Non compliant Meter tails replacement with a non compliant fix!

[bobdabuilda]

Hello all, I am desperate for some advice on a job I had done yesterday by an electrical contractor.

The job was a meter tail replacement and routing to the cu but apparently it does not meet the 17th ed regs. For the sake of brevity the thread I started with relevant pictures of the install, is on this forum Damaged a meter neutral feed cable to CU - DIYnot.com - DIY and Home Improvement.

There have been all manner of answers and irrelevant posts but could a qualified electrician tell me if this install is safe and compliant please?

Thanks

 

[terminator]

Yes -you would just get away with 35mm singles in thermally insulated wall.

 

[thekingiam]

sorry whats wrong with swa on outside wall into back of box into distribution board, like wire it said i think?
its a bad instalalation full stop ,but saffist solution i can think of apart from ripping out and starting again
any wirring in internal wall in a cloak room runs a greater risk of drilling into wall or nails put in for pictures or coat hangers etc, without any protection apart from the main fuse is increadably risky!

 

[DoBBY]

Isn't it only a cloakroom though? To be honest, it would be either SWA or trunking for me.

 

[DoBBY]

surface trunking internally would look even worse than the external option. Looks like its round in circles again. Surely the potential downrating could be offset by uprating any new run in the cavity? Either way I'd rather the future owners have that problem than drilling or nailing through the current route and suffering the dire consequences....

Is it not protected by an RCD?

 

[bobdabuilda]

It's a downstairs toilet in laymans terms. No RCD at present. At the end of the day it's not going to be my inconvenience as the company has to put things right- I just want a say in the matter if I can have one.

 

[thekingiam]

Isn't it only a cloakroom though? To be honest, it would be either SWA or trunking for me.

i have to admit you are right its only a cloak room apearance should be second place? all options apart from taping it up should be considered, come to an agreement between yourself and your client or freind to which you preferere and go with it.

 

[PC Electrics]

The CU is on an internal wall, not on the inside of an external wall. Why not use 25mm single core H07RN-F; run it out of the CU along the top of the wall. When you get above the meter box, take the cable out through the wall and then vertically down the outside to the meter. inside you can cover the 'tails' with coving.

OR, since you've got plastering to do anyway, take down the ceiling and run the new tails through the void (will increase the length though, maybe too much).

 

[Deleted member 26818]

The CU is on an internal wall, not on the inside of an external wall. Why not use 25mm single core H07RN-F; run it out of the CU along the top of the wall. When you get above the meter box, take the cable out through the wall and then vertically down the outside to the meter. inside you can cover the 'tails' with coving.

OR, since you've got plastering to do anyway, take down the ceiling and run the new tails through the void (will increase the length though, maybe too much).

There's a window directly above the meter cupboard.
Also as the meter cupboard is external, any cables run to it will be outside safe zones, as the position of the cupboard is not apparent from the inside.

 

[PC Electrics]

No insulation in cavity which is another issue altogether as building regs said it should have had when it was built in 1996! All the inner skins are thermal block.

I think you will find that back then the BRs gave a heat loss figure that the house had to meet. How the builder chose to meet it was up to them. Bryant chose to use thermolite block inner leaf, Bloors used breeze with insulation. I prefer Bryants solution as it means you can still have the wall filled afterwards and improve the thermal loss still further, which you cannot do with the Bloor method. I had my Bryant Coniston walls filled shortly after moving in in 1999. Toastie!

 

[saveloy]

A bit of a far out sugestion, but, could you not batten out the offending wall and dryline with 1/2 inch plasterboard to give you 50mm depth?

 

[terminator]

any wirring in internal wall in a cloak room runs a greater risk of drilling into wall or nails put in for pictures or coat hangers etc, without any protection apart from the main fuse is increadably risky!

I think that's fairly unlikely - blockwork is 100mm thick, plus plasterboard and plaster another 20mm - that would be a pretty hefty nail/screw for a picture/coathanger!

 

[PC Electrics]

There's a window directly above the meter cupboard.
Also as the meter cupboard is external, any cables run to it will be outside safe zones, as the position of the cupboard is not apparent from the inside.

How can surface mounted cables be outside safe zones?
i think you misunderstood my post. I'll wait to see if Bob understood before I try again.

 

[bobdabuilda]

I think I understood (running it externally by the side of the window) but it wouldn't be any better looking than the pic with the redline route on it and I doubt that it would pass the 'her indoors regs'...;o) . Can someone please confirm that safe zones are negated if the cables are buried 50mm or more and don't then need conduit/trunking?

 

[DoBBY]

i have to admit you are right its only a cloak room apearance should be second place? all options apart from taping it up should be considered, come to an agreement between yourself and your client or freind to which you preferere and go with it.

Are you being sarcastic there? I hope not, I generally believe that although nobody likes surface mounted trunking, a cloak room is what it says on the tin and not likely to be inhabited for long enough to notice an eye sore.

 

[bobdabuilda]

Are you being sarcastic there? I hope not, I generally believe that although nobody likes surface mounted trunking, a cloak room is what it says on the tin and not likely to be inhabited for long enough to notice an eye sore.

Err try telling that to my wife- you'd be lucky to escape with brain activity.... Not all cloakrooms have to look like a two bit dungy you know!