Repurpose storage heater circuit?

[dishman]

I have lived in this house for 35 years. Planning some considerable rennovation but to keep costs down I am debating the need to re-wire it as well.

Apart from an aged consumer unit and out of date earthing the majority of the wiring seems to be in good condition, with a good number of sockets in the correct places.

The house had always had central heating and I was always confused by these odd little spurs which seem to have no use. It was only recently someone explained to me that these were for old stoage heaters.

They must have been ripped out as soon as they were installed!

So, if I wanted to add aditional sockets. Would there be a problem in re-purposing this unused storage heater circuit for sockets?

 

[JohnW2]

So, if I wanted to add aditional sockets. Would there be a problem in re-purposing this unused storage heater circuit for sockets?

Probably no problem, but you would need an electrician to check out exactly what these circuits are, and whether they were still OK.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Taylortwocities]

As well as the unused points at the old heater sites you'll need to identify the cables at the supply end!
Near your consumer unit/fuseboard, do you still have a redundant, separate consumer unit? Or are there a bunch of wires hanging out of the wall?

 

[AndyPRK]

Is anybody going to mention xxx's

 

[sparkwright]

Is anybody going to mention xxx's

You can mention them, but I'm going to go on and on about them!!

 

[dishman]

As well as the unused points at the old heater sites you'll need to identify the cables at the supply end!
Near your consumer unit/fuseboard, do you still have a redundant, separate consumer unit? Or are there a bunch of wires hanging out of the wall?

Yes - there are two consumer units in the electric cupboard. Untill someone pointed out the ex-storage heating system I thought it was just a mess of an installation.

The second unit is there with the output/supply cables coming out from it (four cables and four fuses). The mains inlet to this box has been disconnected. I assume this would have come from the main consumer unit.

I am still on manual fuses as you may have guessed.

 

[AndyPRK]

we like pictures of CU's on here, if that is easy for you to do.

A pic with both CU's in and surrounding cables

 

[sparkwright]

You say you have lived there for 35 years. Is that how old the house is?

 

[dishman]

You say you have lived there for 35 years. Is that how old the house is?

No, it is a 1930s property.

We have just made no changes since we moved in.

My best guess is that the electrics were last done in the 1970s. The central heating was put in around the late 70's early 80s. So I think the electric storage heaters were removed at that point.

We have never had issues wiring/electrics wise. I can't remember the last time a fuse went.

I will get it all checked of course.

 

[Taylortwocities]

As well as the unused points at the old heater sites you'll need to identify the cables at the supply end!
Near your consumer unit/fuseboard, do you still have a redundant, separate consumer unit? Or are there a bunch of wires hanging out of the wall?

Yes - there are two consumer units in the electric cupboard. Untill someone pointed out the ex-storage heating system I thought it was just a mess of an installation.

The second unit is there with the output/supply cables coming out from it (four cables and four fuses). The mains inlet to this box has been disconnected. I assume this would have come from the main consumer unit.

I am still on manual fuses as you may have guessed.

Wich probably means that the ends of the circuits are still in the second (unused) fuse board. It is not difficult to connect this up to the mains supply again (needs a competent electrician). The circuits and wiring would need to be tested to make sure they are fit for purpose (needs a competent electrician) and you would need to have what is called an RCD installed (needs a competent electrician).

In summary. you needa competent electrician to do this for you..

 

[dishman]

we like pictures of CU's on here, if that is easy for you to do.

A pic with both CU's in and surrounding cables

Just for all you consumer unit pervs

I even took the front of so you can see the fuses

The white box is the old storage heater unit. In a correction to my previous post. There only two cables coming out of it.....as you can see

 

[Taylortwocities]

Umm, those old things….
It is just possible to use the two circuits that are attached to the old (white) fuse board but they wou,d be regarded as new circuits. The whole board would need to be front ended with a 30mA RCD to make it compliant with today's regulations. Then the supply would need connecting to the white fuseboard. All of this would be notifiable works so you should use a registered electrician for this.

BUT

in looking at the other board and the whole thing, you would be much better served by getting a new consumer unit for the whole house and have those two additional circuits hooked in at the same time. This will almost certainly be required is you are doing "considerable renovation".

 

[DaveHerns]

How long ago was it that they stopped using those metal cable buckles?

 

[dishman]

in looking at the other board and the whole thing, you would be much better served by getting a new consumer unit for the whole house and have those two additional circuits hooked in at the same time. This will almost certainly be required is you are doing "considerable renovation".

There is no question at all about that. I would only consider using that circuit as part of an overhaul of the current set-up i.e a new consumer unit and earthing.

 

[AndyPRK]

Thanks for the pics


Yes replacing the whole lot with a modern CU would be a step forward.

or if you wanted to bodge it, you could connect a cable from the old cu (from a red fuse, or empty blue fuse) to the white CU's main terminals.