My brother in law asked me a few weeks ago if I could move a 13amp twin socket in his bedroom to waist level as he had a broken back and now ha severe problems bending. I started on it this morning - just taking a break for an early lunch - oh my. He as lived in that house for 30 years and I am amazed he hasn't had problems.
His 'consumer unit' is an old Wylex model which has slots for 2x 5amp and 2x 30amp fuses, although one 30amp has been swapped out to 15amp (I'll come to that). I removed the 30amp - all sockets still live, I removed the 15amp, all sockets still alive, I removed the first 5amp all sockets still alive but all the house lights out (up and downstairs), so I came to the final 5amp, yes, you guessed that is where the upstairs ring main is routed.
The thing is, the 2.5 cable to this socket isn't that old, it's grey but I can't see a date on it and bro-in-L can't remember when someone installed it. The rest of that ring upstairs is white pvc with red/black core cable. So someone should have noticed this fuse box mess (he's the sort who would call in 'experts'). He had the kitchen re-wired 12 years ago, the only thing that was said then was that there was no earth to the gas pipe (the least of his problems!).
After going over the whole house I discovered that the 15amp fuse links to the emersion heater (which he hasn't used since it broke 15 years ago!) and a wall heater that used to be in the bathroom (disconnected several years ago).
The cable supplying the upstairs lights in the loft is rubber and connected (badly) to the fittings by using block terminals rather than junction boxes, the result being that some of the live wires have become exposed as the rubber sheathing has crumbled from the red & black inner core cable.
He can't afford a re-wire (been out of work for some time, savings spent), I can't afford to help him out either. The main fuse does not have an isolating switch, so to make things half safe I am thinking about re-wiring the light fittings to a junction box and cut back the rubber main/feed wire to that as a temporary measure. I know from my own experience with the rubber wire that it is usually just the exposed core (red/black) wire that becomes brittle once it is exposed, so cutting back should expose more flexible 'healthy' wire. Yeah, I know it's not perfect but he simply hasn't anything like to cash to get a sparks in!
However, I don't know what to do about the fuse situation right now - it's all terribly wrong, but it's been like that for at least 30 years!
Any helpful advice appreciated (please no lectures I know, he knows the place need a full re-wire but that is not possible on his budget)
His 'consumer unit' is an old Wylex model which has slots for 2x 5amp and 2x 30amp fuses, although one 30amp has been swapped out to 15amp (I'll come to that). I removed the 30amp - all sockets still live, I removed the 15amp, all sockets still alive, I removed the first 5amp all sockets still alive but all the house lights out (up and downstairs), so I came to the final 5amp, yes, you guessed that is where the upstairs ring main is routed.
The thing is, the 2.5 cable to this socket isn't that old, it's grey but I can't see a date on it and bro-in-L can't remember when someone installed it. The rest of that ring upstairs is white pvc with red/black core cable. So someone should have noticed this fuse box mess (he's the sort who would call in 'experts'). He had the kitchen re-wired 12 years ago, the only thing that was said then was that there was no earth to the gas pipe (the least of his problems!).
After going over the whole house I discovered that the 15amp fuse links to the emersion heater (which he hasn't used since it broke 15 years ago!) and a wall heater that used to be in the bathroom (disconnected several years ago).
The cable supplying the upstairs lights in the loft is rubber and connected (badly) to the fittings by using block terminals rather than junction boxes, the result being that some of the live wires have become exposed as the rubber sheathing has crumbled from the red & black inner core cable.
He can't afford a re-wire (been out of work for some time, savings spent), I can't afford to help him out either. The main fuse does not have an isolating switch, so to make things half safe I am thinking about re-wiring the light fittings to a junction box and cut back the rubber main/feed wire to that as a temporary measure. I know from my own experience with the rubber wire that it is usually just the exposed core (red/black) wire that becomes brittle once it is exposed, so cutting back should expose more flexible 'healthy' wire. Yeah, I know it's not perfect but he simply hasn't anything like to cash to get a sparks in!
However, I don't know what to do about the fuse situation right now - it's all terribly wrong, but it's been like that for at least 30 years!
Any helpful advice appreciated (please no lectures I know, he knows the place need a full re-wire but that is not possible on his budget)
