Mixing Cables

[sparkymonkey]

Hello,

In one of our bedrooms (which we've turned into an office) we have two plug sockets. The second plug socket was added about ten years ago when the old 1950's electrics were replaced. Because there was no plug socket in that location originally the cabling was run on the outside of the wall (in trunking) from the first plug socket.

We have a desk, including telephone and broadband points at the location of the first plug socket. I want to add another desk with phone and internet at the location of the second socket and what I want to know is, is it safe/allowed for me to put a telephone and LAN cable in the same trunking as the power cable for the plug socket?

Currently there are four power cables in the trunking, two black and two red. I reckon there's easliy enough room in there for another two cables but is it safe to stuff as many cables in there as physically possible?

Thanks
Steven

 

[flyingsparks]

Steven, no you need to have segregated trunking, or fit another piece. ou are not allowed to mix mains voltage with extra low voltage cables.

 

[sparkymonkey]

Thanks, thats all I needed to know. I didnt think it sounded like a good idea a but I thought I'd check first.

 

[ricicle]

what I want to know is, is it safe/allowed for me to put a telephone and LAN cable in the same trunking as the power cable for the plug socket?

No - you must put them in another piece of trunking or use segregated trunking.

Currently there are four power cables in the trunking, two black and two red. I reckon there's easliy enough room in there for another two cables but is it safe to stuff as many cables in there as physically possible?

Do you not have any green/yellow wires in there ? Is the wiring in the trunking single cables then ? You must leave 55% space in trunking.

 

[sparkymonkey]

Yes all of the wiring is done with single wiring and none of the plug sockets are earthed although I've never cheched the ones in the kitchen.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You must get that circuit, or part of the circuit, rewired as a matter of great urgency. Sockets must have an earth.

Until that is done you must not use the sockets for any equipment which requires an earth connection.


And you would be strongly advised to have an electrician do a full check of all of your circuits. You are living somewhere where the electrics have been fiddled with by an mind-bogglingly ignorant and stupid person. You have those dangerous sockets as a result - who knows what other terrible things he has done? You could be one simple fault away from electrocution or a fire.

 

[sparkymonkey]

It's a council flat and the whole place was wired by their sparky. Its not been fiddled with by anyone so I'm pretty sure its safe and its been tested since.

I may be wrong, there may be an earth in there somewhere but I have had several of the socket fronts off and I've never seen an earth leading to the socket. There certainly isnt one to the socket I mentioned.

 

[Starspark1]

Can you post a pic of the socket?

 

[bernardgreen]

It's a council flat and the whole place was wired by their sparky. Its not been fiddled with by anyone so I'm pretty sure its safe and its been tested since.

If it is council flat you should not be doing DIY work, especially on electrics as you do not see the serious dangers of sockets without earth connections.

If there is not earth then the sockets should not be used and the council environmental health office ( not the housing office ) informed that the electrics in the flat are suspected as being non compliant with the regulations for safe electrical installations.

 

[sparkymonkey]

I wasnt do anything with the elctrics I just want to run a network cable around to the other side of the room. I'm pretty sure you dont need to be qualified to do that.

The electrics and the gas get tested regularly by the council so if they were unsafe then they would already know wouldnt they?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yes all of the wiring is done with single wiring and none of the plug sockets are earthed

I have had several of the socket fronts off and I've never seen an earth leading to the socket. There certainly isnt one to the socket I mentioned.

I'm pretty sure its safe

It is not.

 

[sparkymonkey]

So why does it always pass the electrical saftey test?

Like I said, I may be wrong, there may be an earth hidden away at the back somewhere. I havent looked that closely but there definitley isnt an earth in the trunking I mentioned.

 

[JohnW2]

So why does it always pass the electrical saftey test?

It couldn't if there were no earth connection to the sockets - which suggests that either you are missing something, or else that the testing has always been 'incompetent' and dangerous. Given that we're talking about such a fundamental issue, I find the latter rather hard to believe, particularly if different people have done the testing on different occasions.

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

Maybe the 'trunking' is part of an earthed steel containment system?

 

[JohnW2]

Maybe the 'trunking' is part of an earthed steel containment system?

Yes, possibly - there must surely be some explanation, and I haven't got any better ideas than that one. However, the OP seemed to imply that there are no connections to the earth terminals of the sockets - would earthing only via the faceplate screws/bushes (to an earthed backbox) be acceptable? (I wouldn't have thought so).

Kind Regards, John