Junction Boc in attic - everything goes into it

[Grinning Grandad]

I am fairly new to this game and whilst trying to trace a cable in the attic of a house I came across a metal box about 6" by 4" which it seems every cable in the house goes in and out of (its a bunglow and there are only 4 circuits). There are 4 banks of 4 terminals with the left hand 8 terminals having one live and one neutral each and the right hand bank of 8 split with all the lives going to 4 terminals and all the neutrals going to the other 4. I have tried to upload a photo but it doesn't seem to work (on the preview). I was wondering if this is a fairly common scenario in this age of house (built circa 1960).

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[Adam_151]

http://documents%20and%20settings/Mick/My%20Documents/Electrician/Photos/junction%20box

Its quite worrying that you seem happy to consider the my documents directory on your computer as somewhere anyone on the internet can view files from...

 

[mdbalson]

To show the pic you need to upload it to an image host, e.g. http://www.photobucket.com

What size are the cables going into this metal box

If the cables are 1 or 1.5mm it could be for the lights, in which case your lights are wired in the joint box method, were the mains feed, all of the switch drops, & all of the cables to the light fittings, come into the joint box & are terminated.

 

[crystal ball]

I have seen this type of wiring in 1960s council flats, all circuits fed from one central JB recessed into the ceiling slab

 

[Grinning Grandad]

Its quite worrying that you seem happy to consider the my documents directory on your computer as somewhere anyone on the internet can view files from...

I assumed it wanted to know where to upload the photo from a la Hotmail. sorry.

Thanks for the photo tip. Hopefully it will work this time and answers mdbalson's question. As you (hopefully) can see there seems to be a few sizes of cables. Those white cables are feeding 2 sockets.

 

[RF Lighting]

That's an octopus.

Pretty common way of doing things 50 years ago, especially in council houses.


If yours is still in service then it and the attached wiring is in urgent need of replacement.

 

[ColJack]

looks like lights on the left, sockets on the right..

all fed from the same fuses..

no earths to be seen either..

 

[Taylortwocities]

The few earths that are there dont have any sleeving on - even though they are 'recent' additions.

I hope you dont have any metal light fittings or switches in your house!!

 

[Grinning Grandad]

There is one metal double dimmer switch which the owner had previously assured me was earthed. I had a look and guess what! nothing. Not only that but the live cable had been trapped by the screw and was practical through to the bare conductor.

 

[streetlighter]

Id be looking at a rewire soon then also looks like there is quite a bit of rubber cable installed probably the original wiring well past its sell by date.

 

[mdbalson]

As said by the others, think of having a rewire done soon, as there is a lot of old VIR (The black rubber cables) in that joint box, which are probably well past their best before date.