fixed wiring colours

[Blakey1975]

Hi, i have just put in a ceiling fixture and noticed the house wiring was Black, Red and a white earth. Is this how its meant to be? also the covering is rubber. Have check other fittings and they are the same.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

White, as in white sleeving, or as in tinned copper? Is it loose sleeving, or are all 3 cores in the cable insulated?

What sort of cables do you have elsewhere?

What condition did the one you looked at seem to be in? If they really are old rubber ones they have been living on borrowed time for quite a while, and you should be careful when poking around, as sometimes the rubber can crumble away.

How long have you lived there? Any certificates for recent work? Old fashioned fuses, or modern MCBs?

 

[Blakey1975]

White sleeving, all 3 are insulated and covered by grey flex. They seem in ok condition, just that they look old. The whole house is wired the same. Been here just over a year, No certificates. The fuses in the main fusebox are 2 prong black cases with wire inside, when they blow you have to replace the wire.

 

[wingcoax]

I agree with BAS How old is the house? It does unfortunately sound as if you are due a re-wire. As BAS says rubber can look ok but fall apart when handled.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The previous owner wasn't American, was he?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Red white & blue was standard colours back in the 50's.
I've not seen black red & white.

Only ever seen red/white/blue when used for old 2-way lighting circuits. I'm surprised that a 1950's spark would have included an earth conductor in a lighting circuit.

Best to check that white really is an earth and sleeve it green/yellow. Then get a PIR done to check out your wiring. Per the above, if its rubber and 50+ years old you may be in need of a rewire.

 

[sparkwright]

White sleeving, all 3 are insulated and covered by grey flex.

So, would you say the white wire is
a bare wire with a loose white sleeve over it
or
a wire like the other two with 'proper' insulation?

Is the cross section of the cable circular, or more of a flat, lozenge shape?

Wondering if it is flat cable and during remedial work the bare earth has been sleeved with some alarm cable sheath or similar.

Or is it possible the black core is actually blue, and its wired in old red, white, blue 3 core?

Do you think the cable actually is rubber?
Is the sheath actually grey?
Or a matt black?

It's not unusual for 50s or earlier lighting cables to have earth in them.

Are the switches round, or do they have wooden back boxes or something else?

A few photos of inside some random switches or roses or sockets would be very interesting.

 

[Paul_C]

Photos would definitely help.

If it's really red, white and black cores, insulated within the sheath, then two options spring to mind: (a) It's American Romex, which is not uncommon in certain types of housing built around air force bases; (b) it's pre-1964 British cable which was a special order item, rather than the standard red/white/blue 3-core. Are there any visible markings on the sheath? Does there appear to be a layer or two of paper wrapped around the cores beneath the sheath?

Re earths on lighting circuits specifically, although the Wiring Regs. didn't specify them to be provided in all cases until the 14th edition in 1966, they did require lighting earths in certain circumstances long before that - Where metal switch plates were used, for fluorescent lights, and so on.