Spurs off spurs and the real world

[nirakaro]

I'm just looking at the (vintage 1973?) wiring in my partner's (tiny, one bedroom) old terrace cottage, and I found that the double socket in the kitchen that the kettle is plugged into is a spur. And running from it is a fused spur that supplies the oven.
Definitely illegal, but I'm thinking, kettle and oven, by far the two heaviest loads in the house, but still, only about 3kW - kettle - and 2kW - oven, making in total about 20A. Should be survivable?
Or should I start to think about ripping up floorboards (and probably having to take the bath out to get to them), and fixing it up to be legit.?

 

[Spark123]

Not that it is right, a kettle is only on for a relatively short period so it probably wont cause any major cable heating issues.
It doesn't comply with the current standard, nor probably the standard when it was installed.
It is your call as to whether or not to rip your partners place apart, be prepared for a fate worse than death

 

[Jackrae]

What you refer to is non-compliance with current standards and regulation. That does not necessarily make it "illegal". You don't state whether or not the spur comes from a ring system or from a radial wired system. If the latter then the radial of "series connected" spurs may be satisfactorily protected back at the consumer unit (which in all probability for a 1973 wire job may well be a basic radial fuse board)

Standards and regulations are not retrospective-demanding therefore a system which was considered compliant at the time of installation and which may not be compliant with current standards or regulation can still considered fit for purpose; notwithstanding degradation of installation material which will/may make it unfit for service.

If your installation was non-compliant at the time of installation or some later date (ie a subsequent bodger job) it remains non-compliant and therefore may be considered "illegal" and unfit for service.[/u]

 

[nirakaro]

Looking again, I noticed that there's another double socket (also a spur) a few feet along the wall. Without too much disruption, I could run a cable to connect the two spurs, creating as it were a 'ringlet' off the ring main. Would that be a good thing to do?

 

[riveralt]

Looking again, I noticed that there's another double socket (also a spur) a few feet along the wall. Without too much disruption, I could run a cable to connect the two spurs, creating as it were a 'ringlet' off the ring main. Would that be a good thing to do?

How do you know that you have a ring final circuit?

 

[plugwash]

Looking again, I noticed that there's another double socket (also a spur) a few feet along the wall. Without too much disruption, I could run a cable to connect the two spurs, creating as it were a 'ringlet' off the ring main. Would that be a good thing to do?

It's not a great idea to have "ringlets" like that because it makes the ring very difficult to test and can sometimes contribute to ring balance issues.

The first thing I would do is make a map of the circuit. Once you have that map you can see where you can add/remove cables to make it into a compliant ring.

 

[securespark]

It's not a great idea to have "ringlets"

I had ringlets when I was a baby...

 

[Jackrae]

So did I, but I've gone from ringlets to radial and am now at the disconnected stage.