Metal cased wiring is it safe

[johno12345]

We had some wiring inspected at work which was given a code 2 as they thought it was VIR. The wiring was installed in 1968 and they said it must have been old stock but it was in strangely good condition.

I didnt believe them so investigated further and discovered that it was FP100 cable which is perfectly safe and still current.

 

[TicklyT]

It had silly names like 7/029 and 3/ 029 or something similar

.
Sensible system - Tells you straight away the size of the conductor and whether it is solid or stranded conductors....

....Now, what's that in pounds per mile?

 

[disinfo]

Lead cable

Just come across some of this myself today (in my loft) while trying to diagnose why there is no CPC continuity to the upstairs lights.

Now I know why, it seem there is a section of lead cable somewhere between the CU and the first JB in the loft

 

[Click-Sure]

Yeah, people used to call this sort of caper a rewire.

 

[disinfo]

Yeah, people used to call this sort of caper a rewire.

I just don't get the mentality, why would you go to the trouble of rewiring the house with PVC cable, cut back all of the CPC's and leave a single section of lead cased cable?

At least it will be fairly easy to fix, provided I can find and access the JB before the lead.

 

[sparkydude]

As said by others your wiring is lead with cloth covered cores, very old and dangerous. By doing what you thought was the right thing and changing the metal junction box for a plastic one you may have caused a potentially lethal situation by removing the earth path. Although there is not an earth core in the cable the metallic sheath was used as an earth path . You need to get an electrician to check over your wiring immediateley as i do not like the sound of what you have done .

Nick

 

[plugwash]

As said by others your wiring is lead with cloth covered cores, very old and dangerous. By doing what you thought was the right thing and changing the metal junction box for a plastic one you may have caused a potentially lethal situation by removing the earth path.

By the looks of his post it seems to me like the earth path was already gone.

 

[sparkydude]

How can you say that with any certainty plugwash, the OP was using a neon screwdriver after all. I am simply advising as to the facts given, if by any remote chance it was providing any kind of earth it most certainly is not now as it goes through a plastic jb and has now been disturbed possibly weakening the insulation on the cores even further. I stand by my original advice, get it seen to ASAP

Nick

 

[SparkyMarky]

Blimey, not come across that stuff in a while, they don't make anything like they used to do they!

Depends on the size of cable! We still use PILC (Paper Insulated, Lead Covered) cables to distribute power around our site at 6.6kV.

Mind you I think that the smallest size we've got is 120mm² 3 core, so you're unlikely to find any in your average home