Using Old Colour Twin core and earth

[stevebamford]

Hi all,

Is it OK to use the old coloured Twin core and earth? I have an old house so it will match the existing colours ?

Ta

s

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's fine - some people will tell you that you should sleeve it with the new colours at the terminations, but others (me included) will say that you should not, and that if it is reasonable for you to extend/modify an old-colour installation with old coloured cables then you should do so.

The problem is that it does not comply with BS 7671, even if it complies better with the Building Regulations, so if you are doing notifiable work (and actually notifying it) you may get hard-of-thinking BCOs objecting.

 

[stevebamford]

Thanks B-A-S

would be a shame to chuck away all my old cable !

ta

s

 

[ColJack]

Ideally any NEW circuits should be put in with new colours.. and the entire installations changed over time ( at the next re-wire most likely.. )
any OLD circuits can be altered or extended with old colours to reduce confusion when you come to change a light or socket etc at a later date..

 

[stevebamford]

cheers coljack - its new bits on an existing circuit

ta


s

 

[tim west]

I've got a load of old VIR cable would this be ok to use as it will fit in nicely with all the other cables in my house

 

[Taylortwocities]

Of course! You'll need to decide if to use the lead-sheathed too or if its worth more melted down

 

[ColJack]

I've got a load of old VIR cable would this be ok to use as it will fit in nicely with all the other cables in my house

different thing entirely and you know it..
VIR is of a different construction... we're simply talking about colour of cable with the same construction..

 

[Paul_C]

It's fine - some people will tell you that you should sleeve it with the new colours at the terminations, but others (me included) will say that you should not, and that if it is reasonable for you to extend/modify an old-colour installation with old coloured cables then you should do so.

I'm also in the "use it" camp. It's seems rather more sensible to me to extend using a matching system that in needlessly introducing two different color codes if it isn't necessary.

The problem is that it does not comply with BS 7671, even if it complies better with the Building Regulations, so if you are doing notifiable work (and actually notifying it) you may get hard-of-thinking BCOs objecting.

But fortunately, there is nothing in the Building Regs. which says what colors you may use regardless of what BS7671 says, so the BCO's objections can safely be ignored.

 

[rebuke]

so the BCO's objections can safely be ignored.

Not if you need them to sign off and give you a completion certificate they can't!

 

[Paul_C]

Not if you need them to sign off and give you a completion certificate they can't!

If it's just adding a couple of lights or sockets, not a major building extension, building control is never going to know about it anyway.

And if it's your own house you're working on, who cares whether building control gives you a piece of paper anyway? It's not as if you need it to carry on living there. If and when the time comes to sell, if it's even questioned it would almost certainly just be settled with a PIR, which will record cables with coding to an earlier version of BS7671 - Code 4, "does not comply with current BS7671, but not unsafe" - perfectly satisfactory.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[sparkyspike]

I take it you mean the white sheathed cable rather than the grey sheathed with red and black conductors...

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[sparkyspike]

If thats directed at me it does' nt matter what colour the sheath is.

No, it was directed at the OP.