Hi,
I have a rather long question, but to save boring you good people, I'll ask it in easy nibbles
My house was built in about 1969/1970.
The fuse box definately needs replacing and so does the earth electrode (it is a TT system). Although I am capable of doing this myself I am happy to pay a professional due to the part p regulations etc.
I have had one guy look at it and his reaction was "if the fuse box is that old, the whole house needs rewiring". He would only do the whole house or nothing. He claimed that if he touched any part of the system, then he was responsible for the whole system, so all or nothing.
He didn't inspect or test the wiring.
I have replaced all of the switches and plug sockets recently. Whilst doing so I noticed that the wiring is capped under the plaster and the capping seems to run right up to the boxes, which seem the same as modern galvanised boxes. As far as I could tell from a visual inspection the wiring seems in good condition and everything that should be was earthed.
The house had obviously been professionally wired to the standards of the day during construction, wires and boxes onto breeze block walls before plastering, ring mains for sockets, PVC coated wires. The only anomaly is that the wire spec is different from modern specs for the ring mains. Instead of 2.5mm single core flat twin and earth - it uses a multicore flat twin and earth. The total conductor diameter looks bigger than 2.5mm, actually. Anyone familiar with 1970s cable specs?
Anyway - does this vintage of cable automatically mean a rewire?
Was the electrician correct that he can not under the regs just replace part of the system?
I really would like to replace the fuse box and fit a new earth - but would desperately like to avoid a full rewire if at all possible (the house is all nicely decorated the way we want it... chasing plaster off the walls and ripping up floorboards is not... appealing )
Can anyone please help with advice?
Thanks,
Steve
I have a rather long question, but to save boring you good people, I'll ask it in easy nibbles
My house was built in about 1969/1970.
The fuse box definately needs replacing and so does the earth electrode (it is a TT system). Although I am capable of doing this myself I am happy to pay a professional due to the part p regulations etc.
I have had one guy look at it and his reaction was "if the fuse box is that old, the whole house needs rewiring". He would only do the whole house or nothing. He claimed that if he touched any part of the system, then he was responsible for the whole system, so all or nothing.
He didn't inspect or test the wiring.
I have replaced all of the switches and plug sockets recently. Whilst doing so I noticed that the wiring is capped under the plaster and the capping seems to run right up to the boxes, which seem the same as modern galvanised boxes. As far as I could tell from a visual inspection the wiring seems in good condition and everything that should be was earthed.
The house had obviously been professionally wired to the standards of the day during construction, wires and boxes onto breeze block walls before plastering, ring mains for sockets, PVC coated wires. The only anomaly is that the wire spec is different from modern specs for the ring mains. Instead of 2.5mm single core flat twin and earth - it uses a multicore flat twin and earth. The total conductor diameter looks bigger than 2.5mm, actually. Anyone familiar with 1970s cable specs?
Anyway - does this vintage of cable automatically mean a rewire?
Was the electrician correct that he can not under the regs just replace part of the system?
I really would like to replace the fuse box and fit a new earth - but would desperately like to avoid a full rewire if at all possible (the house is all nicely decorated the way we want it... chasing plaster off the walls and ripping up floorboards is not... appealing )
Can anyone please help with advice?
Thanks,
Steve