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how old do you think those cables are kojack ,sucking a lolly pop. why would you do that considering they are pvc stranded .Those wires look old, I would say just replace the whole circuit to current standards.
Discuss Unable to separate wires on ring circuit in the DIY Electrical Advice area at ElectriciansForums.net
how old do you think those cables are kojack ,sucking a lolly pop. why would you do that considering they are pvc stranded .Those wires look old, I would say just replace the whole circuit to current standards.
Those wires look old, I would say just replace the whole circuit to current standards. Whoever you're getting to test it, have him in first to advise you on how to do it. Take pictures as you go so he can see you've done it right.
and thats a disagree from me .
Conduit thread has been cut OFF, should have employed a spark in the first place.move original socket up to where you have cut the conduit - connect old conduit to new backbox via bush and coupler. Knockout bottom 20mm out of back box and spur off your 1 extra socket to where the original one was....Now there is no shame in not being able to complete this task....you gave it a shot and all that...admit to yourself that you have got to the stage where you need someone who can actually complete this and more importantly can test and certify the work so that you know its safe and complies with the relevant regulations.
Breaking into the conduit was 1. Bloody impressive and 2 A BIG mistake - if you must extend and keep it a ring then a second conduit out of the original box would/may have been the way to go but as said 1 double socket from 1 socket on a ring is fine and would not have needed any extra metal conduit nor any of this very time consuming reconnecting and cutting into conduits...
If you think of it this way - an electrician may have charged anything from ÂŁ50 to ÂŁ100 for 1 extra socket all done and dusted - How many hours have you spent on this so far...could your hours have been spent more productively elsewhere while paying an electrician the ÂŁ--- ?
I can do the brake pads on my car but it takes me about 3 or 4 hours - In that 3-4 hours I can earn in excess of ÂŁ200 - I can get my full set of pads done by "pro's" much quicker and for less money than what I would have earned in the 3-4 hours.
Even when I was a DIY enthusiast, before becoming a dangerous domestic installer I wouldn’t have done anything so imbecilic. Despite never doing a 4 year apprenticeship I can certainly install metal conduit competently.as previous posts. this method of installation is beyond the scope of DIY and/or short course "domesticimbecilesinstallers". you need an old school sparks to do the job safe.
Can you perform continuity of ring final circuit? ?If so this might help you to identfy the different cables.Yes, I understand that the conduit may have been the earth. there were no connections from the existing cables the original socket. I sent this photo because this is where I got to and got stuck. I'm not using the sockets like this, the room isn't even in use.
The circuit is indeed a ring.
I was going to simply separate the cables so that one set goes into this socket (which would then be earthed) and the other set goes into the existing socket below (which would also be earthed).
I have metal trunking to go over all exposed cables, to avoid them being drilled into, but I haven't fitted it yet in this area due to it not being finished.
@Andy Gardner I'm curious. How did you actually achieve this. You have a new back box inserted into the middle of a conduit run. You have said that your father has cut the conduit with a pipe cutter and pipe slice. (I'm impressed he did that with the singles still in place without damaging the conductors.
Having done the cuts, how did you remove the piece of conduit and get the singles through the holes in the back box?
Is there another box above or below the new box that you have access to?
If you think of it this way - an electrician may have charged anything from ÂŁ50 to ÂŁ100 for 1 extra socket all done and dusted - How many hours have you spent on this so far...could your hours have been spent more productively elsewhere while paying an electrician the ÂŁ--- ?
If it's 20mm, how about a Conlok coupler to connect the existing run to a barrel nipple, coupler and bush to get into the new box. Are Conlok joints designed to be buried in plaster? OTOH if this is 3/4", which presumably 20mm
The OP (I think) is trying to identify which L&N pair belong to each other to try and maintain true ring rather than a possible making a figure of 8.
Firstly he needs to confirm that all of the singles in that conduit are actually of the same circuit(!). Then, some continuity testing, by some crafty L-N shorting at an adjacent socket, will determine the incoming and outgoing pair.
Alternatively a low-ohm meter will tell you, simply by resistance of the two legs back to the CU (unless you are unlucky enough to be exactly in the middle of the ring!)
Can you perform contuity of ring final circuit? ?If so this might help you to identfy the different cables.Yes, I understand that the conduit may have been the earth. there were no connections from the existing cables the original socket. I sent this photo because this is where I got to and got stuck. I'm not using the sockets like this, the room isn't even in use.
The circuit is indeed a ring.
I was going to simply separate the cables so that one set goes into this socket (which would then be earthed) and the other set goes into the existing socket below (which would also be earthed).
I have metal trunking to go over all exposed cables, to avoid them being drilled into, but I haven't fitted it yet in this area due to it not being finished.
This is supposed to be a dead test.I managed to identify the wires (my original question) like this:
Having noticed that the conduit seemed to be heading back to the fusebox, I figured that this was potentially the end of the ring, so, I turned the power off, disconnecting one of the live wires from my socket circuit at the MCB and one at the socket below the backbox pictured, isolating the separated wire in choc bloc each time, put a continuity tester in the socket, then turned the power back on and checked the tester to see when the live wire was missing. I did the same with neutral and earth. Took about 1.5 hours but I got there!
And thank you, you're basically the only person who's actually tried to answer my question, though I appreciate all the other advice about conduits! (Not so much the suggestion of being an imbecile...)
There is also a distinct possibility that the OP is going to ignore any, if not all, of the advice given so far.There is also, of course, the high possibility of a nice sharp burr on the inside of that cut conduit.
Wall might be getting rendered and if it isn’t would look better than it isWhy might capping be needed?
Reply to Unable to separate wires on ring circuit in the DIY Electrical Advice area at ElectriciansForums.net
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