My Complete DIY Rewire
- Thread starter PreferNotToDieOrBurn
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So this weekend I did two things:
I had an electrical engineer friend come to take a look at my work. His words "It's not how a pro might do it, but it's definitely safe and to regs" - This guy has done houses, wind farms, and now electric buses.
I also went to see new electrics installed in a Victorian era property. Four apartments. In many respects this guys work was messy and a bit lazy. It was good to see a "professional" job, and I feel I'm doing a pretty well relatively. (in many ways better)
Research, and feedback. I feel a lot better about this now.
I also did some more hot-gluing and to be entirely frank it's absolutely fantastic for holding cables in a stone chase.
I had an electrical engineer friend come to take a look at my work. His words "It's not how a pro might do it, but it's definitely safe and to regs" - This guy has done houses, wind farms, and now electric buses.
I also went to see new electrics installed in a Victorian era property. Four apartments. In many respects this guys work was messy and a bit lazy. It was good to see a "professional" job, and I feel I'm doing a pretty well relatively. (in many ways better)
Research, and feedback. I feel a lot better about this now.
I also did some more hot-gluing and to be entirely frank it's absolutely fantastic for holding cables in a stone chase.
Two 2.5mm and a 1.5mm cable in a chase... this is a wall with some very crumbly old plaster and very old uneven brickwork underneath.
I know hot glue isn't a popular method but I don't need something fancy, I just need something that works, and hot glue works very very well!
Do you really need that much !
Won't a blob every 6 - 12 inches do ?
Won't a blob every 6 - 12 inches do ?
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This bloke just ignores every bit of advice, isn't interested in professional standards, and will do it his way regardless.
Shame, I thought he might take on board our advice.
I am withdrawing from this topic.
Shame, I thought he might take on board our advice.
I am withdrawing from this topic.
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Ring circuits have their place and I still install them where I feel they are the best circuit to use in a given scenario, but I agree it's poor design to wire ALL socket circuits as rings.
The UK ring circuit is such a tremendously wonderful invention that it is mostly used in houses (and small shops/offices).
One of the principles is that on one floor of a house you will want plenty of sockets, but almost all of these will be for low loads (TV, table lamp etc) and there is unlikely to be more than two heavy 3kW loads (fan heater, washing machine) in use at a time, and each heavy load will be occasional or intermittent.
In an industrial environment you can expect to have quite a lot of people, possibly wanting to connect lots of things, all of which may be in use for the entire working day, so the expectation that there will not be more than two big loads does not hold good any more.
However, in a domestic environment, with the splendid UK fused plug, I think it is an excellent solution.
One of the principles is that on one floor of a house you will want plenty of sockets, but almost all of these will be for low loads (TV, table lamp etc) and there is unlikely to be more than two heavy 3kW loads (fan heater, washing machine) in use at a time, and each heavy load will be occasional or intermittent.
In an industrial environment you can expect to have quite a lot of people, possibly wanting to connect lots of things, all of which may be in use for the entire working day, so the expectation that there will not be more than two big loads does not hold good any more.
However, in a domestic environment, with the splendid UK fused plug, I think it is an excellent solution.
Those comments aren't really specific to rings - they relate to any situation (including radials) in which there are multiple sockets on a circuit which could not possibly sustain large loads plugged into several of the available sockets.
The one (and probably only) advantage of a ring final is that it allows 2.5mm² cable to be used for a 32A sockets circuit, with a possible small saving of copper/cost.
Th fact that all the sockets on a ring final will continue 'working' if the ring gets broken (e.g. by a loose connection) is really more of a hazard than an advantage.
Kind Regards, John
Then how can it be 'better' or worth doing?
It has a farthest point which is, in effect, wired in 5mm² which has a CCC of 54A but is limited to 32A.
As EFLI has pointed out, the ring's equivalent of 'the end' is 'the farthest point'. As he has also pointed out, the VD at that farthest point will be slightly less than that for a 4mm² radial, but only because the effective CSA of a ring final at that point is 5mm² - but that is very rarely going to be an issue/advantage in practice.
I confess that I still do very often use ring finals, but I accept that it's pretty hard to rationally justify the practice!
Kind Regards, John
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