Why would an electrician put the earth wires outside a junction box?

[Polystyrene]

I needed to move a socket and to do so had to crawl in my loft, there are wires all over the place (not a clip in sight) and 3 junction boxes all right near each other.

Anyway what the hell is going on with this particular box?

 

[SJD]

Some decades ago, twisting the earths together outside the box seemed to be the way it was done for ligthing wiring ... you'll see lots of these in older installations.

 

[James]

Some decades ago, twisting the earths together outside the box seemed to be the way it was done for ligthing wiring ... you'll see lots of these in older installations.

True, however I am not able to leave them like that when I come across them.
I end up sleaving and re terminating them just to make myself happy.

 

[Dartlec]

True, however I am not able to leave them like that when I come across them.
I end up sleaving and re terminating them just to make myself happy.

You're doing the right thing.

One of the reasons I think this happened is that a lot of the junctions boxes didn't have an extra terminal for the CPC - common when using a 4 terminal junction box for a lighting and switch feed. So for some reason this became 'normal practise'.

While it might be theoretically OK to leave a box if it's not something you're working on, it's always good practise now to replace them where you see them and can.

I've seen a few where one of the cpcs has broken from the abuse, so it can have an impact.

Seems like the twisting together of CPCs in consumer units or fittings still has a long way to go before dying out though, sadly!

 

[littlespark]

Last one I came across was a j701 rectangle joint box in an attic. CPCs were twisted together outside the box, over the lid. Had to disconnect it to get lid off to add a switch and a light. Took me ages to reterminate everything inside the box. Much neater, but spent too long curled up over the JB for comfort

 

[Polystyrene]

Should I try and get into it to sort it then?