Spurs from breaking into ring main
- Thread starter 10monty
- Start date
Sponsored Links
Yes, that's obviously a factor.
Unfortunately, it would be impossible to get any even half-reliable statistics about that. Apart from anything else, the fire brigade seem to have a habit of describing any fire of otherwise unknown cause as "electrical", and there is probably rarely enough evidence to prove them right or wrong.
However, even without problems (fires or whatever) arising, electricians must have a lot of experience of ripping out old installations during the course of a re-wire, and I wonder how often they see any evidence of loose connections (or other problems) in JBs?
Although I may well be wrong, I must say that I find it quite hard to see how loose connections in a JB could, under normal load conditions (i.e. limited by an OPD), start a fire - unless, I suppose, the JB were buried in highly inflammable material. It is, after all, very hard to set fire to wood even if it is in direct contact with red-hot metal - and that shouldn't happen with a JB, anyway.
Kind Regards, John
Edit: crucial typo corrected
Last edited:
Shower isolators have a powerful spring loaded action - I can see how the vibrations from that might work a screw loose over time, if it wasn't tight enough at the start.
Sponsored Links
Inflammable is actually correct - although going out of fashion because of the confusion.
Last edited:
I did. Apologies. Now corrected.
Hmmmm. Even if 'they' (and our language) may be trying to make me so, I'm not American - and "inflammable" was certainly what I was taught in an English school!Flammable John, not inflammable!
Kind Regards, John
The OED states: "The words inflammable and flammable both mean 'easily set on fire'. Inflammable is formed using the Latin prefix in- which has the meaning 'into' (rather than the more common use of in- to indicate negation), and here has the effect of intensifying the meaning of the word in English." However in technical writing, the word used is "flammable", to reduce translation errors that might otherwise result from the more common usage of the in- prefix.
AFAIK the term "inflammable" is more common in the USA.
This from Merriam Webster (American):
It's certainly potentially confusing/misleading. However, I am all but certain that, at least in terms of 'everyday English', "inflammable" was the word almost invariably used for at least the first 2 or 3 decades of my life (and "flammable" sounded 'wrong', and was generally thought to be 'American').
EFLI's (American) dictionary seems to think otherwise.
Kind Regards, John
I've often had to correct American committee members for using 'inflammable'.
Well, you cannot "correct" them, as such.
You may say, to avoid confusion in Britain (where they don't know the meaning of words) we use 'flammable'.
You may correct them when they use 'inflammableness',
You may say, to avoid confusion in Britain (where they don't know the meaning of words) we use 'flammable'.
You may correct them when they use 'inflammableness',
In an IEC committee I damn well can!
To inflame tensions?
Perhaps he finds that making inflammatory remarks creates a sense of urgency?
The IEC (like CENELEC, BSI, etc) has preferred terms to facilitate reduce ambiguity. "Flammable" is their preferred term for things that can be ignited.
DIYnot Local
Staff member
If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.
Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.
Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local
Sponsored Links
