Kitchen Ring bodge and repair

[pcboffinuk]

Hi,

I'd like some advice on an issue with my mother's kitchen electrics, which as I have recently discovered are not exactly up to standard...

She rang me to tell me she had heard some 'bangs' in the kitchen recently , and that the MCB for the Kitchen and Combi boiler had tripped on a couple of occasions.

I checked the consumer unit and everything seemed fine, but after putting the kettle on to help me think the sockets lost power, and a plug in tester showed a Live/Earth reverse.

Having checked the sockets, and tracked the ring cable, I pulled the cable out from the base of a kitchen wall - and discovered the problem! The guy who had installed the wiring had joined two pieces of cable with connector strips, loosely wrapped in some flimsly plastic and jammed down the gap with mortar piled on top. This wall has just had a new damp course because it was dripping, and so was the connector block! One of the pieces of cable, presumably lying against the block, was practically burnt through - with half of one core remaining to carry current.....

I've rigged up a temporary connection having cut out the bad cable, and I need to investigate further under the floor as there is clearly another connection there (grey wiring in kitchen, white at CU).

My question is the best way to connect the cables, given that the area is damp and even with the new damp course may continue to be so.

My first through is to crimp the connections and then tape over to give some damp protection.

Another possibility if there is enough cable is to pull the older/white cable through and join it in a junction box on the wall behind one of the units.

Without running a whole new length of cable from the CU (which I don't see as essential since the white cable is in good condition and relatively recent) the main problem seems to be joining the cable in a way that protects against the damp and shorts, etc. I have found some waterproof connectors on websites, but only rated to 10A and everything else is mainly designed for outside.

Any thoughts, flames or general abuse welcomed

Regards

Gavin

PS. I am aware of Part P (completed my Domestic Installer course a couple of months ago) and also the need to have a sticker on the CU about using both cable colours - something else the installer didn't do.

 

[Adam_151]

If there is room, you can use an IP rated adaptable box and make the connections there, or if you want to use crimps, stagger them, cover each one individually with adhesive lined heatshrink, and then cover the whole lot with the same

Oh, and if the kitchen is meant to be a ring, you better check it actually still is, that type of kitchen fitter is well known for creating broken rings.

P.S. live/ earth reversal on one of those tester plug things is most often a red herring (if it was, things wouldn't work, and you'd be getting shocks off class 1 appliances all the time), it usually indicatates that both live and neutral are broken, there is a device thats taking live from before the break and neutral from after it (possibly a circuit with a DP isolator with a neutral borrowed from it) and a load connected the usual way after the break. (go on, draw it out... connecting earth to either of the other two conductors compleates a circuit, so it mistakes it as live)

 

[pcboffinuk]

Adam,

Many thanks for the advice, space is limited so I think I will have to go with the heatshrink.

I do plan to check the wiring, because I know there is at least one other connection somewhere and I have no confidence in the original fitter. It sounds like I have an excellent candidate for trying out the tester I am about to get (And also a good job to show the assessor when I go for registration).

Thanks also for the comments about the tester plug, that makes perfect sense. To be honest I really only used the tester as a simple way to check whether the sockets were receiving anything.

One final thought - Reading the excellent posts on Part P in this forum, and reading the documentation, I read it that the work would not be notifiable, since it is replacing a damaged cable. However, if I was to instead add a junction box, or find that there is in fact a broken ring and have to correct it, would that mean it would become notifiable?

Without wishing to start another argument on the implimentation of part P , the wiring connections are right where the kitchen joins the coridoor to the lounge. Is the wiring passing down the coridoor to the kitchen considered to be covered by the "Kitchen" rule? It would seem a bit daft if you could fix a junction box 1cm inside the coridoor without notifying, but put it 1cm into the kitchen under the floor and it would have to be notified?

Regards

Gavin

 

[cozycats]

Correct 3mm outside the kitchen door is no longer in the kitchen!

 

[sime27]

it would be safer to run in new cables from the last points in the circuit