Earth connected to live

[sparkwright]

A picture showing more of the meter and consumer unit area would be extremely helpful here.

 

[Johnboy54]

sparkwright, I agree with you. It's the installer who's taking it bad.
The picture is all they sent.
It was supposedly taken by their 'electrician' and forwarded.

 

[sparkwright]

Usually the earth connection can be made without removing the cover of the cut out.

The earth cable often goes in the RIGHTHAND SIDE, usually NOT the top, and there is a little window in the front of the cover to insert a screwdriver.

Of course, this cut out could be completely different, so I will not assume anything here.

I've never had to remove the whole front cover to access the earth terminal, in fact that would be a very poor design.

Presumably the earth cable (or a smaller older one) was fitted to this cut out somewhere before?

 

[sparkwright]

The installer said they remembered breaking out the top to accept the earth.

Where did the earth cable go before the new work was started?

Why did the (new?) earth cable not get connected to where it was originally?

Anyone familiar with this cut out, and if the consumers earth goes in the righthand side, without taking the whole cover off??

 

[CBW]

The customer is refusing to pay.
I think this woman is just wanting to get out of paying.

Is it possible that this friend, purposely sabotaged the work, in order to get out of paying?

Does this friend have any formal electrical training or qualifications?

Me being suspicious i'd suspect an attempt at power theft gone wrong (by the householder).

The friend only needs to be competent, I agree with suspicion of power theft.

 

[Jon c]

I don't believe for a second that any electrician would do what's been done in that picture. As others have suggested it could be the homeowner attempting to steal electricity and getting it wrong, and then trying to blame the electrician. Either way, someone is definitely trying to pull a fast one.

 

[securespark]

Evil behaviour from someone.

 

[SUNRAY]

Looks possible that there had been a conductor in the Neutral block


View attachment 233617

It also looks like the plug above that screw is missing but the one agjacent to the neutral is still present.

 

[SUNRAY]

They can sod off anyway, if there is a problem with any work, the correct procedure is to immediately contact the person responsible for the work and get them to fix it straight away, NOT to ask someone else to look at it.

Unless they're after a second opinion to their own unsure concerns?

 

[333rocky333]

The installer said they remembered breaking out the top to accept the earth.

What does that mean

 

[sparkwright]

What does that mean

It means he was intending to connect the earth somewhere different to where it was before. I would have expected the earth to be connected on the side rather than the top.

 

[333rocky333]

It means he was intending to connect the earth somewhere different to where it was before. I would have expected the earth to be connected on the side rather than the top.

Yes, but i think i would remember intentionally knocking out the plastic of a cut out, presumably hitting a screwdriver with your pliers, when I should not have been dismantling it in the first place, would not you.

 

[chivers67]

I can't possibly see an experienced Electrician making a termination like that. I agree with Rocky you'd have to intentionally remove a knock-out which you wouldn't do as you'd put the Earth back where it was originally.

 

[SUNRAY]

What does that mean

I'm not going to swear to it but I think the blue arrowed cable entry has been unplugged and looks cleaner than the rest
, equally I think the relevant screws look unused. Although unconventional I've encountered the earth connexion made at that point (just as I've found additional neutrals from the side connexions)

The red arrowed screw appears to have been tightened with a smaller screwdriver than I'd expect an electrician to use.
As has been mentioned the earth is usually taken into the side and I imagine it was originally retained by the green arrow screw which has been undone and left open and i suspect the screw to the right is the same.

At the moment the jury's out for me.

 

[SimonH2]

If that earth wire is connected to anything at the other end, inserting the fuse into that would cause a severe fault, probably enough to blow the main fuse, and causing arc damage to the fuse holder and those terminals.
It has not been energised like that for 2 days or even 2 minutes.

As already mentioned, that's not automatically the case. Given the prevalence of plastic service pipes these days, it's quite possible for an installation to have no effective earth other than the DNO PME facility. And if this is the case, then little current would flow, but everything "earthed" would be live.

Simon