I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at home.

[SteveSloth]

Please help with some advice... new to this forum!

I have a 3 bed semi, upstairs in Bed 2 are a double and 2 single plug sockets. Bed 3 has a double and a single socket. The double socket in each of these neighbouring rooms stopped working, along with a single socket in Bed2. I removed the front of the socket after switching off the power, the double sockets all have only 3 wires, the single has 6 wires. I have been told this means that the single is on the ring and the doubles are spurs. I was told roughly what that means! I checked the wires were attached, all seemed fine. A mate leant me a 'socket and see' socket test gadget which shows a NEUTRAL FAULT in each of the faulty sockets. Can this be interpreted by anyone?
I can't get hold of the guy that leant the gadget tonight!

What do I need to do to the sockets to make them work again?

 

[telectrix]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

as all above posts say, sounds like a neutral has been lost, but also could be too many sockets spurred off for safety. need to call in a spark who will not only find the fault/s , but test the circuit/s for safe working. if you post your location, sure there's a member on here could call and sort it for you without you having to take out a 2nd mortgage.

 

[SteveSloth]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

Well, I'm in Ashford in Kent. I was going to look on the trusted trader website but if there are any recommendations.....

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

Just out of interest as well steve.....what type of light fitings do you have? Metal or plastic? And the light switches...metal or plastic?...as you mentioned 60s wireing and that spells no CPC to me (possibly)......

 

[SteveSloth]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

All plastic! I will keep my wellies on too!

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

All plastic! I will keep my wellies on too!

No probs mate....just can be an issue (class 1s) on older installs thats all mate.....

 

[SteveSloth]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

No probs mate....just can be an issue (class 1s) on older installs thats all mate.....

Hopefully it will be an easy job for a local electrician,
Def can't afford a full house re-wire!:frown2:

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

Hopefully it will be an easy job for a local electrician,
Def can't afford a full house re-wire!:frown2:

The regs require ameans of earthing at every connection..not cable/s so a sparks can pull a seperate cpc in for point to point........

 

[nickblake]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

If your cables are VIR which is black rubber then it will be a rewire im affraid , i've certainly been the grim reaper with you steve , im really sorry . be nice to know what the fault turns out to be , like has been said it will probably be a lost neutral some where

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

If vir steve then it wouldn`t do at all to go disturbing it mate as even just moving it can create short curcuits....the insulation really can be that shot on it..(although it tends to be worst at the ends).....

 

[Engineer54]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

If your cables are VIR which is black rubber then it will be a rewire im affraid , i've certainly been the grim reaper with you steve , im really sorry . be nice to know what the fault turns out to be , like has been said it will probably be a lost neutral some where

It does NOT necessary mean a rewire at all, it very much depends on the condition of the wiring. With VIR and TRS, 9 times out of ten it is only the stripped conductor tails to the accessory terminals that will if any, be in a sub-standard condition. These days heatshrink sleeving can address that sort of problem. The rest of the cable will in all likelihood be just fine and IR tests will confirm this in the majority of cases.

Not saying that this old cable shouldn't be re-wired at the soonest, but where it's not financially possible at the present time, there's no reason that it can't continue giving service to the homeowner, for at least the immediate future before it is possible to re-wire!!!

 

[telectrix]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

steve,, if you look at the sub forum "electricians in your area", sure you'll find one local to you.

 

[telectrix]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

sure there are some members in the ashford area. come on lads/lasses, can't all have that much work on.

 

[nickblake]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

i understand what you are saying 54 but with my experiance with VIR every exposed Bit of the rubber will possabley be perished that means every light switch ceiling rose socket etc ,and the speed old VIR perishes the life of the cable may only be extended by a couple of months so would it be worth it , doing a small repair when there is a possible risk of a fire to to perished cables else where , i do agree with what you are saying but how do you know the condition of the main cables and disturbing them could well cause more of a problem

 

[SteveSloth]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

Many Thanks for the replies guys, you have proven to be a very helpful group of people. I will keep you posted with the outcome....

 

[Engineer54]

Re: I'm not an electrician Socket Test reads NEUTRAL FAULT in some of my sockets at h

i understand what you are saying 54 but with my experiance with VIR every exposed Bit of the rubber will possabley be perished that means every light switch ceiling rose socket etc ,and the speed old VIR perishes the life of the cable may only be extended by a couple of months so would it be worth it , doing a small repair when there is a possible risk of a fire to to perished cables else where , i do agree with what you are saying but how do you know the condition of the main cables and disturbing them could well cause more of a problem

Undisturbed terminations will not be affected. Terminations that are disturbed, where there is cracking of insulation, heatshrink sleeving will address.... What do you mean by speed of perishing, many of these cables are now 50 years old. The main cable lengths will almost certainly be more than good, damage to these cables come mainly from exposed insulation in combination with high heat sources (such as light fittings) and the over loading of the few single socket outlets (that were standard at the time) over long periods of time...

As i said, you would always check the cables by doing your IR tests. If they are good, (and i think you'll be surprised just how good they can be) why would they just last a couple of months??

I actually used the old rubber cables from my parents house that i ripped out during a rewire, to wire the sockets in the garage. Those T&E cables were just about as good as when they were first installed in the house, .....except the terminated ends of course!! Now in a garage that rubber cable will probably out perform PVC cables, as they will be totally unaffected by cold and freezing weather conditions.