Ground floor flat rewire

[gazzamikes]

Evening all,

have been asked to quote for basic rewire in a small 2 bed ground floor flat. the ceilings are concrete as they would be. the flat is still wired in mineral cable with the copper outer sheath on a 3036 board. the customer was asking for a number of additional sockets etc, i suggested a rewire.

2 questions, would you guys recommend a rewire? and how do you about getting cables to lighting points, Surface & trunking?

any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[gazzamikes]

thanks engineer54, i do apologise for lack of knowledge with this type of installation, i would never recommend a rewire if there other ways and means, i said to her that would be worst case, i knew i could to turn to you guys for helpful responses. i once changed a 3036 board in a factory which was all pyro but i was with somebody then with the wealth of experience needed. the idea of changing to metal clad sounds good, will make easier for new additional circuits

 

[Engineer54]

thanks a college tutor told us we onlyhad to have a quick lesson on in as the next we see we'll be ripping it out

And that is one of the reasons why we are NOT training our new electricians to BE electricians. Same as these college teachers telling students they should forget ring final circuits and use radials instead....

 

[gazzamikes]

we were never told that one, rings were to be used and radials only when calculated to be suitable. i agree, but unfortantely our tutor had an accident so a younger instructor took over which was for this type of work. i normal instructor is a very experienced time served chap who is very respected within the trade, we once spent two days just wiring plug tops and sockets until he was happy!

 

[Engineer54]

thanks engineer54, i do apologise for lack of knowledge with this type of installation, i would never recommend a rewire if there other ways and means, i said to her that would be worst case, i knew i could to turn to you guys for helpful responses. i once changed a 3036 board in a factory which was all pyro but i was with somebody then with the wealth of experience needed. the idea of changing to metal clad sounds good, will make easier for new additional circuits

You could use metal trunking to terminate the MICC cables and any necessary conductor extensions and still use a plastic CU, just make sure your gland terminations are tight and with banjo's. And earth the trunking too....

 

[telectrix]

the thing is, there is so much to this trade that colleges tend to concentrate on the more common aspects , leaving out stuff that today it's unlikely to come across in the normal course of events. MICC is used less and less now except in more specialized installations which most of us only encounter once in a while. the last time i worked with MICC was around 1985, and i would not consider myself,even then, expert in it's use.

 

[Mark_Burgess]

Lets just say the worse case senario is that the IR values are seriously low and a rewire is required, and in the ideal world the customer has money to spend.

You could always consider battening and plaster boarding the ceilings, this will allow cables to be pulled through or installed prior to plaster boarding, then its just chase the walls as usual. Then the plasterer does it all in one hit.

 

[Kamikaze]

Just to add a little tip to all the other advise you’ve received from the guys. Avoid trying to straighten any pyro ends with tight bends in them, unless of cause you feel the urge to gain some additional disaster management skills. :biggrin:

 

[gazzamikes]

this is what the instructor said, which is why i suppose he didn't go into it a great deal. and to be honest i am quite doubtful ill come across this in a domestic situation. as you say, there is a lot to this trade, every day is something new.

 

[topquark]

Dumb question, is MICC glanding not covered anymore (and no longer part of AM2)?

 

[gazzamikes]

hi topquark, the am2 changed last year, pyro no longer in, it is now just fp200. and on the 2330 it was literally, "heres pyro" "anyway lets look at other cables"

 

[topquark]

hi topquark, the am2 changed last year, pyro no longer in, it is now just fp200. and on the 2330 it was literally, "heres pyro" "anyway lets look at other cables"

OK, cheers for that. It's been a while

There's still plenty of it about though, that's rather surprised me.

 

[gazzamikes]

the new am 2 (well new lats april) has no 'fabric' installation at all, ie no conduit bending or fixing neither any tray etc, all the am2 consists of the installing of cables about 2 foot of swa and about 2 foot of sy. it seems very aimed towards just the testing side of things. oh it also got a y planheating system if i remeber correctly and solar style equipment

 

[Engineer54]

OK, cheers for that. It's been a while

There's still plenty of it about though, that's rather surprised me.

It's the downward spiral, of the way things are going in our industry these days. Soon the only cables new electricians will know, will be T&E and SWA. Seems that even conduit, trunking, and tray-work are all going to be destined to be ''Specialised installation'' ...lol!! The mind just has to boggle at those that dream up and set these so-called courses for electricians!! Kids themselves probably!!

 

[gazzamikes]

i totally agree engineer54, i was lucky, i had an 'old school' electrician, we spent weeks on tray and conduit etc, if it was wrong he ripped it down and made us do it again, this did put us a few months on the course but i know i can do this sort of work. my brother inlaw is currently training and hasnt ever heard of ladder! can imagine what you'd learn in a 1o week 'intensive' course!

 

[topquark]

It's the downward spiral, of the way things are going in our industry these days. Soon the only cables new electricians will know, will be T&E and SWA. Seems that even conduit, trunking, and tray-work are all going to be destined to be ''Specialised installation'' ...lol!! The mind just has to boggle at those that dream up and set these so-called courses for electricians!! Kids themselves probably!!

Was in the middle of looking up the current content and the dishwasher took the kitchen/upstairs RFC rcbo out (lost me router) ... someone call an electrician!

Just looked up the content for pre AM2 refresher course at SETA and that still covers:

[U]COURSE CONTENT[/U]
Areas of practice include:

[LIST]
[*] MICC glanding
[*]Conduit forming
[*]SWA/PVC/SWA glanding
[*]DOL motor circuitry
[*]Master switching of lighting circuits
[*]FP cabling
[*]Wiring in conduit and trunking
[*]Inspection and testing to BS7671
[*]Fault finding
[*]Plus all points relevant to the test
[/LIST]