Discuss how old is cable??? in the Electrical Wiring, Theories and Regulations area at ElectriciansForums.net

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CUDABOY

just out of pure curios, how old are cables? im doing remedial work in house, guy reakons was "rewired" {yeh, by eddison or farraday!} guessing as not want to £££ but the stuff in there, stranded,soft grey<ish>sheath and waxy red cable sheath, any ideas? when i started back in late 80s im sure was solid conductor back then? also on another job sheath was rubberised black poo that had turned to powder in places,crumbley when you touch! be nice to know as to tell customer,ie your wiring is xxxx years etc.
 
I started in 79 and it was solid copper then.......... your customer is being economical with the truth if he tells you it's been rewired.

What's the consumer unit like?

Mark
 
two as was 1 house split, im converting back,one lot of meter tails 10mm material covered, others 16mm. wylex 6 way and 4 way rewirable! cheers for input! the usual thing i hear is "well it works" but for how long and how safe is it!
 
Needs a rewire.......... tell the customer when the house was rewired 100 years ago people didnt have many appliances. But now appliances are in every room and lots of them. The wiring is not only in need of upgrading but can not cope with todays lifestyle. Explain that you can not add to already overloaded system. But you HAVE to be prepared to walk away if he refuses your advice.

Good luck

Mark
 
well ive pulled in new up/down ring main,the lighting i not want to even touch ! will upgrade to mcbs then do cu change and hopfully lights!what you date the wylex and cable at?
 
just out of pure curios, how old are cables? im doing remedial work in house, guy reakons was "rewired" {yeh, by eddison or farraday!} guessing as not want to £££ but the stuff in there, stranded,soft grey<ish>sheath and waxy red cable sheath, any ideas? when i started back in late 80s im sure was solid conductor back then? also on another job sheath was rubberised black poo that had turned to powder in places,crumbley when you touch! be nice to know as to tell customer,ie your wiring is xxxx years etc.

cudaboy, the cable your talking about sounds like what they used to call VIR cable(vulcanised indian rubber) it was horrible stuff. and the rubberised black poo cable is rubber, prone to perishing after years of installation. I started work in 1975 we used pvc cable as it is now, of course it was red and black then 2.5mm came on 100yard rolls not 100m rolls as is now. the first pvc cable came out in the early sixties 2.5mm was called 7/029, 7 being the number of strands and 029 being the csa of each strand, 1.0mmwas called 3/029, the 1.0mm pvc at first was on 2 core it no earth conductor in it.
over the years ive pulled out quite a few types of cable, vir,rubber,they used to make a twin and earth type cable but instead of pvc outer insulation they used a lead sheath which also served as the earth this was deadly if you managed to crack the lead when touching it, as the rubber inner insulation would have perished over the years and the lead sheath could come alive if the lead had cracked in a couple of places,
dave
 
cheers for that, handy info, came across lead bout 20 years ago, belled out fine! mad. good for everyone to know so when you go to a job and "quote rewire " etc you can back it up giving approx age/date of cable.
 
Stranded cable. About 50yrs+ (according to my mentor, 40yrs in the game).
 
The chandeover from imperial stranded to solid happened in the very early seventies. I started in 78 as an apprentice and we weren't installing it then, that much I know. TRS/VRI (vulcanized rubber insul) indicates an installation over 35yrs old.

You can also pick up clues to the age of an installation from things like the labels used at any bonding connections. Pre 1986 it will read...
"SAFETY ELECTRICAL EARTH-DO NOT REMOVE BS951"
after 86 it was changed to...
SAFETY ELECTRICAL CONNECTION DO NOT REMOVE BS951 + a date

If the lighting wiring is pvc twin with no cpc then that indicates the wiring was installed pre 1966
 
many thanks both,bonding? be nice if was some hee hee, speaking to him tomorrow, hope hes enjoyed his visit to amsterdam,hopfully he will still be jetlagged??????? if you get my drift
 
the rings in but not connected, more to do before test,do bonding etc,been doing the crappy stuff first just to get on top of it,one happy will then connect.
 
i started in 1959 doing housing estates /shops/schools using grey pvc sheathed cables ring mains/radials in 7/029 or 7/036,lighting in grey pvc sheathed singles usually 3/029 all cores stranded
yours benji
 
i started in 1959 doing housing estates /shops/schools using grey pvc sheathed cables ring mains/radials in 7/029 or 7/036,lighting in grey pvc sheathed singles usually 3/029 all cores stranded
yours benji


hey benji, you giving youre age away now, thought i was ancient so you must be prehistoric, (sorry only kidding)
 
"stranded,soft grey<ish>sheath and waxy red cable sheath, any ideas?" (3/029)

Mid 60's - TRS (your black rubber poo) was being phased out in favour of the `new fangled` plastic cables. No earths in lighting cables usually, but sockets cables (7/029) can be servicable if you're not adding to them.

TRS cables introduced early fifties? in twin&e form after lead sheathed fell out of favour. Thank god - it weighed a ton!
 
just out of pure curios, how old are cables? im doing remedial work in house, guy reakons was "rewired" {yeh, by eddison or farraday!} guessing as not want to £££ but the stuff in there, stranded,soft grey<ish>sheath and waxy red cable sheath, any ideas? when i started back in late 80s im sure was solid conductor back then? also on another job sheath was rubberised black poo that had turned to powder in places,crumbley when you touch! be nice to know as to tell customer,ie your wiring is xxxx years etc.

I would say that the property was wired late 40's early 50's, up untill then the rubber insulation was covered with cotton fabric! Dont take old cable to scrappy - you might get better price from a museum!:p
 
Never touch VIR. Just tell customer they need a Re-Wire ASAP. If you touch VIR and it crumbles you could in theory be exposing live conductors.
 

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