Raptor0014
Esteemed
- Reaction score
- 1,261
Morning all,
I was working at a property yesterday and came across something I've not seen before (which isn't unusual given I haven't long since qualified) and as I thought it could be potentially dangerous I thought I'd ask on here.
One of the jobs the client wanted was a new socket outlet in the bedroom for a TV. Which in itself wasn't a problem (apart from the battle to fish the cable). I first went into the attic to see if the existing upstairs ring was fed anywhere from there as the bedroom is directly above the garage where the consumer unit is. However only the lighting cables were up there.
So I removed a couple of socket covers to check which direction the cables where coming in and they all fed from below. Pulled the carpet back and it was chipboard and the client didn't want holes cutting in. I came up with a plan to fish a cable from one existing socket, up into the attic across to the other wall and down inside the partition as the client also didn't want chasing into the wall if at all possible.
I checked the CU and there were two socket MCBs. One labelled L and labelled K.
L = Lounge
K = Kitchen.
I plugged in my buzzing plug tester so I could hear which MCB would kill the sockets. The one it was currently in on the socket I intended to use was on K MCB. I couldn't get the fish rod up the wall from that socket so moved to a different one (on the same wall in the same room) and before I took the cover off, and because I am CDO, I checked the socket with my buzz tester and found the socket was live! This socket was on MCB L!
I had another battle getting the cable up in to the attic but eventually did it to create the single 2 gang spur for the TV & Sky Box. But I was just surprised to find two sockets in the same room on the same wall on different MCBs.
I know that in 16th Edition this was apparently a suggested method so that if one MCB trips there are still some sockets available. Or so I was told by an experienced spark.
But if you were doing a full ECR and found that what would you label it as? A C2 or C3 or just make a comment?
To summarise what I thought was a bit wrong (but happy to be educated otherwise):
Also, just for my education, I was surprised that when I checked the new spur I got a reading of 0.23 ohms but at the socket I took the spur from I got a reading of 0.29 ohms. My Megger is a 1741+, is new and was calibrated properly before it was sent to me. I would have thought being a spur the reading would be slightly higher and the only thing I could think was the existing socket now had 3 x 2.5 cables per terminal and the spur had 1 x 2.5 cable per terminal. I also replaced the existing socket cover as the plate inside the back was cracked. So both had new 2G covers.
Sorry for the long post. Wanted to make sure I'd given all the info.
Regards
Carl
I was working at a property yesterday and came across something I've not seen before (which isn't unusual given I haven't long since qualified) and as I thought it could be potentially dangerous I thought I'd ask on here.
One of the jobs the client wanted was a new socket outlet in the bedroom for a TV. Which in itself wasn't a problem (apart from the battle to fish the cable). I first went into the attic to see if the existing upstairs ring was fed anywhere from there as the bedroom is directly above the garage where the consumer unit is. However only the lighting cables were up there.
So I removed a couple of socket covers to check which direction the cables where coming in and they all fed from below. Pulled the carpet back and it was chipboard and the client didn't want holes cutting in. I came up with a plan to fish a cable from one existing socket, up into the attic across to the other wall and down inside the partition as the client also didn't want chasing into the wall if at all possible.
I checked the CU and there were two socket MCBs. One labelled L and labelled K.
L = Lounge
K = Kitchen.
I plugged in my buzzing plug tester so I could hear which MCB would kill the sockets. The one it was currently in on the socket I intended to use was on K MCB. I couldn't get the fish rod up the wall from that socket so moved to a different one (on the same wall in the same room) and before I took the cover off, and because I am CDO, I checked the socket with my buzz tester and found the socket was live! This socket was on MCB L!
I had another battle getting the cable up in to the attic but eventually did it to create the single 2 gang spur for the TV & Sky Box. But I was just surprised to find two sockets in the same room on the same wall on different MCBs.
I know that in 16th Edition this was apparently a suggested method so that if one MCB trips there are still some sockets available. Or so I was told by an experienced spark.
But if you were doing a full ECR and found that what would you label it as? A C2 or C3 or just make a comment?
To summarise what I thought was a bit wrong (but happy to be educated otherwise):
- No dedicated ring or MCB for the upstairs sockets
- No labelling/schedule on or with the CU to explain how the sockets are wired
- Sockets on same wall in same room wired to two different MCBs
Also, just for my education, I was surprised that when I checked the new spur I got a reading of 0.23 ohms but at the socket I took the spur from I got a reading of 0.29 ohms. My Megger is a 1741+, is new and was calibrated properly before it was sent to me. I would have thought being a spur the reading would be slightly higher and the only thing I could think was the existing socket now had 3 x 2.5 cables per terminal and the spur had 1 x 2.5 cable per terminal. I also replaced the existing socket cover as the plate inside the back was cracked. So both had new 2G covers.
Sorry for the long post. Wanted to make sure I'd given all the info.
Regards
Carl