NO EARTH IN HOUSE, SAFETY ADVICE PLEASE!

[tingle2]

i moved into a rented house at the beginning of may and the electrical safetycheck was done middle of june, i was told it needed minor repairs but when they came to do the work on friday they had to earth the property from top to bottom,it turns out that it hasnt been earthed for at least five years.my question is, should i have been living in here or was it unfit for dwelling? i want to approach my landlord with at least some knowledge of how it should be, what are the dangers ect, any advice would be great, thank you

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What exactly was the problem?

"earth the property from top to bottom" reads as though none of the circuits had cpcs, which is possible for lighting but unlikely for anything else, and in any event it would all have been like that since the day it was installed, not just for the last 5 years. (Where did that time interval come from, BTW?).

What could have happened at any time was the loss of the main earth, but restoring that is not a "top to bottom" exercise.

The landlord should have had the check done sooner, and for a fault like you describe had it fixed ASAP, not left for weeks, because if you really did have no earth then you were in danger.

But now you aren't and fortunately you came to no harm, and presumably you didn't have any inconvenient restrictions such as no use of electricity, so although you may have a moral case for getting some of the back rent refunded, I don't rate your chances.

 

[tingle2]

hi again, sorry i wasn't clear enough, am not good with electrics. Right, i got the time frame from how long its been since the house was modernised and upgraded it was built in the 1930s, still has asbestos ceilings tho, so al tell you what the electricians did when they came and maybe you can tell me if am just panicking over nothing (have got 3 young children in the house so i worry alot). they started in the loft with earthing wire, down into the bathroom, underbath and sink and attached tags, under the floor through to the kitchen, to pipes under sink and just outside the kitchen was an earthing spike, not sure what this does but thats where this wire ended. They then earthed the boiler (oil fuled combi boiler)and the wire ran from the boiler to the fuse box in the kitchen and thats it, so was the house earthed origionally or had they forgotten to do it? the house seems to have been neglected anyway and has needed over forty repairs since i moved in, i just want to make sure that its ok for me an the kids, i got the electical surveyor from the housing association to visit but he just made me feel like crap for questioning him!

 

[bongos]

With the risk of me being wrong, it sounds like the electricians installed supplementary bonding.

You have not mentioned the main equipotential bonding. It is without this that the property would have been at its most dangerous.

Main bonding usually goes from your incoming earth (in this case your earth spike) to your fuse board/consumer unit. It should also connect from here to any incoming services such as gas/oil pipes and water.

This should be on your side of the incoming pipe and within 600mm of where it enters the property.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

they started in the loft with earthing wire, down into the bathroom, underbath and sink and attached tags,

So far that sounds as though they were applying supplementary equipotential bonding between the extraneous-conductive-parts in the bathroom and the circuits supplying the bathroom (e.g. lights, shower etc).

But then...

under the floor through to the kitchen, to pipes under sink

a) It should not have been extended beyond the bathroom
b) It's been a very long time since they got rid of the requirement for supplementary equipotential bonding in kitchens anyway.

and

and just outside the kitchen was an earthing spike, not sure what this does but thats where this wire ended.

Supplementary bonding does not go to earth.

I'm afraid it sounds as though your landlord employed people who didn't know what they were doing.

They then earthed the boiler (oil fuled combi boiler)and the wire ran from the boiler to the fuse box in the kitchen and thats it,

That could well have been main equipotential bonding for the incoming oil pipe, which should have gone back to the main earth terminal, either in the CU or near to it.

so was the house earthed origionally or had they forgotten to do it?

That we still don't know, as what you've been describing is bonding not earthing.

We don't know if your circuits have earth conductors, nor if the whole house has a main earth, or what type of supply earth it should have.

Can you take photos of the area around the incoming supply/main fuse/meter/consumer unit, and of the earth spike outside the kitchen, and post them here?

i got the electical surveyor from the housing association to visit but he just made me feel like rubbish for questioning him!

Housing Associations ought to be more reputable than a dodgy private landlord.

Write to them, and ask them to confirm in writing that the electricians they used were qualified and registered with a competent person scheme, and that they issued a certificate stating that the work they did was in compliance with the 17th Edition of The IET Wiring Regulations.