SWA questions, doubting electrician

[LeeH38]

Recently had an electrician in to wire up power to a detached garage and also wire in a 32 amp rotary switch for an eventual hot tub install.

He has used a spare 40amp MCB in the house consumer for the garage and a 32amp one for the hot tub point. Cable run for both is about 10m each.

He left on Friday and the whole side of the consumer in the house tripped immediately and I started having doubts about other things then as part of the kitchen is also on that side of the consumer and hasn’t been touched. I then switched the two new circuits off and the consumer continues to trip whenever I plug anything in in the kitchen. Been promised a visit to sort it out but today I simply removed the new wiring into the consumer to see if I could get the kitchen back up as it’s a nightmare without and everything has returned to normal.

Now having major doubts about the rest of the work and have had another opinion from a retired electrician neighbour and it doesn’t look good. However original installer is saying it’s something simple and everything has been done to standard.

My main doubts are:

1. Is 4mm armoured cable sufficient for this layout. I have a 32 and 6 amp MCB on another board in the garage run from the 40amp MCB on the house board. This is to run 8 sockets and 4 led lights.
2. Is 4mm armoured cable sufficient for a hot tub. I am led to believe it should be 6mm.
3. Non of the armour part of the cable is earthed, he reckons it’s fine as it’s 3 core and earth is inside. I don’t believe this though and think it needs earthing at the house consumer at the very least.

I am struggling to have a reasoned discussion as he is the electrician and I’m reading stuff on the internet, I wouldn’t have even started searching had I not had the initial issues.

Meant to be inspected and a certificate off someone else this week but not sure that means much tbh?

Any advice on how to approach this very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Lee

 

[Chivers]

I'd put money on it being the Neutral Earth being terminated the wrong way round causing The RCD to instantly trip if somethings plugged in ?
Given this chap has used what sounds like Stuffing Glands to terminate an SWA instead of the correct Glands maybe he wasn't capable of stripping the Armour properly either.

 

[snowhead]

I bet he forgot which core he'd used as Earth when he got to the other end to connect up.

 

[LeeH38]

Hi,what were the issues,causing the tripping ?

Still no idea, been blocked now on FB/messenger so need to find someone else to fix.

Just left it disconnected in my consumer for now as don’t fancy any other major issues in the house. Might start ripping all the 4mm SWA out in the next few days to make it easier for someone else to do.

 

[freddo]

Oh dear. There seems to be more and more of this type of thread on here, a bit concerning the number of jobs being installed to such a poor standard that even the electrically unskilled clients can see it is wrong. It worries me to think about how many bad jobs are just accepted. It's not even like they tried and made a mistake, the wiring is just chucked in any old way.

I hope you can find someone who cares to do the job correctly.

 

[LeeH38]

Oh dear. There seems to be more and more of this type of thread on here, a bit concerning the number of jobs being installed to such a poor standard that even the electrically unskilled clients can see it is wrong. It worries me to think about how many bad jobs are just accepted. It's not even like they tried and made a mistake, the wiring is just chucked in any old way.

I hope you can find someone who cares to do the job correctly.

The way I see it is due to competition people are quoting quite low in order to secure the work, they then go away and source all the parts as cheap as possible and even decide to underspec certain things as they’ll probably get away with it in order to then maximise their profit. Obviously not all are like this and a lot of people still have morals and pride in their work, it’s sorting these out from the cowboys that is difficult for the customer.

The work goes ahead and the poor customer doesn’t know it’s not right and expects the price is probably ok and if it works is none the wiser. That would have been me had I not had the tripping issue immediately which is concerning to say the least.

The result now is it’s probably going to cost me more than it would have done to get someone competent in the first place, however I am unsure how non knowledgeable people are meant to avoid this in the first place.

 

[Chivers]

Actually I'm looking at those board pictures once more can you look at the other end of the terminated cables and post photos? Can't help thinking that's not SWA and maybe just Hi Tuff or similar

 

[LeeH38]

Actually I'm looking at those board pictures once more can you look at the other end of the terminated cables and post photos? Can't help thinking that's not SWA and maybe just Hi Tuff or similar

This end if I understood correctly?

 

[ferg]

Jeez that's rough.
Nobody is perfect and my own thoughts would have been to give the guy a chance to sort it.

He's blown that opportunity.

Fortunately there are a lot of good tradesmen out there who will do the job properly.

 

[LeeH38]

Jeez that's rough.
Nobody is perfect and my own thoughts would have been to give the guy a chance to sort it.

He's blown that opportunity.

Fortunately there are a lot of good tradesmen out there who will do the job properly.

Issue now is finding someone who might sign it off without starting the whole thing from scratch. What a rubbish situation.

 

[Chivers]

I take it that's under the consumer unit? If so I very much doubt it will reach unless there's an amount of slack to redo this with a correct gland & banjo without either renewing it or a join or isolator of some kind.

 

[LeeH38]

I take it that's under the consumer unit? If so I very much doubt it will reach to redo this with a correct gland & banjo without either renewing it or a join or isolator of some kind.

It is. There is some excess cable under the kitchen units in the next room.

 

[ipf]

I take it that's under the consumer unit? If so I very much doubt it will reach unless there's an amount of slack to redo this with a correct gland & banjo without either renewing it or a join or isolator of some kind.

I wouldn't be glanding with banjos (or earthing nut) in that plastic CU, anyway. It requires a metal adaptable box fitting below the unit. Swa glands in plastic.....horrible!

 

[James]

I wouldn't be glanding with banjos (or earthing nut) in that plastic CU, anyway. It requires a metal adaptable box fitting below the unit. Swa glands in plastic.....horrible!

"REQUIRES" is a strong word.
I would prefer to make off into a metal enclosure but if the cable is supported correctly, a plastic enclosure can be glanded off correctly with either a banjo or earthing nut.

 

[davesparks]

I wouldn't be glanding with banjos (or earthing nut) in that plastic CU, anyway. It requires a metal adaptable box fitting below the unit. Swa glands in plastic.....horrible!

A steel through box is another good option, it has an earth terminal in it already to make the connection to the armour nice and easy.

 

[ipf]

"REQUIRES" is a strong word.
I would prefer to make off into a metal enclosure but if the cable is supported correctly, a plastic enclosure can be glanded off correctly with either a banjo or earthing nut.

Depends how you take it...in my view it does require it, taking into account those flimsy plastic units.