Dating Old Electrics

[securespark]

Thought I would copy here what I posted in a recent thread, as I think it may be useful:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Dating_Old_Electrics

 

[Iggifer]

Nice post.

My grandmothers farm house still has round pin socket outlets throughout (not sure if 2 or 3 pin)

Would not be surprised if it was lead sheathed cables

It's in desperate need of a rewire!

 

[sparkwright]

Very interesting post.

 

[JBR]

I remember having these in our house when I was a child (probably late '50s or early '60s).

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• JBR
• 13 Dec 2012
• 2

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• JBR
• 13 Dec 2012
• 2

The house had been owned by two old ladies and had probably not seen any new electrics since the year dot.

 

[ericmark]

This page also shows many old plugs It is the odd things which can confuse. My mothers house has a steel earth stake and a bare earth wire running around the front of the house in the direction of the consumer unit.

However it never went to the consumer unit it was part of the old party line telephone.

Another is the 15A sockets although the house was built 1954 so had all 13A sockets from the start there was one exception the immersion heater had a 15A socket and it's own fuse in the fuse board seems it was to allow the plumber to change an immersion heater without requiring an electrician on site to wire it. Since inside the cupboard for water tanks which traditionally are used to air cloths a plug which did not generate heat is used.

As to the cable cleats made from thin steel with a slot in them may be these will return? They would comply with the new regulations.

 

[securespark]

Return? They never left. I have seen them on sale at various places down the years...

 

[clifford1]

Fascinating - many thanks for that link.

I have a special interest in old electrical fittings.

Not mentioned so far are the 10 amp plugs with only 2 large pins - much larger than the 5-amp shaver type, but the spacing not quite the same as the 3-pin socket L and N.
No earth, and of course could be inserted either way round.

My favourite is a very large wooden plug with a knob on the back for gripping it, aquired with a pre-war toaster. There are 3 round pins, but the pins are larger and the spacing greater than the ordinary 15-amp plugs.
I've never seen any socket it would plug into.

I've also got an adaptor for taking a lightbulb-type bayonet plug and plugging into any size socket. The pins pivot on projecting brass cranks, so the spacing is fully adjustable.

 

[ericmark]

Reyrolle now Belco did a range of plugs which were very popular. The 15A version had a different angle for each voltage and could use fused pins so with 110 volt version two fuses one for each phase.

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• ericmark
• 23 Apr 2015
• 2

there were many versions including one where you twisted the plug to turn it on and pressed a button to release it. It would seem pre-war there were 100's of plugs and even after many places hung on to the old plugs in some cases they were better than the modern ones. But cost was the problem they were not cheap.