Reversed polarity in wall socket

[freddyfeet]

Hi, I purchased a new chrome double wall socket to exchange with the existing plastic one (a job I've done before). The socket also feeds the conservatory through the wall. However, when I unscrewed the existing socket I found that the two red wires and one brown wires were connected to the neutral terminal and the two black and one blue wire were connected to the live terminal.
Can there be an explanation for this other than a mistake by the installer?
Should I reconnect as is (everything seemed to work) or connect the new socket swapping the wires to what they should be? I'm confused as the house is about four years old and would have been inspected etc (although maybe the conservatory was added later).
Thanks for your help!

 

[Chri5]

I'd suggest you pull the sockets off the entire ring (and any spurs) and systematically view each and every one.

As an absolute minimum go buy (or borrow from a DIY friend) a socket plug tester (approx £15) and check each socket.

Some sockets do have the LNE connections out of sync compared to standard, but unless the installer was blind there really isn't any excuse for carp work. All sockets have marking or colour tags above the terminals- most I use have duel colouring brown / red for live, blue black for neutral and green / yellow for earth.

While mentioning the earths, make sure they are all sleeved, yours sounds like the guy might well have terminated the earth (or should I say CPC) without sleeve.

 

[bernardgreen]

I found that the two red wires and one brown wires ~~~~~ the house is about four years old

Red and black wires in a 4 year old house ?. Perhaps the builder's sparky used old stock cable ( from before the date of harmonising to use brown and blue. For me that is sounding warning bells about short cuts in the workmanship.

 

[Lectrician]

Connect it up the correct way and run a round with a tester to check the rest.

Chri5 - The only sockets I have seen with coloured markings are cheap tat Most of us sparks usually just rely on the good old L N and earth symbol!

I must admit though, GET is pretty standard in this area and well used. They swapped the positions of their live and earth a couple years ago, the earth being concealed in the same way as the L and N - I know of a few sparks who were caught out by this as they were so used to where the cables usually went.

 

[sparkybird]

It was probably done by one of our eastern European friends - several times have come across this...

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

If the property is only 4 years old, wont you still be covered by the 10 year warranty?

 

[OwainDIYer]

If the property is only 4 years old, wont you still be covered by the 10 year warranty?

NHBC is 10 years for structural, 3 years for non-structural.

Other warranties may vary.

 

[IJWS15]

If the property is only 4 years old, wont you still be covered by the 10 year warranty?

Ever tried to claim on an NHBC warranty?

 

[sparkwright]

He did say ABOUT 4 years. Using the old cable was perfectly acceptable until 2006, and after that it was feesible to use it in certain conditions.

It may be that the socket was wired wrongly when the house was built, or when the wiring was altered for the conservatory.

I suppose these things can happen from time to time - if you don't test every socket afterwards.

It doesn't help matters with different manufacturers putting the terminals in different places.