What do you think of this?

[Gigagator]

I know that you like pictures on this forum from time to time - I have this in my attic screwed to one of the beams. Never had any problems it but it doesn't look very clever.

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• Gigagator
• 1 Jan 2011
• 1

Untitled

• Gigagator
• 1 Jan 2011
• 1

One of the cables running in is most probably from the CU but I haven't checked. The rest of the cables run off to the upstairs lights.

The cable running vertically that you can see runs to the attic light. Rather, annoyingly, there's no ceiling light in the master bedroom so we must make do with table lamps.

Needless to say the rather strange metalclad arrangement is not earthed. All of the earth wires in the T+E cables have been cut back on the lighting circuits.

House was built in the 1960's, lived in it since '97.

Happy New Year!

 

[ricicle]

Not the worst I've seen but the cables need glanding properly with some sort of strain relief and the metal box needs to be earthed (if not already)

 

[Adam_151]

The metal enclosure must be earthed, if the cpcs have indeed been cut off at every point as you state then this could be problem-some, you will need to see if you can get hold of enough slack at points and strip back the cables to get hold of the earth, after thats done, the circuit should be tested to ensure you have got a continious earth (the one thing worse than not having an earth connected to a class 1 fitting, is having an earth connected that is floating open circuit)

Do you have any metal light fittings?, Do your switch back boxes have nylon blocks for the screws to go into?


Other than that, the cables could use some clips to provide strain releif near to the box, and it looks like it requires some grommets...

 

[Gigagator]

Thanks for the replies. There is 1 metal light fitting in the second bedroom which I'm currently looking for a decent plastic or double insulated fitting to replace it.

Could you please describe (in some detail) how to test that there is an earth present on those cut back earth wires? I have a multimeter if required.

 

[ericmark]

From what I can see in picture main problem is lack of cable clips or stuffing glands so one could pull a cable out of box. Also no sign of box being earthed.
But in the loft space that is not very likely it will cause you a problem and although not right it's not too bad.
If you use loft for storage then it needs fixing, but if not I would leave until you have an electrician to do another job and ask him to do that at same time.

 

[ericmark]

Thanks for the replies. There is 1 metal light fitting in the second bedroom which I'm currently looking for a decent plastic or double insulated fitting to replace it.

Could you please describe (in some detail) how to test that there is an earth present on those cut back earth wires? I have a multimeter if required.

I am wary of instructing anyone to do testing. It is so easy to get it wrong. The correct method is with an earth loop impedance tester and although you can hire these for about £75 a week which is normally min hire I think you would be better getting an electrician to test it for you.

 

[Gigagator]

Oh right okay.
That's fine as I plan on getting an electrician in sometime soon to wire up an extractor fan that I plan to fit in the bathroom.

Out of interest, when did it become mandatory for lighting circuits to have an earth?

 

[RF Lighting]

About 1965 if I remember correctly off the top of my head.

 

[Adam_151]

It became a requirement to take an earth to every point in 1966, but even before this it was a requirement to earth metal fittings, its just that back in those days you had standard pendants in each room. At a later date they'd often get replaced with unsuitable fittings.

You state that your cables have earths, but they are snipped off at every point?, that would put it at not long after 1966 then, as the cable without the earth would have stopped being available and sometimes the sparks of the time would resist the change and just snip the earth off so they could continue as before

 

[RF Lighting]

D'oh 1 year out

 

[Gigagator]

I have no doubt that the guy that occupied the house before me cut off the earth wires.

He was truly awful. He did everything himself - wallpapering, painting, electrics, plumbing. He fitted the kitchen and the bathroom. He built the conservatory and the patio. He basically refitted the whole house and the standards are truly dreadful.

This for example...

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• Gigagator
• 1 Jan 2011
• 1

Some random cable that comes out of the wall, connects to another cable via a terminal block, and then goes back into the wall a little further along.

I've no idea what this does, where it comes from, where it goes or if its even live but thats just an example of the quality of his work.

 

[PrinceofDarkness]

There's enough slack in all of those sheathed cables to strip them back and restore the cpc's (earth cores). You could also do away with that metalclad box and replace it with a standard 30A joint box (20A would do, but 30A has greater space for multi-cable terminations).

Strain relief for cable entries is a simple matter of clipping the cables as they enter the enclosure.

Your main problem here is that the cpc's might well be snipped off at their respective opposite ends. As a DIYer, you don't need sophisticated test meters to prove the effective connection of the earthing to the primary feed cable - a simple test lamp will do for DIY.......


Lucia.

 

[Gigagator]

Hi Lucia,
By test lamp, do you mean one of those screwdrivers where you put the tip on the wire and touch the metal pad on the handle?

If not, what do you mean as I have one of those.

 

[PrinceofDarkness]

No, I certainly do not mean a neon screwdriver (even though they have their uses - in the right hands). I mean an ordinary 230V lampholder connected between Live and Earth (this might pose a problem if there's an RCD in circuit - which I doubt, going by your original post).

This is strictly advice for a DIYer, of course. But if you have no RCD and connect a lamp between live and earth it will light at full brightness to indicate that the cpc is indeed connected at the source of the circuit. But there's no harm in using a visual check at each end of each cable.


Lucia.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Hi Lucia,
By test lamp, do you mean one of those screwdrivers where you put the tip on the wire and touch the metal pad on the handle?

No, those can be dangeous and should be put in the bin. They also give unreliable results.
Lucia means a proper tes device like a multimeter or something like this.

Those neon screwdrivers only will detect live and are no help if you are tracing/testing neutral or earth connections.