Found during fault finding

kenny maccuish · Sep 3, 2019

Hi guys just wanted to ask if there are any Irish electricians here that can tell me whether these examples of making off SWA are accepted in Ireland.
Just had to fault find a light not working in a garden and opened up a couple of manholes to find PVC 4x4 waterproof boxes with SWA going into them through PVC glands with 90% of the outer core cut away the remaining steel connected to the earth of the multi core inner cable.
This was wired by an Irish company for a customer in Scotland.
I spoke to the electrician that wired it and he was of the opinion that that is the way they work in Ireland and the niceic are ok with it.
Some feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks

[ElectriciansForums.net] Found during fault finding

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Blue gel is to make the boxes waterproof but not all the boxes had it and some had less than half filled.
I never put the gel in it was the other electricians

SparkyChick · Sep 3, 2019

In my opinion, it's shoddy work and is not acceptable here. It's not an acceptable means of terminating SWA. There are methods of properly terminating the armour that do not involve a gland as such... this (like a BS951 earth clamp) is not one of them.

snowhead · Sep 3, 2019

kenny maccuish said:
This was wired by an Irish company for a customer in Scotland.
I spoke to the electrician that wired it and he was of the opinion that that is the way they work in Ireland and the niceic are ok with it.
Some feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks

It doesn't matter whether it's the way they work in Ireland, they're working in Scotland so need to comply with regs and good practice appropriate there.

Andy5678 · Sep 3, 2019

As above, sort it out and move onto the next one

James · Sep 3, 2019

That is just horrible
Lazy
Not up to standards
If that’s the way he does it in Ireland it is still wrong, England, Scotland, Ireland and Timbuktu it is still WRONG.

I am certain there are loads of good Irish electricians, but he is not one of them

In my humble opinion.

Strima · Sep 3, 2019

I doubt the NICEIC would be happy with it as it more than likely goes against manufacturers instructions. Can you guarantee those strands of SWA would carry the fault current for the duration of the fault? Also using magic gel to get around crap workmanship is just ****.

buzzlightyear · Sep 3, 2019

that job is completely nuts ,send it to PE mag .

kenny maccuish · Sep 3, 2019

buzzlightyear said:
that job is completely nuts ,send it to PE mag .

Good idea Buzz

buzzlightyear · Sep 3, 2019

kenny maccuish said:
Good idea Buzz

if it goes in it might be seen by the NICEIC and let them say about it .

Pete999 · Sep 3, 2019

There is only 1 way to terminate SWA and that is the correct way using Industry standard glands and enclosures the ness you have shown is NOT the correct way the "Electrician" has reduced the size of the Armour to allow him to terminate the remaining strands of Steel into a normal connector, not the correct way to do it, are you sure he was actually an Electrician, cuz if he worked for me I would sack the villain, Oh and I'm not Irish either.

davesparks · Sep 3, 2019

No that method is not acceptable, I've seen different variations on that theme with some people bringing a few strands through a normal SWA gland, they are all incorrect.
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Pete999 said:
There is only 1 way to terminate SWA and that is the correct way using Industry standard glands

That's not strictly true, there are different types of glands and methods of terminating SWA. Apart from the standard glands there are various hazardous area glands, top hat glands for the larger sizes or specialist lamppost glands. Then there's range of heatshrink based terminations for specialist applications andof course cast resin terminations.

Sintra · Sep 3, 2019

snowhead said:
It doesn't matter whether it's the way they work in Ireland, they're working in Scotland so need to comply with regs and good practice appropriate there.

I can assure that’s not the way it’s done in either the Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

James the Spark1976 said:
That is just horrible
Lazy
Not up to standards
If that’s the way he does it in Ireland it is still wrong, England, Scotland, Ireland and Timbuktu it is still WRONG.

I am certain there are loads of good Irish electricians, but he is not one of them

In my humble opinion.

It’s a bodge and that’s that. It would not be acceptable in any part of Ireland.

Risteard · Sep 3, 2019

It's not allowed in Ireland.

I'm registered with both RECI and the NICEIC and neither of them would accept or tolerate this. RECI (the Irish Regulatory Body) would record a breach of the Wiring Rules if they came across this during an inspection, and the contractor would be made to rectify it and provide evidence of the rectification (or have an additional inspection at cost to them at RECI's discretion).

davesparks · Sep 3, 2019

Maybe they are getting confused with split concentric?

On another note what's with the insulation colours in that SWA? How long has it been available with brown, blue and G/Y and does that actually comply with the British standard?

Risteard · Sep 3, 2019

davesparks said:
Maybe they are getting confused with split concentric?

On another note what's with the insulation colours in that SWA? How long has it been available with brown, blue and G/Y and does that actually comply with the British standard?

It's common to have those colours in the south of Ireland.

What you need to remember is that remarking conductors of different colours is a prohibited practice under the ETCI National Rules for Electrical Installations. So three core SWAs are available in single phase colours. (From memory it needs to be 7-core or more to be allowed to remark the conductors.)

Found during fault finding

kenny maccuish

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SparkyChick

snowhead

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Andy5678

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James

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Strima

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buzzlightyear

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kenny maccuish

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buzzlightyear

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Pete999

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davesparks

Sintra

Risteard

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davesparks

Risteard

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