Relocating Existing Double Power Sockets

[Jacobs53]

Hi All,

I am a new member to this website and I hope you can help me fix my current problems - at the moment I have a building site for a living room

We are completely overhauling our living room and we thought it would be nice to purchase a flat screen TV and have it mounted to the wall. The existing TV we had was an old tube type and it was just on a shelf, however the plug sockets and TV arial point are not suitable for our wall mount plans.

Therefore, I have done the following:

How the Wires were before I started any work:

Double socket, metal backbox chased into wall and two cables which are also chased into the wall upto the ceiling.
Arial socket, metal backbox chased into wall and one cable which is also chased into the wall upto the ceiling.

What I have done:

I have located the wires which feed the double socket, by pulling up the floor boards in the bedroom above, and I have cut the wires and fitted two 20A junction boxes. I have fitted one wire into each junction box and fitted two lengths of 2.5mm cable to feed the new power sockets - in essence the junction box is just allowing me to connect the old wires to the new wires.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pvdqws2t8hbxkw3/20140223_130642.jpg

What I need to know is:

1) Is it OK to wire the cables using the configuration outlined above?
2) For the old cables which are still in the wall and dead (I have tried to remove but they are solid into the wall), is it ok just to plaster straight over the old metal backboxes?
3) Since there is now a combination of old and new power wires, I need to put a warning label on the fusebox for the applicable circuit?
4) The new wires which I have fitted have been fitted into quite a large recess and will be encapsulated in oval conduct, does the conduct need to be secured to the plasterboard? I know it has to be vertical or horizontal and cannot be a mixture of both.
5) Before powering up the new circuit will it require certification? I am assuming I am just adding new sockets to an existing circuit, so I don't believe it does..?

Sorry for the list of questions but I want to ensure I do this right, I have been lots of sources and some are extremely conflicting.

Thank You
Lee

 

[sparkwright]

You should use two 30 amp junction boxes, not 20 amp.

Maintenance free ones, as they are unaccessible. They may be known as 32 amp, not 30 amp.

Is this a ring circuit?

If you're certain the old cables are completely dead, cut off flush and plaster over, if it's too difficult to remove them.

You can plaster over the old boxes, but best to remove them if you can, as they could get in the way in the future if you need to drill a hole.

You should fit a label at the fuse box to show there are two different wiring colours, but it's hardly going to make any difference in real life.

I assume the wall is blockwork that's been plasterboarded over. If so, nail the edges of the capping to the blockwork with galvanised clout nails.

I assumed plasterboard as you said plasterboard, though looking at your pictures in your other post, this may not be the case.

 

[Jacobs53]

Hi Sparkwright,

Thank you so much for replying, I was waiting for a response to ensure I am actually going in the right direction... sounds like I am..... phew.

You should use two 30 amp junction boxes, not 20 amp.

Maintenance free ones, as they are unaccessible. They may be known as 32 amp, not 30 amp.

OK I will change these for the correct rating. I take it I am OK to connect the circuit using this configuration though?

Is this a ring circuit?

I believe it is, where one wire enters the plug socket and then another wire goes from the plug socket and continues the circuit to another plug socket.

If you're certain the old cables are completely dead, cut off flush and plaster over, if it's too difficult to remove them.

Yes they are definitely dead, I have checked and double checked.

You can plaster over the old boxes, but best to remove them if you can, as they could get in the way in the future if you need to drill a hole.

Good advice, I will remove them from the wall.

You should fit a label at the fuse box to show there are two different wiring colours, but it's hardly going to make any difference in real life.

I'll fit a label just to be compliant with the regs.

I assume the wall is blockwork that's been plasterboarded over. If so, nail the edges of the capping to the blockwork with galvanised clout nails.

Unfortuntely, not. There is a layer of plasterboard over two sets of brick walls ends, Imagine a "U" shape where the two vertical lines are the bricks and the bottom is the plasterboard. Therefore, I can nail the capping to the sides of the brickwall ends but the cable will have to travel intowards the socket or I can attach directly to the backside of the plasterboard with bonding.

 

[sparkwright]

You should check the two old cables are directly on the ring.

If so, extend the ring, so each socket has two cables.