General question on domestic electrics

Just read a post by someone who lost a friend to an electrical house fire and it's made be think about the condition of our electrics. I've recently had a son which made me all cautious about gas fittings so I get the boiler serviced annually and fiited a carbon monoxide alarm but I never really gave the electrics a second thought.

Do many people here have their electrics checked annually? What does a typical inspection look for? I assume it will tell me my electrics are safe or not.

When is it time to have the wiring renewed? I have a radial circuit with the exception of the kitchen which is a new ring. Is there ever a reason to switch from a radial to ring? Is that determined by the electrical load I'm putting on the circuit?

How do you decide if you need a new consumer unit? Age/electrical load/other?

A new installation would obviously make things easier when I sell the house but is this a good reason for a renew if the current setup is tested and confirmed safe?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, just interested to get people views.

Thanks

It is recommended that a house is inspected and tested every 10 years maximum, more regularly as the installation ages. It is also recommended to test and inspect at change of ownership.

If I where you I would get a reputable company in to carry out a PIR (Periodic Inspection Report). This will give you a good clue as to what, if anything, requires attention.

duvet77 said:

Do many people here have their electrics checked annually? What does a typical inspection look for? I assume it will tell me my electrics are safe or not.

Click to expand...

If you post a photo of your service intake / meter / consumer unit we can give an indication of the age and condition of the wiring, although not a substitute for a professional Periodic Inspection Report.

duvet77 said:

Just read a post by someone who lost a friend to an electrical house fire

Click to expand...

You are right to be concerned about the condition of your fixed wiring, but was the incident you read of caused by a problem with that, or with a misused or faulty appliance or flex or extension lead? Problems with the non-fixed installation are the causes of the vast majority of electrical fires, and you can yourself, right now, start checking all of your plugs and leads for damage, loose connections, incorrect connections and incorrect fuses.

And, although NOT a substitute for having your wiring inspected and properly tested, a plug-in tester (the Kewtechnik SOK-32 is a good one) will check for a number of faults with your sockets.

OwainDIYer said:

If you post a photo of your service intake / meter / consumer unit we can give an indication of the age and condition of the wiring, although not a substitute for a professional Periodic Inspection Report.

Click to expand...

i'll do that tonight... you guys will have a field day!

ban-all-sheds said:

Problems with the non-fixed installation are the causes of the vast majority of electrical fires, and you can yourself, right now, start checking all of your plugs and leads for damage, loose connections, incorrect connections and incorrect fuses.

And, although NOT a substitute for having your wiring inspected and properly tested, a plug-in tester (the Kewtechnik SOK-32 is a good one) will check for a number of faults with your sockets.

Click to expand...

i'm reasonably confident my non-fixed wiring is ok. All electrical items are bought new and well looked after... apart from my wife's straightners, she alwas gets the lead twisted up!

I've got a socket tester but i'm not sure of the brand. It checks earth continuity and live/neutral reverse etc. It actually flagged a reverse that i had to put right which makes me think the previous owner might have been a bodger.

I'm definitely going to get an inspection but it might have to wait until the new year.

Just taken a look at the Kewtechnik SOK-32, it definitely looks more advanced than mine so I'll pick one up.

Thanks

How refreshing to see someone as sensible as this OP. Around the hamlet where I live there are at least a dozen properties with Wylex rewirable boards and no RCDs. When I suggest that they should consider having it checked, the answer is "Why, It works OK". And for the record I am not a sparky who is toting for work, just a retired person who has reasonable knowledge and had all my houses rewired with RCDs even before RCDs were in the regs.

maltaron said:

When I suggest that they should consider having it checked, the answer is "Why, It works OK".

Click to expand...

Ask them when they were last in a car crash.

If they say "never", or "not for donkey's years" suggest they stop wearing a seat belt. After all, their driving works OK.

The thing to try and get across is that there are lots of systems that work OK until something goes wrong. They could have no earth on their socket circuits and it would work OK, and might work OK for the rest of their lives.

Or a toaster developing a fault could kill them tomorrow morning.

As promised, here are some pics of my meter & consumer unit set up... how bad does it look?

If someone could tell me what the different bits are it would be nice. I'm sure the bit bottom right is redundant.

The slightly concerning bit for me (though my knowledge of electrics is limited) is the consumer unit says max load 100A but it has 4x 32A and a 5A MCBs

I thought I had a radial circuit but the MCB is 32A and marked ring main.

The main intake is a bit messy, I would want to see the main supply cable clipped/supported. Given its age I would suggest you DON'T try doing anything with it yourself.

The left consumer unit is comparatively recent, has MCBs which protect the circuits satisfactorily and the PVC wiring looks comparatively recent and in neat condition. However there is no RCD protection which would give you increased protection against electric shock.

You *especially* need RCD protection if any of the following apply:

- electric shower
- garden tools or other outside electric use

The total MCB ratings being greater than 100A is not an issue, your main supply will be 100A (or possibly less) and that's ample for most houses except those with large electric heating installations.

The right consumer unit (off peak heating?) is less recent. Rewirable fuses don't protect cables as well, are vulnerable to misuse by putting the wrong wire in. The two missing fuseholders and missing cover should be replaced but in reality this CU is overdue for replacement. Is this CU no longer in use? If not in use it should have been removed.

The earth terminal has 2 wires as far as I can see - one to the left CU and one to the timeswitch. So how are the CUs earthed to the main earth -- is there one? -- and where is the main bonding to gas/water?

The location looks vulnerable to damp - cellar?

I would suggest you need a new CU, main bonding checked, and any defects remedied. It's possible there were insufficient sockets and extensions to the original installation have been bodged, or you may want to have additional sockets or lights put in.

It's no longer acceptable to simply change the main switch for an RCD on the existing consumer unit.

But you probably don't need a full rewire. The apparent lack of main earth and bonding needs urgent investigation by a competent electrician, though.

Also if you no longer use off peak heating make sure you're not still on an Economy 7 tariff as they are more expensive

As owendiyer asks where is the main earth I cant see anything that earths this to the supply or rods.

Should have gone to specsavers

I can see it. Bog standard either 4 or 6 mm earth as usual with a >40 year old YE TN-S supply

is it a bit of bare wire near that dribble of melted tar?