Using old cable colours

[stuartR1963]

Hi, I know the wiring colors changed long ago 2006 I believe, My house is fairly modern 1995 ish and has the original red and black. I am planning to fit a light in the attic as well as fixing putting in flooring. I conveniently have a roll of 1mm red and black twin and earth in my garage, it is in good nick and no signs of damage,I would much rather use this instead of mixing the house with new colors I am wondering if you are still allowed to use old color twin and earth?
I know its a no no for new properties and you would have to go out your way to obtain old twin and earth colors such as fleabay ect.
However is it okay to use for your own house? providing you have old colour wiring as my house does and is installed in a safe fashio obviously.
Or is it a complete no no? So I would need to buy the "new" brown and blue" twin and earth.
cheers

 

[securespark]

You can happily add Blue/ Brown to an install with Red/ Black as long as you add a "two colours" sticker.

Or you can use Red/ Black where you already have Red/ Black installed.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Hi, I know the wiring colors changed long ago 2006 I believe, My house is fairly modern 1995 ish and has the original red and black. I am planning to fit a light in the attic as well as fixing putting in flooring. I conveniently have a roll of 1mm red and black twin and earth in my garage, it is in good nick and no signs of damage,I would much rather use this instead of mixing the house with new colors I am wondering if you are still allowed to use old color twin and earth?

Depends what you mean by "allowed".

It is a contravention of the Wiring Regulations, but there's no reason why it can't be done and documented as a departure.

It is not a contravention of the actual law (Part P of the Building Regulations), and in fact, if you regard the warning notice as highlighting a possibly hazardous situation (hard to see what else would merit a big "CAUTION"), then if it's reasonable for you to use old colours then you must do so. A lot of people refuse to see the logic of that, though.

I know its a no no for new properties and you would have to go out your way to obtain old twin and earth colors such as fleabay ect.

But it would be totally unreasonable to do that...

 

[mattylad]

Your house is wired in the old colours.
You have a roll of the old colour.

Use the roll.

 

[EFLImpudence]

It must have been discussed before, but -

All that the regulations say is that conductors must be identified, either by colour or alphanumerically.
You may actually use whatever colour conductors you wish or have.

It does, though, say that, now, the identifying colours shall be the new harmonized colours, so, I suppose strictly speaking if using red and black nowadays they should be oversleeved with brown and blue - how ever unnecessary that may be if all the rest is red and black.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's unnecessary.

And if by doing so you then feel you should have the warning notice you should stop for a moment and ask yourself why you are gratuitously introducing a hazard.

 

[EFLImpudence]

I am just going by the wording of the regulation.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Indeed.

And on the question of the warning notice - would you feel that people should be warned about the oversleeving?

 

[EFLImpudence]

I suppose a warning notice, again according to the wording, should be used as two versions will (unnecessarily) be present.
If, instead of sleeving the red and black with brown and blue, one used 'L' and 'N' tags a warning notice could be avoided.

Although if some brown and blue sleeved red and black cable were used in a modern brown and blue installation then the notice would not be required.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Generally, do you think that warning notices are required because people's attention needs to be drawn to the presence of an unexpected hazard, or are they required when there are no such conditions to warn people of?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Generally I would say the former, although the warning notice in question is, in my view, just pointless and the latter - because the situation is so commonplace as to be neither unexpected nor a hazard.

 

[stuartR1963]

thanks guys, I will use the old roll in the garage. I will also look out for the warning sticker if I decide to add anything else in the future.
I thought it would be a shame for the old 1mm twin and earth to go to waste purely just for the colour of its insulation. Looks like I'm good to go
thanks again

 

[Notch7]

Maybe once the UK has left the EU, wiring colours will become unharmonized

Perhaps you should keep your black and red T&E in case it comes back in fashion.......

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Maybe once the UK has left the EU, wiring colours will become unharmonized

Perhaps you should keep your black and red T&E in case it comes back in fashion.......

This has nothing to do with the EU. This assumption is typical of the ** who voted for brexit.

 

[bernardgreen]

I once saw a house wired in singles, all purple of various ( appropriate ) cross sectional areas and yellow/green for the CPC. Each wire had a unique alpha-numeric identity with labels fitted at each end and a complete documented wiring plan using these identities had been created. Several rolls of more purple wire were in the garage.