Ring main and spurs

[SamP]

Hi

I am wanting to add more sockets in our bedroom, and on looking under the floor boards at the wireing have discivered the following. It is only a 2 bed house and we only have one ring main for the whole house. The house was rewired several years ago, before I purchased the house. I think the sparky was a cowboy and I'm really not happy with the state of the electrics in the house. We have cables running along skirting boards and the CU was not replaced when the house was rewired, instead the old fuse wire fuses were replaced with RCD's. I have since had a new CU installed when I fitted a new shower which required a new thicker cable installing and higher rated RCD. The lights in our extension have also been powered from the ring main instead of the lighting circuit, DOH.

Anyway, back to the the extra sockets in the bedroom. The first socket on the ring is in the bedroom, where I want another double socket next to it. The feed runs from the CU into this socket then out into a junction box which carries on to the next socket in the bedroom and also creates a spur to a socket downstairs in the lounge. This same practice is true for a socket on the other side of the bedroom, with a junction box to create a spur to a socket on the other side of the lounge. I am presuming this is true for other rooms as well.

What I want to know is this just the sparky being lazy not wanting to run two cables to each socket in the lounge (keeping them on the rung main) or is this standard practice. I would have thought that if a house is being rewired the sparkey would want to minimise the use of spurs as much as possible.

What do you guys think.

Thanks

Sam

 

[marcam]

I am an electrical apprentice now have been for 5 years just about to start my testing course, i belive that the electrician has been lazy, there should be 2 cables (size in mm depending on the run) 2.5mm2 in normal houses in each socket/s. a ring main should be fed from both ways from the same breaker, providing this is done you are allowed one spur off of each socket on the ring main to go off and do what ever (washing machines lights etc etc) i cannot how ever understand why he has spured off of the sockets, the spurs aren't going into off into anything else are they? they just go off to do other sockets right? are they ns/w or sw spurs?

 

[ColJack]

SPUR: a branch from a circuit to feed another accessory..
FUSED SPUR: same as above but done via a fused connection.. ( these can be switched or unswitched variety.. )

spurs don't have to go from a socket, the JB method is acceptable providing the JB is accessible for periodic testing and inspection..

number of spurs must not exceed total number of sockets on the main circuit

nothing wrong with having the lights fed from a fused spur on the ring.. sometimes easiest way to do it in new extensions.. fused switched spur can be used as the light switch..

the sparky was either being lazy, or the customer didn't want the downstairs chased out so he re-used existing drops and could only get a single T+E down..

as long as the customer was made aware of the facts at the time then he did nothing wrong ( technically )..

the customer sets the spec and as long as it's done to the regs the customer gets what they want ( or you don't get / take the job.. ).

 

[marcam]

yeah i suppose your right but i couldnt see where he stated what the spurs where for??? and i thought a floor had been laid and that they were unable to be tested etc, but i agree that the customer being notified and okay with the installations is perfectly fine.

 

[marcam]

If you check out any electrical books a ring main should be fed from both ways, hence making a "ring" if it is not fed from both ways, and has only 1 cable to it then its classed as a radial cct. However the sparks who done the house should do it according to the regulations as well as the client. So if the client dosent want the downstairs to be chased out, to complete the ringmain, then he can only have a radial cct, or none at all.

How many wires are in each JB, there should be 3, feed in, feed out and then the link up to the socket, thats not the ideal way of doing it but it works. Only problem with doin it this way is that you put a bigger strain on that link.

And as long as the lighting comes off a fused spur, say down to 6A that is all ok.