Ring main circuits appear to be radial at consumer unit.

[UrbanGreen]

My kitchen ring circuit has gone off. I removed a section of cable that ran behind the sink and now none of the sockets work. I checked the CU and discovered that all three ring main circuits that I thought I had appear to be radial circuits. All three of them only have one cable going into the circuit breaker. I’m going in the loft tomorrow to check the kitchen cable layout. Property is a bungalow so should be easy enough to check apart from having to move a load of loft insulation. Last rewire was over twelve years ago. Surely the last person to run the cables wouldn’t have ringed the radial circuits in the loft would they?

 

[terryplumb]

What amperage are the 3 circuit breakers that you consider to be protecting the ring circuits ?
And what size cable is each circuit wired in ?

 

[AndyPRK]

sparks are lazy about fitting rings these days

 

[UrbanGreen]

What amperage are the 3 circuit breakers that you consider to be protecting the ring circuits ?
And what size cable is each circuit wired in ?

All three rings have a 32 amp. Cable is 2.5mm.

 

[EFLImpudence]

You said they weren't rings. What do you think 'ring' means?

 

[terryplumb]

The 32 amp breakers need to be swapped for lower amperage ,to protect the 2.5,mm² cable.
If only one cable connects to each breaker they couldn't have been ring circuits.

 

[EFLImpudence]

How do we know it is 2.5mm²?

UrbanGreen: Are the Line and Neutral wires stranded or just a single core?

 

[UrbanGreen]

The 32 amp breakers need to be swapped for lower amperage ,to protect the 2.5,mm² cable.
If only one cable connects to each breaker they couldn't have been ring circuits.

You said they weren't rings. What do you think 'ring' means?

I assumed they were rings because rings are common practice. Rings should mean the cable runs through the all the sockets returns to the CU with two tails in the circuit breakers. I would be none the wiser had I not opened the consumer unit to check the circuit breaker was still supplying voltage.

 

[Jurassicspark]

I presume the cable is 4mm and not 2.5mm. If it's 4mm, then it's fine to be on a radial. If it's really 2.5mm,then you've got a problem.

Could you send a picture of the fuseboard and the wiring behind the socket?

 

[UrbanGreen]

How do we know it is 2.5mm²?

UrbanGreen: Are the Line and Neutral wires stranded or just a single core?

Single core.

 

[UrbanGreen]

I presume the cable is 4mm and not 2.5mm. If it's 4mm, then it's fine to be on a radial. If it's really 2.5mm,then you've got a problem.

Could you send a picture of the fuseboard and the wiring behind the socket?

Not tonight. I’ll try tomorrow.

 

[Jurassicspark]

sparks are lazy about fitting rings these days

Is it not the opposite of that?

 

[Jurassicspark]

Not tonight. I’ll try tomorrow.

From your posts, I'd advise you to stay away from opening the consumer unit and poking around..

You can confirm if it's a ring or not from the socket. A picture of behind the socket and the consumer unit (showing the breakers from the outside) would be ideal.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Single core.

Ok. So it would seem to be 2.5mm² therefore there is something wrong.

 

[UrbanGreen]

From your posts, I'd advise you to stay away from opening the consumer unit and poking around..

You can confirm if it's a ring or not from the socket. A picture of behind the socket and the consumer unit (showing the breakers from the outside) would be ideal.

I’m not an idiot. I can work safely.