Anyone interested in old colour cable?

[Paul_C]

Do you find it confusing that some MCBs show red when ON and green when OFF.

That subject can spark quite a debate itself when it comes to annunciators, with some industries preferring red for on (danger) and green for off (safe) and others using just the opposite (green for go, red for stop).

In the USA the phase is black and the neutral white. Both in fixed wiring and equipment leads

And additional phases are normally red and blue, although for the last 40 years or thereabouts the N.E.C. has not stipulated mandatory phase colors, so anything other than white, gray, and green can be used. Where multiple voltages are in use in the same installation, it's common practice to use different colors to distinguish between the two systems, e.g. black, red, blue and white neutral for 120/208V and brown, orange, yellow plus gray neutral for 277/480V.

In the Clifton area of Bristol the phase colours are red, blue, green and a white neutral.

I assume you're talking about outside distribution plant? Was this a smaller independent company which didn't get absorbed into the "big" electricity board until rather later, hence the retention of its scheme?

When 3 core was R, Y and B and I wanted to use one core as neutral, I would use blue.

This was mainly because just about everyone else did.

Such use - without reidentifying as black - was sanctioned in certain circumstances under the I.E.E. 13th edition, prior to the 1964 changes.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

To be read as something providing wry amusement, not something to bring this topic back from the dead:

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

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.

 

[SimonH2]

To be read as something providing wry amusement, not something to bring this topic back from the dead:

Looks more to me like it's exactly bringing back an old thread so you can maintain your contentiousness

 

[JohnW2]

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.

Well, why would you want to oversleeve it, since all extension/ modification done with old-colours cable was 'obviously' done pre-2005, wasn't it? (why else would there still be a market for old-colours cable?)

Kind Regards, John.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

To be read as something providing wry amusement, not something to bring this topic back from the dead:

Looks more to me like it's exactly bringing back an old thread so you can maintain your contentiousness

If you think that you must be defective.

Try reading what I said by way of introduction again.

 

[securespark]

Yes. However, you cannot argue it is not also resurrecting this thread.

 

[Paul_C]

I'm trying to figure out what wry amusement is supposed to be derived from the specific quotes.