Wiring a ring main myself.

[whatme]

Quick bit of advice:

My current property has an old 4 fuse pull out fuse board. I am looking to get this replaced with a modern CU.
A few months ago, I had the floorboards up in the whole of the downstairs and noticed the existing ring main had been cut in two and wired with lots of round joining connectors to new sockets, where the old storage heaters used to be. I.e. the old feed wires for the storage heaters had been connected to the ring main. This was done before I owned the property. This meant that the ring was now two radials, over two rooms (living and dining room). Whilst I had the floor up, I therefore laid a new continuous ring across both rooms, but did not connect it. I have left floor boards up where each socket currently is, so you can get to the new wires and feed them up the walls to the existing sockets. That was the idea anyway!

I have recently had an electrician in to quote for changing the CU and have asked him to wire the new ring main into the existing sockets. He said he would have to cut the skirting boards and channel out the plaster to allow the new cables to join with the old sockets so he can wire them up. This I wasn't expecting as I it is only a few inches from floor to socket through a well defined channel in the existing plaster. There is plenty of room to push the cable through.

So, (eventually), my question is: I am going to suggest to the electrician that I will wire up all the existing sockets myself, so I can spend my time routing the cable and do a neat job with out cutting anything. He can then fit the new CU and test the whole installation as part of that work. Any problems I can have the electrician rectify at my cost.

Before I suggest this to the electrician, is this allowed, or will he shoot me down?

And I am sure you're going to say "well surely the electrcian knows best what can and cannot be done" and you're probably right, but I would at least like to have a go a routing the cables. I cannot see any reason why the cable cannot be pushed/fed through through the existing channels. If I am wrong, then I will happily let the electrician fit the wires how he wants.

Thanks.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There is plenty of room to push the cable through.

Two cables per socket.

But if there really is room, why did the electrician say there wasn't?

 

[whatme]

There is plenty of room to push the cable through.

Two cables per socket.

But if there really is room, why did the electrician say there wasn't?

Apologies, I wasn't clear in my post, and I realise there is two per socket and have laid the cable like that.

Regarding the electrician, I am not sure why he thought this was a problem. When I questioned him about it, he just seems to say it would need the skirting cutting and the wall chasing in.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Normally you can get behind the skirting, depending on the depth and floor joists allowing. Unless the existing cables are conduit(still difficult to get two sets of T&E in) or you have stud walls or dot'n'dab walls. It will be difficult to route cables without some damage to the fabric of the walls.
You say you have already routed cable in floor void, did you follow the permitted routes and hole size, within any joists that required holing?

If you doubt what the electrician is telling you, my advice would be to get a second/third opinion. It's okay asking advise on a forum, but sometimes it is difficult to tell you what is needed, without being there and seeing what you actually have.

 

[richardrich79]

I'm not an electrician so cannot comment on that side but our current home used to be a student let & therefore had the minimum spent on it.
However it was totally re-wired 5 years ago and most cables were surface mounted in conduit.
I'm currently busy chasing everything in, you could ask your sparks to surface mount the cables in a bit of stick on plastic conduit and chase it in afterwards.
I asked the original electrician who did our re-wire if that would be ok (here) and he was more than happy for me to go ahead.

 

[whatme]

Many thanks for the help and advice.

The house was built in 1911, so there is a large void below the floor boards. All existing wires are laid on large gaps on the dwarf walls supporting the floor, or on the dirt sub floor. They then are routed through the plaster (standard plaster on brick, not plasterboard) in a channel with no conduit up to each socket. I have laid the new main in the same way, routing it through the same areas as the existing main - so replacing like for like.

My main concerns about this suggestion from the electrician are really only because I have had three quotes for the work and he is the only one who has suggested cutting the skirting and walls to fit the new cables in. The other two electricians were more than happy to route the cables through the existing channels when I showed them sockets. The problem was, one guy never got back to me with a quote and the other guy wanted to charge £1500 for changing a CU and wiring up the sockets, where as this guy has come back with a price which seems more in line with what I was expecting for this job. I don't doubt his expertise, I think I just want things to be done with the least amount of disruption!

Thanks again for advice. I'll have a chat with the electrician today and see what he suggests.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

It could well be that the electrician is covering their own back, just in case it is impossible to route cable without causing any damage.

In my experience I have found that it is near impossible to avoid damage to the walls, but I can often get behind skirting board without too many problems. The other issue would be whilst avoiding damaging the wall or skirting, would pulling the cable through, actual cause damage to the cable, as this must also be avoided.

If you have routed the cable through existing holes within joist, it could well be that these holes are not located in compliance to the building regs, with regards to avoiding mechanical damage via penetration from below or above. So they should not be routed if the distance between top and bottom of the joist, and the outer part of the hole is less than 50mm or they must be mechanically protected. It's a new circuit you are installing, so it must comply to current standards. Not like for like!
//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:installation_techniques:route

 

[riveralt]

This I wasn't expecting as I it is only a few inches from floor to socket.

If I was getting it done I would get the job done properly and raise the sockets to a reasonable height.
A few inches from the floor simply invites them and/or the plugs to be damaged and could put a strain on the plug/cable.