Decent book required for novice

[Big G]

In the “Sticky” section, “The Which book of Wiring an Lighting” is recommended.

I moved into a new (1934) house about 6 months ago. I need to do some maintenance on the installation as some aspects of it are ‘shocking’ to say the least. Is a cooker socket in the bathroom to isolate the shower against regulations?

Anyhow, before I start doing anything. Or before I get an electrician to do anything, I’d like to read up on what is what so that I can start planning.

Interesting points that I have learnt just from browsing this site include the recommended height of sockets; not putting a Fridge-Freezer on an RCD protected circuit; lack of need for an RCD on SWA cable. I could go on…

With electrics, if something looks too complicated, I’ll leave damn well alone and get someone in who knows what they’re doing. I just want to have a bit more knowledge so I know what to ask for when I get someone to maybe replace my consumer unit or replace the dodgy wiring in the garage.

“The Which book of Lighting and Wiring” was published in 2000. Is this maybe a bit out of date now?


Many thanks in advance

G

 

[Qedelec]

I moved into a new (1934) house about 6 months ago. I need to do some maintenance on the installation as some aspects of it are ‘shocking’ to say the least. Is a cooker socket in the bathroom to isolate the shower against regulations?

Yes and should be replaced with a 45A pull cord isolator.

Sounds like you could benefit from a Periodic Inspection Report, If done properly (and it can take several hours) it will be the best 150-200 spent on your electrics.

 

[JohnD]

Very true about the inspection.

I do part-time technical work at a provincial theatre. We had a very thorough inspection following a supply fault at our previous building, plenty of faults found and listed in the report. I was able to rectify all of these with the help of a guide to the regulations, and then went round with the inspectors at re-inspection. If you're pleasant and businesslike (and so are they) and don't seem to be trying to get away with anything, they shouldn't mind showing and talking you through a few bits. I learned a lot from that, most of the defects were out-of-date practices and minor faults (unsheathed earths, insufficient bonding, cracked accessories, missing grommets, undersized cables, rewirable fuses) not difficult when you know how. That was in the days before ignorant people like me were not allowed to work in (e.g.) kitchens.

 

[Big G]

I know for certain that my installation is NOT up to standard. I’ll post some pictures to give you a laugh but, in addition to the cooker switch in the bathroom I have:

A light fitting in Zone 2 of the bathroom which has IP00 protection (you can physically touch the bayonet bit from the bath!).

Cracked fittings – do sockets with holes drilled into them where a four way trailing socket has been wired into class as being cracked?

Old fashioned Wylex consumer unit.

Oven wired direct into the ring main.

A plug in one of the bedrooms that feeds a cable that disappears under the floor (hopefully it is the floor and not the carpet) to feed another socket.

Hanging wires in the garage to sockets/switches. If the wire to the light switch is knocked, the lights flash.


I used to work for British Gas (in the office). If we came across a dodgy gas installation a BDI (Blatantly Dangerous Installation) notice would be slapped on the installation. The customer’s appliance/gas would be turned off until the situation was remedied.

Does whoever will do an inspection have the same power? I know it is better to have no electric than to be frazzled because I peed on the cooker point in the bathroom but I don’t really want to be forking out £3,000 for a house re-wire just yet.

My intention is:

Get the consumer unit exchanged (I won’t be doing this).

Replace the electrics to the garage. SWA cable buried under a concrete path to a RCD protected garage consumer unit. Put new sockets in, lights, switches and cables (run mainly in 20mm PVC conduit).

Replace the light in the bathroom with one suitable for zone 2 (or zone 1). Sort out the cooker switch. I know that bathroom work needs to be done by a Part P qualified person but surely doing nothing is more dangerous than changing it over.

Replace the dodgy sockets. Where the socket feeds a four way socket into the conservatory, I’ll probably put a new circuit into the conservatory.


I have done some DIY electrical work in the past. However, I would just like to re-read up on a job before embarking upon it. If I decide to get the whole house rewired by a qualified electrician, I would like to read up on a few things first too so that once the job is finished, I don’t end up having to fork out again because I forgot to mention about something that I didn’t know about.

Does that all make sense?

Sorry it’s such a long post.


Cheers

G

 

[Adam_151]

I used to work for British Gas (in the office). If we came across a dodgy gas installation a BDI (Blatantly Dangerous Installation) notice would be slapped on the installation. The customer’s appliance/gas would be turned off until the situation was remedied.

No, an electrician can't interfere with someone elses electrical installation in this way without their permission, he can tell you its dangerous, he can advise its switched off, and I dare say if he gets dangerous resutls from dead tests, he wouldn't switch it back on himself, but he can't go round taking your main fuse out, putting padlacks on stuff, or other acts of sabotarge (spelling?)

Basically he just has to satisify his duty of care, if after switching off for insulation testing, he finds it a death trap, most likely he'll tell you this, get you to sign a piece of paper saying you acknowledge its dangerous to use, if you want to go and switch on a dangerous circuit, thats your perogative, and he has no power to stop you if thats what you want to do, but I guess that if he switched it back on, he'd be not doing his duty of care

 

[JohnD]

The inspection is still a good idea, will include tests and spot things you didn't notice, and will help you decide if you can do the rectification yourself without risk of dying before its finished (in my case the theatre was already closed to the public as out of season while I did the remedial work).

Especially if you think the installation is unsafe and old, it might even work out cheaper to rewire the whole lot than tinker with it. (though that would mean paying someone else, which isn't going to be as cheap as DIY repairs and renewals).

If it was my house, and I'd already moved in, I think I'd probably do the most obvious and unsafe things straight away, though, like you. I am assuming you have no children in the house.

 

[plugwash]

i don't see why people are so opposed to diy rewires indeed even with part P on such a large job the notification costs shouldn't be prohibitive.

imho its much easier and safer for a diyer to do a complete rewire where they then know everything is done in exactly the normal way than it is for them to mess arround with an existing install with possible faults idiosyncranies etc.

 

[mikely]

I would recommend 'The Electrician's guide to the building regulations' by the IEE. This covers all you need to know about, including Part P, and will help identify the things you need to employ an electrician for. See:

http://www.iee.org/Publish/Books/WireAssoc/index.cfm?book=WR 500