Wiring in my house seems a bit off

[Shaddaz]

Hi All

I live in a mid terrace (I rent it) and I have just gone to change a socket as the switches on it would not turn on or off

Anyway took the cover off (yes I Isolated the ring) and found 3 lots of cables in there nothing to off with that as I thought it was going to a spur at the other side of the conservatory so I checked that one and it had 2 sets of cables Indicating it is still on the ring

So I go into the Kitchen open it up to find 4 sets of cables in there I track it back into the dining room open up and another set of 4 in a single socket

Confused? Yeah me to......


only thing I can think of is the Landlord or some other cowboy has tried to extend the ring by just adding on from the back of the sockets and there is a few more like it

So my question is....

How safe is it ?
Should I limit use and to what type of items?
anything else i should consider?

 

[AndyPRK]

What size MCB are the sockets on ?

If its 32A then yes it needs more investigation.

If 20A not a worry

 

[DaftPunk]

Do you have your landlords permission to be messing around with his electrical installation?

 

[ericmark]

In my dads house he extended from the original 5 sockets with spur off spur and only those using metric cable have had problems. 7/029 cable is thicker than 2.5mm and so cable size is important.

We can use 4mm and 6mm in sockets although the latter is a bit of a tight squeeze and there is nothing wrong in using a 32A radial circuit using 4mm cable. Where the problem arises is where some one thinks it is a ring and extends it with 2.5mm.

The rules don't permit extending a 2.5mm ring with a 4mm spur but in real terms it would not cause a danger to spur with 4mm and feed a whole line of sockets unless taken from near the start/end of the ring.

The ring system has a special set of rules which if followed means the designer does not need to work out the currents involved this is why you can't use 4mm from the ring as one would need to know how close to the start/end of ring.

So although what you have found likely means there is some departure from the regulations it does leave you in a bit of a fix. As rented property you should not be touching the electrics so how can you complain about something you should be unaware of?

To find out if correct or not would require an "Electrical Installation Condition Report" (EICR was called a PIR) which is to be carried out on change of occupant so one should have been done before you moved in. As to if you can view the report I am not sure you could claim you need a copy for your insurance and try to get a copy.

An EIRC is duel edged it does ensure safe when you move in but also means there is a record so if you alter anything it's easy to put blame on you.

As to danger. In real terms using low powered items is unlikely to cause a problem only when people use high power for an extended time is there likely to be a problem. Electric fire, or tumble drier is really a problem to a lesser extent cooker or washing machine as these will switch on and off so unlikely to run for long enough pulling maximum current to cause a problem.

I have found damaged cable and it was used by a 3kW electric fire. Else where in spite of many spurs from spur not found any damage.

So options if you think not right are limited much depends on your land lord. My sister rented out a house to some one she knew with the understanding they did all day to day repairs there was no contract as such and on her death there were loads of problems which is still on going where new land lord is saying unauthorised actions were taken and tenant saying it was authorised. Including the solicitors trying to say the tenant was a guest not a tenant. With one house the locks were changed while the tenant was away and police warned they would arrest the tenant if they tried to gain access.

There is a good reason both ways for a written contract. As to law v advised often hard to work out but if I had removed socket and found something wrong I would have replaced it as it was and contacted land lord. I would expect a scheme member electrician to do the work and I would expect he would write a report as to the faults found.

Although there is nothing to say who should write an EICR other than they have the skill required in real terms they would need to be a scheme member in order to have the insurance cover required.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Hi All

I live in a mid terrace (I rent it) and I have just gone to change a socket as the switches on it would not turn on or off

Not your problem. It's the landlord's property. You pay rent, he fixes stuff. Thats the rental deal.