ring main ...?

[mc497]

Hi to all,

I am not a spark, lets just get that out of the way first... but I have noticed that the ring mains in my house are split into front of house and rear of house, rather then ground floor and first floor....the house was built in the seventies.
Is this something I should worry about or not...? everything works fine by the way, dont seem to have any electrical probs....!

Cheers folks......!

 

[mogga]

thats just the way it was done same as lighting some use loop@fitting some loop at switch some use joint box just depends on time/guy doing the job

Btw welcome to the forum

 

[m4tty]

Loads of properties are wired this way. Saves on cable or easier to do. Upto whoever wired it hth

 

[peterb2428]

Hi to all,

I am not a spark, lets just get that out of the way first... but I have noticed that the ring mains in my house are split into front of house and rear of house, rather then ground floor and first floor....the house was built in the seventies.
Is this something I should worry about or not...? everything works fine by the way, dont seem to have any electrical probs....!

Cheers folks......!

No quite common. nowadays most kitchens are put on there own also.

 

[Hawk81]

it was probably done so as if you had a fault on one ring then you still have some sockets working upstairs and downstairs. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Phil]

nothing to worry about. and welcome along

 

[mc497]

Thnx for the replies guys, I needed a bit of piece of mind from some people in the know... Cheers...!

 

[kmcgarry]

the way forward is to wire in radials much safer

 

[Hawk81]

the way forward is to wire in radials much safer

why? Please explain further.

 

[Sparky Ninja]

why? Please explain further.

Well what are the effects of a split ring main on one of the conductors?

And more importantly, will the fault be identified by the householder?



If it's a radial then the sockets after the fault fail to work, so mrs smith call in the sparky.
If it's a ring then the sockets will carry on working like normal, and the conductor involved will work as two radials. Mrs smith will be completely unawares and so no action will be taken. In the mean time the installation will have a circuit that could possibly be wired in 2.5mm, as a radial and protected by a 30/32amp MCB. The total loads will likely to be exceeding the current carrying capacity of the 2.5mm and then possibly a fire may arise.




I pretty much expect the ring main will be removed from BS7671 in the coming years.

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Hi to all,

I am not a spark, lets just get that out of the way first... but I have noticed that the ring mains in my house are split into front of house and rear of house, rather then ground floor and first floor....the house was built in the seventies.
Is this something I should worry about or not...? everything works fine by the way, dont seem to have any electrical probs....!

Cheers folks......!

Agree with all others but no one has mentioned it is very important that the relevant protective device (fuse/mcb or whatever) is correctly identified, so that when you turn off front bedroom and living room sockets or any other cofiguration it is those sockets that do actually switch off. This is probably more important to someone like yourself who probably doesn't have the appropriate kit to ensure the circuit is dead.

Cheers.....Howard

 

[Hawk81]

Well what are the effects of a split ring main on one of the conductors?

And more importantly, will the fault be identified by the householder?



If it's a radial then the sockets after the fault fail to work, so mrs smith call in the sparky.
If it's a ring then the sockets will carry on working like normal, and the conductor involved will work as two radials. Mrs smith will be completely unawares and so no action will be taken. In the mean time the installation will have a circuit that could possibly be wired in 2.5mm, as a radial and protected by a 30/32amp MCB. The total loads will likely to be exceeding the current carrying capacity of the 2.5mm and then possibly a fire may arise.




I pretty much expect the ring main will be removed from BS7671 in the coming years.

all valid points but what if the earth on a radial comes apart at the first socket. The home owner will not know this and they will have sockets working but with no earth.

 

[Amp David]

Well what are the effects of a split ring main on one of the conductors?

And more importantly, will the fault be identified by the householder?



If it's a radial then the sockets after the fault fail to work, so mrs smith call in the sparky.
If it's a ring then the sockets will carry on working like normal, and the conductor involved will work as two radials. Mrs smith will be completely unawares and so no action will be taken. In the mean time the installation will have a circuit that could possibly be wired in 2.5mm, as a radial and protected by a 30/32amp MCB. The total loads will likely to be exceeding the current carrying capacity of the 2.5mm and then possibly a fire may arise.




I pretty much expect the ring main will be removed from BS7671 in the coming years.

Is a radial still classed as being safe if for some reason you were to loose your cpc continuity after say the first socket on that circuit.

Both circuit have pros and cons.

I prefer a good radial as I find them easier to test, but i'm just lazy

 

[Sparky Ninja]

The fault I have described is one that causes overload and fire, nothing to do with protection against shock currents or the like.

 

[Sparky Ninja]

Is a radial still classed as being safe if for some reason you were to loose your cpc continuity after say the first socket on that circuit.

No circuit with a loose/disconnected CPC is safe.