Estimated age for this sort of cabling?

[Goody]

Hi,

What could be age of cabling in a domestic environment if they are single strands for live & neutral with rubber insulation and non sheathed bare for the earth? Thanks in advance.

 

[Darkwood]

read this link its a good guide ..... AA Electrical Services

 

[telectrix]

could be pre WWII.

 

[vernam616]

VIR cabling

Come across some the other day, someone had left it in use after rewiring, used as strappers for landing light, the rewire had been done 25-30 years ago
I flicked the insulation and it all just fell apart

 

[GLENNSPARK]

i think VIR was in use until the 60s....then was replaced with the early PVC stranded ...which also lacked an integral CPC on lighting cable......

 

[RogertheBodger]

Was the cable in cleats? could have been 1920's

 

[Goody]

I first moved into a property some 20 years back and it had this sort of cabling then, must have been put there 20 or 25 years previous to that day. So in this case I can put down as 45 years. Thanks guys!

 

[micknew]

i think VIR was in use until the 60s....then was replaced with the early PVC stranded ...which also lacked an integral CPC on lighting cable......

When pvc lighting t&e came in it was available with or without cpc, the cheap jack firms usually used the latter.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

When pvc lighting t&e came in it was available with or without cpc, the cheap jack firms usually used the latter.

we still come across this PVC non CPCd stuff quite a bit in the renteds we service....

 

[Strima]

we still come across this PVC non CPCd stuff quite a bit in the renteds we service....

Just took a look at my brother in laws flat. 1950's build, all metal conduit in concrete and not a cpc in sight. Ex council property so the maintenance was done on the cheap, 10mm (or imperial equivalent) MI tails, luckily someone in the past has put a 10mm main earth in.

He wanted me the fit a new CU, until most of the IR tests came back low, something to be said for bs3036, some still had the original pre-shaped filament in unlike his lighting circuit protected by a paperclip... :earmuffs:

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Just took a look at my brother in laws flat. 1950's build, all metal conduit in concrete and not a cpc in sight. Ex council property so the maintenance was done on the cheap, 10mm (or imperial equivalent) MI tails, luckily someone in the past has put a 10mm main earth in.

He wanted me the fit a new CU, until most of the IR tests came back low, something to be said for bs3036, some still had the original pre-shaped filament in unlike his lighting circuit protected by a paperclip... :earmuffs:

eye...they dont like letting go do they..BS3036s....not unless their really pushed...lol...

 

[Engineer54]

Just took a look at my brother in laws flat. 1950's build, all metal conduit in concrete and not a cpc in sight. Ex council property so the maintenance was done on the cheap, 10mm (or imperial equivalent) MI tails, luckily someone in the past has put a 10mm main earth in.

He wanted me the fit a new CU, until most of the IR tests came back low, something to be said for bs3036, some still had the original pre-shaped filament in unlike his lighting circuit protected by a paperclip... :earmuffs:

So why would you need a CPC in Metal Conduit then?? Why would you need a 10mm main earth put in, when a 10mm MICC is being used as the main supply to the installation?? The copper sheath's CSA i would think, is neigh on 10mm...

 

[Strima]

So why would you need a CPC in Metal Conduit then??

For the very nice metal spotlight bars he fitted that are drilled into the concrete slab roof and not bonded in any shape or form to the conduit, apparently his screws weren't long enough to reach the conduit box. He now has some flyleads to bond the fittings to the conduit.

Why would you need a 10mm main earth put in, when a 10mm MICC is being used as the main supply to the installation?? The copper sheath's CSA i would think, is neigh on 10mm...

The last inspection date for the installation was June 2000 when it was still council run, they may have done the work as a matter of course or the bonding could be failing on the installation. As I said, I only had a look, no testing was done. I agree that the MICC would be more than ample for the job as long as the connections are sound.

Edit: And I forgot to mention that his CU had been upgraded in the past, there's still the holders in place for spare BS88's.

 

[brucelee]

I did a rewire of the mother in laws
all lights in Lead sheathed all terminations at accessories had no insulation left but rest of cable ok at switches there was no insulation so bare conductors some touching or nearly touching and passing through from landing switch the bedroom no grommets in back box so shorting on them and each other
then all sockets in VIR which was in a even poorer state large sections visibly crumbling with signs of shorting, heat damage/age and missing at outlets there was none left
Under floorboards on landing someone had spurred a socket to one of the bedrooms by jUSt chopping into the VIR and twisting the new to the old then a bit of insulation tape bakerlite switches some with wooden backs including CCU for the house
in the outside toilet and garage there were wooden fuseboards that looked like chest set boxes lol and when you opened them there were white fuses Not a clue what they were the garage one was fed from the outside toilet one qhich was fed from the house I was amazed all this was still being used only 15A fuses and 30A so deffo overloading on the lighting lol
all still in use the old lady that used to live there lived in kitchen under stairs
think this was beacuse the upstairslights must have constantly been blowing

the only circuit that was any good was a 70s ish cooker point with twin stranded imperial
No Bonding whatsoever some of the sockets had bare twisted copper from socket to water pipe that was copper as most of this was lead as well as the gas
there were still gas lead pipes buried in wall as was chopping out found them
gas had been switched off
but the way they had disconnected the old gas walllights was to hammer the lead pipe flat NICE

Ze was best thing lol 0.09 first time i measured and 0.1 second time i double checked lol

 

[Knobhead]

According to the table in the stickies a 10mm MICC sheath is the equivalent of 24mm so more than enough.

 

[Engineer54]

For the very nice metal spotlight bars he fitted that are drilled into the concrete slab roof and not bonded in any shape or form to the conduit, apparently his screws weren't long enough to reach the conduit box. He now has some flyleads to bond the fittings to the conduit.

Well fly leads are not a separate circuit CPC are they? ...lol!! Can't blame the conduit, if whoever installed the bar lighting system couldn't be bothered to earth the lighting fitting to the conduit box!! Most conduit boxes have had a separate earthing point/facility for donkey's years now too!!

 

[Guest111]

went to a farm once as the lights kept fusing when you came downstairs, turned out it was a lead cable been damaged under boards on landing anyway the whole system is well past its best so I told farmer it needed a rewire, at which point he came out with this classic line."Now listen here sonny this house was built by my dad and the wiring was good enough for him and its lasted me all these years and i,m not paying for something that doesnt need doing". Sometimes I wonder if he is still using his lead cable.