My house still has rubber coated wiring upstairs, both lighting and sockets. I want to rewire but my wife won't put up with the upheaval at the moment. I'm wondering if it would be safer if I replaced the old fashioned fuse wire fuses with one's that trip? Are there ones with rcd protection that are safer? I realise there is no perfectly safe substitute for a rewire but I'm wondering if these modern fuses would likely trip before a fire developed?
Safer fuses?
- Thread starter Driver123
- Start date
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If you have rubber-coated wiring then replacing that must be your first priority. A new consumer unit, or using MCBs will not make it any safer.
As you may know, rubber perishes over time and that time is up (has been for quite a while) for this stuff that has been there for aeons.
Rubber sheathed cables were first used before the Second World War and continued to be in favour until the 1960s. They commonly have stranded cores with rubber insulation and sheathing.
Rubber cables degrade at their exposed ends, and the brittle sheathing and insulation may fall away when handled. This happens particularly when replacement switches or sockets are installed or when wiring extensions are made. Loss of insulation allows contact between the conductors which can cause a fire or short circuit.
Last year, there were more than 40,000 incidents of house fires recorded in England alone.
I know its an upheaval to rewire a house, but a lot less of an upheaval than a visit by this lot
As you may know, rubber perishes over time and that time is up (has been for quite a while) for this stuff that has been there for aeons.
Rubber sheathed cables were first used before the Second World War and continued to be in favour until the 1960s. They commonly have stranded cores with rubber insulation and sheathing.
Rubber cables degrade at their exposed ends, and the brittle sheathing and insulation may fall away when handled. This happens particularly when replacement switches or sockets are installed or when wiring extensions are made. Loss of insulation allows contact between the conductors which can cause a fire or short circuit.
Last year, there were more than 40,000 incidents of house fires recorded in England alone.
I know its an upheaval to rewire a house, but a lot less of an upheaval than a visit by this lot
Yes point taken. I've been trying to persuade my wife that we need to do it for a while but she gets stressed with all the upheaval and there are reasons why it would be more difficult at the moment. I was up the loft today putting thermal insulation in and the wiring looked like new but I know that it can still be rotting inside the outer sheath.
I just wondered if there was a way of making it more safe.
I just wondered if there was a way of making it more safe.
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Smoke alarms.
Yes I've got those thanks.
Worth doing, provided one does not derive too much reassurance from satisfactory IR test results, if that's what is obtained. Just as with rodent damage, one of the problems with aged/disintegrating rubber insulation is that it may well not have any effect on insulation resistance unless/until the cable/conductors is/are disturbed, even if it is at an advanced stage of deterioration.
Kind Regards, John
Call me Mr Negative but rewiring up in the loft will be even more difficult now you have done this
When it was still available, that type of wiring was given a 25 year lifespan by it's manufacturers.
It isn't a matter of it needing replacement now - it should have been replaced 30 years ago.
Tests on it will reveal nothing. The insulation resistance of rubber does not deteriorate over time - the material just becomes brittle and eventually turns to dust, leaving the bare wires exposed.
Unless the entire length of all of the wires can be inspected, there is no way for anyone to say that it is safe and suitable for continued use. Even if that was somehow possible, you can't avoid the fact that it's been in use for more than double the expected lifespan of the insulation.
If you mean those plug in things which directly replace the rewireable fuses, then no. They both do the same thing but in different ways. There is no improvement in safety.
Installing an RCD may have some benefit in disconnecting certain types of fault before a fire starts, but installing a single RCD for the installation isn't compliant and when that inevitable fault occurs, you will have no electricity at all until the fault is located and repaired.
A fault may already exist, with the result that the new RCD would not even switch on.
If you were considering a new consumer unit then forget it - no one with any sense would install a new CU onto rubber wiring from over half a century ago.
Yes I was aware of that while was doing it. I didn't do the whole loft and took note of where to wiring was and left some access. I also made sure I didn't surround the wiring with insulation. That's another job half done.
Anyhow thanks for the replies. Can't get the wiring done immediately, not because of cash but other matters. I will show my wife this thread though when matters are resolved and I'm sure she will understand that it's got to be done.
And also even more necessary, since you will probably have disturbed the wiring and therefore damaged the insulation.
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