 600m distance away it would not usually cause me concern anyway.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Well yes you can not connect to plastic I agree , I was talking about the conductive metal bit which could be down to earth-ish potential either by running thru the ground or even thru a sufficiently dampish wall.

So - it is not the internal pipes which require the bonding.

Well I was thinking an equal contestant for "the point of entry" being say a conductive pipe etc running from outside in or inside out.
Both ends being considered as a point of entry, one is external and the other is internal so an earth clamp at or about either end would do me as such.

Yes, but irrelevant to my statement.

Yes near any point of entry because 1/ easy for next person to find to check and 2/ actually neaby the offending voltage gradient if any.
If someone put it 2, 3 or 4 times the oft standard 600m distance away it would not usually cause me concern anyway.

The 600mm. is not standard distance and does not apply to point of entry - "where practicable" does.

The 600mm. only applies to internal meters - and is a meaningless distance in an electrically incorrect part of the regulation; the correct being "at point of entry where practicable".

 

[Risteard]

I disagree with the statement is not "Earth Bonding" as until not that long ago we correctly called main bonding "Earthed Equipotential Bonding And Disconnection of Supply" Known officially as EEBADS or EEBAD or EEBADOS

so how come the Earthed Equipotentil Bonding portion is not Earth Bonding then?

Earthed is not the same as calling it "Earth Bonding". Earthing and bonding are completely different things. EEBAD was renamed ADS when the 16th Edition was withdrawn in 2008.

 

[Murdochcat]

I hope you have the cover to the consumer unit.

Get a local spark to do a proper EICR and go from there

and bear in mind you don’t have to act on C2’s within any set time period - that said some faults do make sense to fix

Best get the report done then post the issues on here, redacting any names / addresses.

 

[TimboTwo]

Funny no one has commented on the consumer unit being made up of mismatched mcb's.
Also, @ericmark, it is a TNS supply. You can clearly see the earth clamp on the lead sheath of the incomer (although that is another issue).

 

[chivers67]

From a maintenance point of view that boards is horrendous with live bus bars and earth cables exposed. I wouldn't go poking around too much! At least there's an isolator to turn the power off to replace it with something more suitable.

 

[ericmark]

Funny no one has commented on the consumer unit being made up of mismatched mcb's.
Also, @ericmark, it is a TNS supply. You can clearly see the earth clamp on the lead sheath of the incomer (although that is another issue).

I have said it is not a consumer unit, as that build would never pass the type testing, I have never understood why the Part P refers to it as a consumer unit rather than an all encompassing name like distribution unit.

As to TN-S, TN-C-S or TT the DNO is suppose to tell the customer what to use, idea is you don't have different earthing systems in adjacent buildings where earthed items from both buildings could be touched at the same time, however if that is not a problem, there is nothing to stop a building being wired as TT even when an earth is provided by the DNO, I know I have found where some one has used the DNO earth in a petrol station which is against the law, and where there are class I items outside of the equipotential bonded area then often a TT is more appropriate. Like hot tubs, caravans, or electric cars.

Likely in this case it should be a TN-C-S earth system, however until one has visited the site this is still a guess. I can say my own house is TN-C-S and TN-S if the grid supply is lost as I have read the data sheet for the inverter and know when supply is lost it links the neutral and earth, but unless one reads the data sheet seeing an earth rod it would be easy to assume it was TT. Oh yes and the supply from my shaver socket is IT.

I am wary of jumping in with both feet and says it is xyz as I have made mistakes in the past, and latter visited the house, I thought oh dear, did not realised he had whatever, like finding an ELCB-v which are now rare so one tends to forget they ever existed.

 

[ebee]

Earthed is not the same as calling it "Earth Bonding". Earthing and bonding are completely different things. EEBAD was renamed ADS when the 16th Edition was withdrawn in 2008.

both Earthing and Main Bonding rely on the Earthing Principle according to John Whitfield`s Electricians Guide a few years back

 

[Adam_151]

From a maintenance point of view that boards is horrendous with live bus bars and earth cables exposed. I wouldn't go poking around too much! At least there's an isolator to turn the power off to replace it with something more suitable.

Not sure about anyone else, but I get the impression that it was probably done by a factory maintenance electrician who lived there in the past, using random bits aquired from work!

The enclosure would look to be an old merlin service centre designed to be bolted to the top of a TPN board, hence lack of neutral bar and instead a DIn rail mount one fitted, the tri rated singles, the termination to the busbar, the memshield 1 breakers he has had lying around, but no main switch so we have a general electric one along with whatever busbar he could find. No RCD because they only cause a nuisence by tripping... and its only his own house. No earth sleeving because theres no T/E on most stuff he dealt with at work so didnt have any

 

[glock339]

I had the same problem, I knew the house had rubber cables, wired 1954, and it needed a rewire, dad said "I am not living in a building site, you can rewire it when I'm gone." which is what happened, the cables were crumbling by time I got it rewired.

But a new consumer unit is done in a day in most cases, it is not a full rewire, likely an EICR is the way to go, as if it says something wrong, you have some thing to try and persuade him with. I did get a new consumer unit fitted, which was like you already have, as the electrician fitting it could not get the RCD to hold in, he was not really a good electrician as he used the GPO party line earth rod and cables as his main earth so 1 mm bare earth cable on a TT supply, I got house on a TN-C-S supply.

That's the exact same situation I have, I think I'll be able to talk him into at least getting an EICR done & then maybe he'd be a bit more open to getting some work done... but we shall see.

 

[ebee]

Earthed is not the same as calling it "Earth Bonding". Earthing and bonding are completely different things. EEBAD was renamed ADS when the 16th Edition was withdrawn in 2008.

It is bonding of the Earth supply from the mains to other things so I am struggling to think Bonded Earths is that far away from earth Bonding.
Yes Bonding and Earthing are different yet we bond the earth to our pipework etc too.
Is it so wrong to call it Earth Bonding, well yes, but only slightly, they are two sides to similar things. Not quite totally seperate, very closely related in some respects but different concepts in the main. It is equi-potential and it is earthed (main bonding, supplementary bonding is a bit different)
Hence EEBAD as we used to call it.
supp bonding is equipotentioal.
Main Bonding is equipotential EBAD(S) Main Bonding is earthed EBAD(S), It is both so it is EEBAD(S).
Earth or Earthed , pretty much similar? small play on a basic word.

 

[Murdochcat]

Funny no one has commented on the consumer unit being made up of mismatched mcb's.

This, like many threads needs a site visit and a proper inspection so commenting on miss matched parts could be the tip of the ice berg, or the whole ice berg.

No real point in saying more as it confuses posters as threads waver off point into irrelevance