Domestics testing in an old house

[Bradley6969]

Domestic testing an old house quite large gone into the board and nothing labelled what the best way to identify the circuits, bell them out?

 

[westward10]

Do the obvious turn on all lights and do them first. Then get rid of the single point radials like cooker, immersion, shower etc. Then ring finals and see what is left. Check garden areas as well.

 

[ruston]

Check the Polarity first.

 

[Specialist]

You could just isolate the circuits & use a cheap Tone / Trace set.
Surprising how handy they are.

 

[telectrix]

You could just isolate the circuits & use a cheap Tone / Trace set.
Surprising how handy they are.

that's what i use.

 

[Specialist]

I use a cheap one from the bay for tracing power cables & keep the good one for tracing Alarm, Audio & CCTV cables etc. Saves a lot of head scratching.

 

[ruston]

I have a Martindale one too.

 

[Specialist]

Never tried the Martindale one, the cheap one is Chinese (I think) & the good one is an American test-um.
The test- um is a nice high powered unit for long distance tracing.

 

[Octopus]

I was changing this yesterday (photo taken after I had disconnected 1 circuit:



I was unable to determine the circuits until I'd take a lot of it apart.... the 15A circuit covered all but 2 sockets in the house, the 3rd 5A fuse (fitted with 15A fusewire) covered the "missing" 2......

a right dogs dinner

Sorting these out takes time, patience and customers money to do properly

 

[Specialist]

Nice, not seen one of those in years.

 

[Risteard]

I'm confused - why try to identify the neutrals etc. - if it's a Periodic Inspection then just code it as a defect and price for sorting it out later if they want.

 

[Les Macaulay]

And try a do a nice drawing so it's down on paper - then take a photo of the paper so it's in the cloud. I'll agree it is time consuming.

Remember to price jobs for this when quoting new jobs. I'm anxious to find out how to easily and neatly label the conductors.

 

[Pete999]

Domestic testing an old house quite large gone into the board and nothing labelled what the best way to identify the circuits, bell them out?

Use a fuse finder Mate.

 

[Rpa07]

Turn off each circuit (if you can) turn one on at a time and check around house what's energised.

Do the obvious turn on all lights and do them first. Then get rid of the single point radials like cooker, immersion, shower etc. Then ring finals and see what is left. Check garden areas as well.

And try a do a nice drawing so it's down on paper - then take a photo of the paper so it's in the cloud. I'll agree it is time consuming.

Plan of the house accessories on the circuits was what I was referring to @Les Macaulay

Remember to price jobs for this when quoting new jobs. I'm anxious to find out how to easily and neatly label the conductors.