OMIGOD !!

[bigzed]

If you lads remember, in one of my previous posts I suggested that the previous homeowner in my house might have done a lot of the wiring himself because of the strange things I was encountering whilst checking around ?

Well, I think I have just confirmed that. I had a little problem with the heating a couple of days ago & the one thing I found that looked weird was the way the circulating pump was partially shuttered off, so I decided to remove it to check that I could get access to the wiring because I want to eventually feed the CH off it's own feed from the CU. This is what I found :-

This can't wait for the LABC to come round so I'm going to get this sorted, or at least make it safe until they do. I've seen it done in the past where a surface pattress is fitted with a choc-block & the wires terminated within, is this still OK ?

It's prolly gonna be the way I do it anyway for now but it would be nice if it's within the regs, then at least I can do it permanently.

Cheers

 

[Dartlec]

looks like a nice professional job

is there choc block under that tape or are the wires just twisted together?

A surface pattress is fine and perfectly ok as far as the regs go - just make sure the unsheathed parts of the cables are fully contained within the box and fit a blank plate on the front. It must of course remain accessible for future checks.

The two I have seen recently have both had the same multi terminal junction box for all the timer and thermostat wires, but not sure if they are still available.

 

[bigzed]

looks like a nice professional job is there choc block under that tape or are the wires just twisted together?

Judging by the size of the joint, I can't believe that there is any sort of mechanical connection under that tape. I would be surprised if there is any solder either.

I just can't believe what people will do to save a few quid. Maybe there ought to be more safety programs on TV or better still, at schools, to try to get the danger of mains electricity through to people.

 

[333rocky333]

It may all be supplied from the spur what does the boiler , so it will be fused there.

It also may need a sfcu by the pump

You can get a central heating wiring box this has clamps and row of labelled connecters which makes faultfinding easier,or some just put in a box with connecters. with a lid on it

 

[Softus]

I've seen it done in the past where a surface pattress is fitted with a choc-block & the wires terminated within, is this still OK ?

Very much so. You might want to use one of the purpose made products by Honeywell or Drayton, with 10 or 12 connector blocks inside and a lot of room to capture the cabling.

Honeywell also do one with a PCB inside and fully labelled connections, but sometimes those ones are more trouble than they're worth.

 

[dingbat]

Maybe there ought to be more safety programs on TV or better still...

... or better still, a couple of hundred, well-publicised, serious electrical mishaps a year would do it.

 

[bigzed]

You might want to use one of the purpose made products by Honeywell or Drayton, with 10 or 12 connector blocks inside and a lot of room to capture the cabling.

Sounds good Softus, would those be available at any of the sheds ? Most of the Electrical Shops shut in Hull on Saturday at dinnertime & I've only just got up I need time to come to life.

 

[Space cat]

From what I can see there's something else wired in parallel with your pump. It's on that cable going up and slightly right. I would also guess that live power - hopefully fused somewhere - comes in at the bottom and that the remaining wire, looping over the upper valve spindle, goes to whatever controls the pump.

Does your boiler go on and off in time with the pump? It will do this if that mystery wire goes to the gas valve. That was common on big old boilers with lots of thermal mass in them but --

Modern boilers with small heat exchangers often have a pump run-on switch, the purpose of which is to keep the pump running for a minute or so after the gas goes off. If you don't do this, the water in the boiler overheats when the pump stops and this can trip a thermal switch which must be manually reset. What was that problem you had with your heating?

 

[bigzed]

From what I can see there's something else wired in parallel with your pump. It's on that cable going up and slightly right.

The four wires in view are as follows :-

A three core flex, wired into a PLUG !!!! plugged into a double socket in the Boiler Cupboard, which is off the upstairs ring (another bit of re-wiring I have to do then )

Feed to the Pump

Feed into the boiler - gas-valve I suppose

Control from the Programmable Room stat

What was that problem you had with your heating?

I got an air-lock after bleeding the radiators because the F&E tank ball-cock had stuck up.

 

[Softus]

Sounds good Softus, would those be available at any of the sheds ?

I don't know about any sheds - possible a huge B&Q might have them. Otherwise you're likely to find one in a plumbers' merchant than in an electrical outlet.

 

[bigzed]

I don't know about any sheds - possible a huge B&Q might have them. Otherwise you're likely to find one in a plumbers' merchant than in an electrical outlet.

Cheers Softus, I'll have a quick look in B&Q 2morrow after I've been to the tip.

 

[securespark]

Certainly B & Q Warehouses have them.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?isSearch=true&fh_search=wiring+centre&selected=products

 

[Space cat]

A three core flex, wired into a PLUG !!!!

It could have been worse. It could have been wired straight into the back of the socket.

The plug is safe enough if you have the right sized fuse in it but it's messy - and annoying if somebody pulls it out to use the socket. I once stayed the night in a friend's house over New Year and woke up freezing because the room heater, a big fan assisted radiator, had gone off. We followed the wire (flat twin and earth) down through the floor into the room below and guess what. There was a plug on it!

If that socket isn't a spur itself you can spur off it to an FCU for your pump and boiler.

I got an air-lock after bleeding the radiators because the F&E tank ball-cock had stuck up.

Fair enough; I just wondered. It was one of those 'make my day' moments.