Correct method of spurring?

[stevipop]

Hi all,
1st post, so, be gentle
We've discovered that an alarm installed many moons ago by someone who, despite credentials, was a dab-hand at bugger all. During the install of the bell/battery-box, spurred very close from a socket on the upstairs ring main using 1.0mm² T&E, he snipped a socket from an adjacent room out of the ring Why, we don't know, but it turns out there's also a hob extractor wired into the same socket. So, currently there are three 2.5mm² cables, and a 1.0mm² cable, all twisted together, hanging out of the back of a two-gang socket. Is this acceptable (I suspect not,) or should I modify the above? Any advise would be more than welcome.

 

[EFLImpudence]

We've discovered that an alarm installed many moons ago by someone who, despite credentials, was a dab-hand at bugger all. During the install of the bell/battery-box, spurred very close from a socket on the upstairs ring main using 1.0mm² T&E,

That could be alright.
How is it spurred "very close from a socket"?

he snipped a socket from an adjacent room out of the ring Why, we don't know,

What does "snipped a socket" mean?

but it turns out there's also a hob extractor wired into the same socket. So, currently there are three 2.5mm² cables, and a 1.0mm² cable,

That could be alright.

all twisted together, hanging out of the back of a two-gang socket.

Do you mean "hanging out" and the socket doesn't work?

Is this acceptable (I suspect not,) or should I modify the above?

It is hard to tell what "this" is.

Any advise would be more than welcome.

Be more accurate in your description.

 

[stevipop]

Thanks for the response, EFLImpudence, ignore the "hanging out" bit, it's all secure, just badly.

For clarity: Imagine if you will an Accenta G3 alarm bell/battey/control box, mounted in the corner of a room with its base nestling on top of the skirting board and zero clearance between its right side and the adjacent wall. To the left of said box is an unswitched fused spur on a surface mounted single back box. There is no clearance between the Accenta box and the spur. To the left of the spur is a two gang, unswitched socket on a surface mounted back box. Again, there is no clearance between the socket and the spur.

After isolating all three, removal of the socket from the back box revealed it was the recipient of four cables: three 2.5mm² T&E cables and one 1.0mm² T&E cable. Two of the 2.5s are the first floor ring main, and the third 2.5 was traced to an extractor over the kitchen hob on the ground floor. This cable passes through the wall behind the back box, into a void above the kitchen ceiling and beneath a pitched, tiled roof, before being chased into the wall on which the extractor is mounted. The cable feed is interrupted with a neon, switched fused spur before connecting to the extractor.

The 1.0mm² T&E cable feeds the spur adjacent to the socket, which goes on to power the Accenta alarm box. There is very little slack in the 1mm cable, neither to the spur, nor to the alarm box. Also evident were two 2.5 cables that had been cut. These previously fed a two gang socket in the adjacent bedroom on the other side of the partition wall from the alarm box. Why they'd been cut is a mystery known only to the alarm installer, although three groups of wires for the alarm system, twisted into multiple pairs each before being capped with yellow insulation tape might be a clue as to his competence.

Anyway, as you can imagine, there isn't a great deal of room in the socket back box. So, with the floor up and joists exposed in front of the socket and alarm system, I'd thought about using a four terminal junction box between the joists for the ring main, hob extractor cable (there's enough slack), and a new 2.5 cable to the alarm spur and on to the alarm system. I'll restore the cable to the socket in the adjacent room and only have cables for the ring main in each. Does this sound ok?

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

If there's a choice between making connections in an accessible accessory, such as a socket, or burying a junction box under the floorboards, then the former is by far the best. Even if it means a bit more work.

 

[Ragnar_AT]

IMO the neatest way would be the following: one leg of the existing ring goes to the current double socket. From there, go to the socket in the adjacent room and then to the fused connection unit for the alarm. The other leg of the existing ring continues from the FCU and the spur for the extractor connects to either one of the sockets or the FCU. If the leg of the ring is too short to reach the FCU, just extend that under the floor using a maintenance-free junction box.

That way everything but the extractor is on the ring and you have a minimum number of splices, if any.