Disaster - maybe

[Adam_151]

so why was part p etc brought in again......

To create a paper trail in order to attempt to reduce the ammount of work that slips through the tax net...

... next question please

 

[diyunotaclue]

oh yeah and that!!!! also to allow kitchen fitters and heating engineers to become more qualified than sparks unless you cough up ridiculous amount of dosh ! and they still do it wrong...... ive just rewired a kitchen for someone that was done by kitchen fitter... 2.5mm radial from db 30amp fusewire old wylex... every thing in kitchen on it including , oh i know ill run some 1.5 mm from jb as well to pick up lights!!!! oh yeah and no bonding no nish...and im the one who not supposed to be doing it....!!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

so why was part p etc brought in again......

I have installed a new electricity supply to a building (not a public building, not a dwelling .

 

[Steve]

my neighbours has the kitchen fitters in at the moment. I did notice yesterday, someone tinkering where i know their fusebox to be located in the garage. Also tinkering in the meter cabinet, but i did see an extra van parked outside the house, so it appears they got a spark in to do the electrics. Phew.

 

[gee-force]

Hello,

Thank you for your responses. I think i have solved the problem now. I had to pull out the suspected cables and replace them - hey presto - power to all sockets. still unsure as to what the problem was mind you. mystery.. ..

This kind of leads me on to another question. If you go into a building that has a ring, can you test the ring without taking sockets out? - that is to see if the ring is complete and not just one long spur chain?? do these plug in testers test this??

Presumably the fastest way if not is to remove 1 phase from the trip/fuse and see if they all still work? (unles the fault is between the last socket and the CU). in which case a test of the removed wire for power would confirm a complete ring.. .. ..


many thanks again

gee-force

 

[JohnD]

To see if it is a ring, you de-energise, take off any socket you like, look to see it has a T&E coming in from two sides, continuity test each colour. If no continuity, it appears to be a radial (but could be a faulty ring); if continuity on some but not others, might be a ring with a bad connection or a damaged cable.

You ought to find that if it is a 32A MCB wired in 2 x 2.5mm T&E it ought to be a ring, but you never know who was there before you.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

No - that's not how you do it.

You disconnect the conductors at the CU, and check for continuity on all 3, and note the values.

You then cross-connect the opposite ends of phase & neutral at the CU, and at each socket measure the resistance between phase & neutral. The readings should all be the same, and half the value recorded at step 1

You then cross-connect opposite ends phase & cpc, and go around measuring between phase & cpc at each socket. The readings will increase as you get to the mid point of the ring, and decrease as you move away from it again.

The highest value you measure is the one you record on the schedule for R1+R2.

You cannot do any of this with a socket tester, and you cannot do it with a regular multimeter - you need one with a resolution of at least 0.01 ohms....

 

[JohnD]

Much better - testing the ring. I was just thinking how "to see if the ring is complete and not just one long spur chain"

 

[Hacman]

If a ring the values should not increase towards the mid point

 

[cozycats]

That's what I thought.

 

[Hacman]

If tested properly the values should be roughly the same all the way round .05 ohms variation I think is allowed. The only increases you should see are those from a spur which will be slightly higher

 

[Jaymack]

Hello,

Presumably the fastest way if not is to remove 1 phase from the trip/fuse and see if they all still work? (unles the fault is between the last socket and the CU). in which case a test of the removed wire for power would confirm a complete ring.. .. ..

gee-force

The fastest way?: - If you are competent and have access to a clamp meter, plug in a substantial load into any socket outlet e.g. 3kW heater, then test for equal current flow on each leg of the ring at the DB, or F/B. (This is live testing and not for the uninitiated).

 

[Pensdown]

Hello,

Presumably the fastest way if not is to remove 1 phase from the trip/fuse and see if they all still work? (unles the fault is between the last socket and the CU). in which case a test of the removed wire for power would confirm a complete ring.. .. ..

gee-force

The fastest way?: - If you are competent and have access to a clamp meter, plug in a substantial load into any socket outlet e.g. 3kW heater, then test for equal current flow on each leg of the ring at the DB, or F/B. (This is live testing and not for the uninitiated).

Equal

 

[RF Lighting]

You will get a higher current flow in the leg that has the least length of cable to the load. Remember electricity is lazy and will always take the lowest resistance path it can.

 

[Softus]

You then cross-connect opposite ends phase & cpc, and go around measuring between phase & cpc at each socket. The readings will increase as you get to the mid point of the ring, and decrease as you move away from it again.

Please could you help someone who's feeling particularly stupid to understand why the readings will increase?