Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!

[pirate]

To be fair, I would have been happy if it was a proper stainless steel Jubilee clip...the bzp skimpy ones are just rubbish!
You can also avoid corrosion by using a plastic cable tie...they won't harm the armouring at all!

 

[Raptor0014]

4 x 2.5 plug socket radials into one 32a MCB.

 

[ChipFanDave]

To be fair, I would have been happy if it was a proper stainless steel Jubilee clip...the bzp skimpy ones are just rubbish!
You can also avoid corrosion by using a plastic cable tie...they won't harm the armouring at all!

Not sure you should be using stainless steel on SWA as the armour strands are galvanised. Looks like it should be the cable tie!

 

[Dustydazzler]

The 4 x 2.5 cables in the 32a mcb isn't that uncommon

A mate I know fits garage roller doors , if the consumer unit is in the garage he will wire a 2.5 straight into a 32a mcb

I have tried to explain to him this is a 'new circuit' be he literally don't give a sh!t and has done 100s of electric garage doors

 

[Raptor0014]

The 4 x 2.5 cables in the 32a mcb isn't that uncommon

A mate I know fits garage roller doors , if the consumer unit is in the garage he will wire a 2.5 straight into a 32a mcb

I have tried to explain to him this is a 'new circuit' be he literally don't give a sh!t and has done 100s of electric garage doors

Now I’ve always been of the understanding that a single 2.5 radial circuit can’t be any more than 20a. Regardless of how many conductors you shoehorn in.

I was also told not more than 2 conductors in any MCB but often see 3 and 4. Especially with light and smoke detector combined circuits.

But that could have just been a ‘personal regulation’ from Guru Graham (my instructor).

 

[pc1966]

2.5mm feeding multiple sockets should be on 20A, but you could use 32A for fault protection if fixed loads per circuit.

I still would not do it!

 

[littlespark]

You can spur from a 32A mcb if the other cables form a ring…
But agree that this is a radial circuit with 4 branches from source, and should be 16 or 20A depending on routing and load.

 

[brianmoooore]

The four 2.5mm2 radials are OK as long as there is a maximum of one 2G 13A socket on the end of each. I.e., a maximum load of 20A each.
If any of the radials feeds more than one socket, then a 13A FCU should be connected before the string of sockets, OR, as any sane person would do, the 32A MCB should be replaced by a 20 or 16A.
There is no limit to the number of wires to a MCB, as long as their total csa doesn't exceed the maximum for the terminal, and they are fitted in such a way that they are all secure.
I recently attended a "lighting MCB trips RCD" event, and found no less that 8 x 1.0mm2 connected to the MCB. Tracing the fault to just one light took minutes, without any floorboard lifting.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Seen quite a few older installs with 5 or 6 x 1mm cables in a single 6a mcb

Usually things like door bell and under stair light all rammed in the same mcb

 

[brianmoooore]

Mine was one that had 'grown' since the original install. The faulty circuit was one that I had actually added when I fitted a new central heating boiler. Boiler is in a W.C, accessed from outside, and I fitted an IP55 light switch inside the door, with a 20mm conduit up into the ceiling. A shower enclosure has since been fitted in the bathroom above, and it has a small leak, directly above the top of my conduit. Switch was half full of water.
What are the odds?

 

[telectrix]

What are the odds?

just in from betfred. water 10, electrics 0. remember to bet sensible. have a (beer) break.

 

[SparkySy]

Many years ago I went to a call out where the customer said they were getting socks off the kitchen wall, there was a leak on a shower above the kitchen in the property that was making the wall damp. It was also finding its way down the capping to the cooker switch, the face of which was glued on with congealed fat. Upon its detachment from the wall some minging water poured out. It had made it to the outgoing side of the switch but must have been draining at much the same rate as it was filling. The 30a 3036 fuse hadn't noticed it as the earth had been terminated into a terminal on the plastic sunk in backbox, so the water level never reached it!

 

[brianmoooore]

Water could run across the ceiling and down the capping in your case, but mine was 20mm HD round conduit that ended well above the ceiling level, so the leak would have to be exactly above it.

 

[telectrix]

at last.i find another person that hangs his socks on the kitchen wall. wear for a month/. throw on wall.if they stick. put in wash with 'erindoors' 3 0 pairs of knickers.

 

[SparkySy]

That is some unlucky situation for it to be exactly above the 20mm conduit!

 

[Raptor0014]

Spent 6hrs today trying to find a break in a ring circuit and why it kept tripping the RCD

I think I need to make a mental note next time to check for spurious junction boxes in the shower.

After spending an hour rummaging around the loft (it was a bungalow) tracing cable routes, which in itself was no mean feat as it was like a snake mating ball up there.

I traced a cable from a socket going down into the bathroom.

So I went into the bathroom and found this on the opposite wall to the shower above the bath..

Alarm bells started ringing when I saw the wood screws rather than machined screws.

When I took the cover off I found the problem.

Lives just touching but not even taped. Neutral was the same although they at least had some tape over.

Apparently this was done by a qualified electrician…. (Del’s famous quip springs to mind here).

But I don’t doubt it wasn’t the little old dear that lived there.

Having done all the usual ways of testing a ring to find a break I was baffled as to why I couldn’t find it. Which is why I eventually went up in to the loft and started moving boarding and insulation to check the cable routes.

Obviously I wasn’t expecting some plank to have done a joint in a bathroom. Well at least trying to!

 

[Mike Johnson]

The wood screws retaining a socket or plate are always a good indicator of what may be underneath, your little old dear also needs a good new extractor in that room or at least a working one.

 

[littlespark]

A lot of houses of a certain age had a high point like that for a bathroom heater, and on the rfc.

No way a proper electrician didn’t have a couple of bits of connector in his pocket

 

[Raptor0014]

The wood screws retaining a socket or plate are always a good indicator of what may be underneath, your little old dear also needs a good new extractor in that room or at least a working one.

Yeah I did tell her she needs one and to at least open the window occasionally.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Is the property privately owned or council? I am just thinking of health issues for the old dear.

Funny how perspectives change, I am classed as an old boy by the 50 : 60 year olds around here to the point of during the pandemic height I was asked if I needed any shopping, that made me sit up and re-assess a few things in my life.