Strange looking socket...

[emmamason]

Hi,

I have a strange socket in my bedroom and I hoped somebody here would know what it is. It has an on/off switch in the centre and then just a hole (about 1cm dia) at the bottom left. I've attached a couple of pictures. I tried replacing it with a normal socket but it doesn't seem to work.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Emma

 

[Chri5]

It's some sort of old cord flex outlet for a fixed applicance such as a heater or even a night storage heater.

No surprises for it not working, it could have been part of a decommisioned heating circuit.

How many cables were there behind the switch and what state were they in?

 

[emmamason]

There was just one cable with blue, green and black wires in a good state. I've been in the loft to try and trace the cable but I need another pair of eyes because I'm not sure I'm pulling the right one.

The previous owner had oil central heating installed 5 years ago and there is an old fuse box which is disconnected so you are probably right about it being a decommisioned heating circuit.

Do you think it's safe to assume that this cable is not live since the socket I tried didn't work? If so, is it safe to just tuck it behind the wall and fill the hole?

Thanks very much for your help.

Emma

 

[RF Lighting]

No, if it is part of an off peak heating system then the cable may come live at night time.

The best thing to do is to trace the cable and either remove it completely, or have the cable reconnected to a proper supply.

 

[plugwash]

If there is a spare way in your existing CU you could fit a 32A or 40A breaker in it and wire it to the input of the old heating CU. Then you should be able to re-use the old heating circuits for sockets.

 

[ColJack]

"blue green and black" wires do not sound as though they are right.. even if they seem in a good condition, the aparent age of the fitting itself sugests that it is a quite old install..

I would recruit another pair of eyes, and pull the cable back up into the loft, terminate it in a JB just to be on the safe side, or if you can remove it all the way back to it's source..

 

[emmamason]

Plugwash, the fuse box has the following slots:

30 amp - sockets throughout the house
30 amp - cooker
5 amp - inside lights
5 amp - loft and outside lights

So I think this means there isn't a "spare way" - please excuse my ignorance if I've totally misunderstood this.

ColJack, all the wiring in this house is the old style blue, green and black.

Think I'll do what you suggest and pull the cable back into the loft and terminate it there.

Thanks for your help.

Emma

 

[davy_owen_88]

Old wiring colours were red for live and black for neutral.
New colours are brown for live and blue for neutral.

If you have blue and black then you have some pretty messed up wiring

 

[Chri5]

Plugwash, the fuse box has the following slots:

30 amp - sockets throughout the house
30 amp - cooker
5 amp - inside lights
5 amp - loft and outside lights

So I think this means there isn't a "spare way" - please excuse my ignorance if I've totally misunderstood this.

Look at the consumer unit and if you see blanking plates either side or one side then the fuse box can take an extra circuit or it's got a "spare way".

ColJack, all the wiring in this house is the old style blue, green and black.

Think I'll do what you suggest and pull the cable back into the loft and terminate it there.

As mentioned the two conventions for wiring in the last 25+ years are either - Black- N, Red-Live with Green or G/Yellow earth. More recently (last few years) Blue, brown and G/Y.

Emma- to help you sort this out, would you post some pictures? and having turned off fuses / isolated circuits provide some more detailed cable pictures.
The colours you mention are not 'code' so unless you're colour blind the house wiring is starting to sound a bit wrong

 

[Adam_151]

Not done on the shy by one of our western european pals is it? the colours would make sense then!, I'm assuming you haven't got flat T&E?

Just be glad it wasn't done to Eastern european pre-harmonisation standards!

 

[ChrisRogers]

my grans flat built in 1990 was wired with singles in conduit... but the singles were blue GY and red!

Blue and black wouldn't surprise me!

 

[emmamason]

Sorry, not colour blind - just a bit thick.

The wires are green, red and black - no sign of anything blue.

I've attached a picture of the fuse boxes and meter. One of the fuse boxes is disconnected. I'm thinking maybe this is where the unidentified cable goes to...

 

[RF Lighting]

As your meter already supplies two sets of tails (not really very good) you would be best off having a henly block installed and feeding all the tails from this

 

[JohnD]

looks like a curiously installed TNC-S

the new CU does not appear to my eye to be connected to the supplier's earth

The method of disconnecting the obsolete CU (presumably from an off-peak supply that has been removed) looks very amateurish.

It would be possible to reuse the of-peak circuits (I expect they will turn out to be 15A radials) but the switch you found looks extremely old so I would not be very trusting of them.

You ought to have a Main switch (before the Henley) so you can isolate the entire installation with a single switch.

An earth block would be convenient.