Bad shop wiring

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Browsing through my U.K. photo archive again, I found these from, I think, about 8 or 9 years ago. This horrible mess was in a local shop, a regular client of mine.

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It goes back to the old adage that it's just as easy to do it properly.

Whoever did that certainly doesn't know a proper job. Was it someone from the garage/motor shop who did that? Usually is.
 
Was it someone from the garage/motor shop who did that?
I think it was either the owner of the business or the landlord, possibly a combination of the two. I had a client in the unit right next door which was under the same ownership and had the same sort of mess.

The place pictured had actually been three separate units at one time, each with its own supply. I do remember that the cable you see hanging loose in a big loop going into that Wylex board was bringing power in from the front of the shop and was just connected into the outgoing terminal of a 5A fuseway to get the lights in the rear section working after that supply was abandoned, with the fuse removed. I think some of the other lash-ups were to connect the sockets in the former rear unit into the front wiring. I know the business owner knocked down the internal walls (with the landlord's permission) to make the three units into one, so I suspect it was probably he who did this, or one of his employees.

Here's the other supply position at the front of the shop:

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The third one as I recall was already completely devoid of switchgear and meter and was boxed in.

On my visits there to maintain their computer and telephone systems I'd made several attempts over the years to get them to see that this mess really needed sorting out. They finally gave in after a visit from their insurance agent, who - from what I could understand at the time - pretty much told them it needed to be sorted out if they were going to continue to get cover.

Ended up ripping the whole lot out and rewiring in PVC conduit throughout:

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The original installation looks more like an old style installation in Beijing, rather that in England! (With Wylex Rewireable fuse box of course).
 
I came across quite wide usage of the term when I was looking on the internet for reasons why a fan belt would be heating up to the point of smoking (was a knackered crankshaft pulley in the end), and wondered why they would call it something different to us Brits. I saw the fan belts in Pauls' photos of the car parts shop and it reminded me, so I thought I'd ask, knowing that he is a Brit who is now living across the pond. However if anyone else has any ideas then go ahead and post them :)
 
A serpentine belt is the multi-ribbed longer belts which wind their way (hence the name) around multiple pulleys.

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I don't know if Americans call all belts 'serpentine'.
 

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