Not shocked but surprised

[Serviceuser]

Notwithstanding all the advice about competent persons and approved electricians: I was a bit surprised to read the "How To" info on this site re 'Routing Cable'. In the info it states that power cabling can be chased into wall plasterwork sheathed in PVC trunking allowing about quarter inch gap for finishing plaster.

My surprise is due to the revelation that the 6mm squared cable which had been supplying my kitchen double oven had been installed partly through a lath and plaster wall, but on coming up to the stud the installer had decided to simply notch out plasterwork, run cable in front of stud, then plaster over again. Position of this was about 2 feet away from the oven, where you might just have wanted to have stuck a picture pin in the wall to hang a clock. Surely this proximity to the power circuit could have proved lethal.

The funny thing is that the run of cable seemed poorly installed all the way from the box, running up and down the door jambs in the cupboard under the stair to eventually disappear in mass of plastic wood. What I realise now is that the unsightly part was at least visually accessible and therefore safer through being seen, the danger coming from when the cable just disappeared under the surface.

I haven't read the full story of how the MPs daughter died from electrical shock but I imagine this installation could have done the same.

 

[Lectrician]

If where the cable 'jumped' the noggin was vertically or horizontally inline with an accessory (not necessarily the cooker point), or was within 150mm of the ceiling or joining walls, then it would be fully compliant with the 16th edition of the regs. If it also had RCD protectection, it would be fully compliant with the 17th edition too.

If it was outside the zones (not above or below a socket, or no socket to the left or right of it, and not within 150mm of the ceiling or walls), then it is not compliant and a bodge.

What have you done about it? The simplest thing to do would be to place an accessory in the wall to form a zone - even a single blank plate would do.

 

[Serviceuser]

For info: the cable jumped the stud not the noggin and it was about nine inches to the right of the cooker switch point and about two inches below. It was about shoulder height and 3 feet away from the joining wall. There is no RCD in our house as the electrics have not been upgraded yet, other than for the electric shower installation which has got its own RCD. I did have our fridge in front of the half buried cable so screwing into the wall never occured, but the oven has been replaced and resited with an under the counter new one and the old cabling was removed all together which is when we found out about the cable being so close to the wall surface. I am shocked to find that if an RCD had been fitted this wiring would have passed standards.

On the subject of user safety, we also found out that our main earth cable from the earth block direct to the incoming supply was totally loose in its housing. Just pulling the cable with a finger showed that it had not been screwed in or had worked its way loose. I think this was even more frightening than the cooker cable.

 

[Lectrician]

The RCD would not make it compliant with the 17th edition unless the cable was installed within the recognised zones.