rewire house

[diydamian]

hi guys, I had a sparky inspect my wiring and he said I needed the following,

Description of non-conformaties to current IEE Wiring regulations, on visual
inspection.
1, Equipotential bonding to water to small, also in wrong place.
2, No RCD to ground sockets or to shower.
3, No equipotential bonding to gas.
4, Cross bonding required to bathroom.
5. Isolator switch required to to shower.
6, Main incoming tails to small for TN-S system.
7, Main earthing conductor to small for TN-S system.
8, New consumer unit required.

i would be grateful if some one could explain in plain english, what he means. I just want to make sure the guy isn't baffling me with jargon just to rip me off!
cheers, damian

 

[delmel]

Sounds like he has done an inspection and advised you of requirements to bring your installation up to current standards. All of what is listed would be expected on an old installtion. Cant believe the shower was never isolated, dodgy people about.

 

[kevplumb]

and in english it mean's
BTW i understand it but i am just a humble plumber who is not adverse to asking the people that know for advice

as i am sure the sparks will tell you

 

[Damocles]

A non conformity to current regulations does not necessarily mean something is dangerous. Just that it would not be done that way now. It is very likely there are lots of houses exactly the same as yours all over the country. As new wiring is done these are gradually brought up to current standards. From the list you give it is probable that your house is still just as safe as when it was originally done. He has not mentioned anything like rotting cables or unusable sockets/switches which would require urgent attention.

Tails are wires from the suppliers fuse to your counsumer unit. It is quite likely that if the existing setup is old then they are smaller than current specifications. Similarly where he talks about earthing conductors. Impossible to say whether he is telling you the truth because we do not know what size they actually are. Quite probably he is. I hope nothing is fabric or rubber covered original wiring?

TN-S describes how the earthing works, there are different versions. It is relevant to the size of cables needed but not the only issue. Cabling is frequently specified now assuming you have a 100 Amp supply, but you might only have 80, 60 or even a 40A main fuse.

Cross bonding and equipotential bonding may be a new invention since your installation was new. Cross bonding in a bathroom frequently does not exist. The equipotential bonding to the water pipe now serves a slightly different purpose to what it once did. It may originally have been with the idea of boosting your earth. Now it is to make sure if the pipework somehow became live it would be immediately shorted to earth.

RCD is now specified for any socket powering equipment which might be used outdoors. As far as I know it is still not required for anything else, though it is recommended. Probably a good idea to have it for all sockets rather than just downstairs. An RCD is an additional safety measure which can switch off power faster in the event of certain kinds of fault.

Shower should have some kind of off switch near it, though showers are designed to work safely permanently powered up.

A new consumer unit would be the neatest way to add an RCD. Presumably you now have rewireable push in fuses? A new CU would use mcbs with little switches which are handier to switch off individually and a lot less hassle to switch back on after a fault. No risk of using the wrong fusewire. But how often do you have to replace a fuse?

Be aware that if he fits 6A type B mcb to your lighting circuits (which is often done), they will very likely switch off power to all the lights whenever a bulb blows. Get something different fitted if this will annoy you.

Did he actually dismantle and test anything or just look at it? Testing the cables may reveal other faults which are actually more dangerous than anything mentioned.

An RCD may reveal earth leakage on circuits or from other equipment in your house which while not actually dangerous would mean more work might have to be done to sort out problems. Is this included in the price?

Make sure a new CU has spare slots for future additions to the wiring.

 

[diydamian]

cheers damocles, that makes things a bit clearer. Does anybody know who is responsible for the tails from the suppliers fuse. If they need changing, is it the householders responsibility or the suppliers?

 

[plugwash]

its technically the suppliers responsibility but recs sometimes have rather dubious definations of ok for theese things so some sparks swap them anyway.

be warned that changing the tails from cutout to meter will most likely involve opening the cut out (not just pulling the fuse) and fully exposing the incoming live terminal.