The 'you don't need to change it socket'

[magnoliafan89]

Hi guys

First off I'm not a qualified spark yet I'm a mature level 3 apprentice, however I thought you might like to see a socket I was greeted with in the house I recently purchased. I purchased it from the in laws and the socket in question was in a room I was going to use for my children. Upon seeing this I told my father in law I would have to change it but he turned round and said there was no need and I didn't need to. Now he's a cabinet maker/ carpenter and anything woodwork related he's a Picasso but after changing a few plug tops he also thinks electrics is easy.

I ignored him proceeded to isolate the ring. Did all the checks to make sure it was dead and removed the whole fitting. The inside was ghastly so I thought I'd pull a bit more out to tidy up the ends upon doing this the rcd tripped...que my FIL proceeding to come up demand to know what I was doing and claim i didn't need to do anything and to leave it alone...anything gain i ignored him. Wondering what had caused the trip I found that whoever had screwed the back box on had drilled straight through to the cable exposing the live which when I pulled connected with the earth. I put a surface box on using 3/4 screws away from where the cables lay and replaced the whole thing. Now like I said I'm not qualified but I'd like to know that I'm not crazy in thinking this didn't need changing asap!!

View attachment 35499

View attachment 35500

 

[buzzlightyear]

Don't take the picture of the house down, I like it, it reminds me of a better life

yea, like the little house on the Prairie.

 

[Midwest]

Think that house is due a rewire

 

[buzzlightyear]

I bet its got v/r cable in the house .

 

[magnoliafan89]

Think that house is due a rewire

It definitely does need one. The whole house is one big ring circuit so far I have found 24 sockets quite a few of which are spurs...there is also a lighting circuit in the one area fused down which is connected to the ring...all this was off a 16 amp breaker when I first moved in...they had just got used to it tripping everytime something was plugged in when the tumble dryer was going.

 

[buzzlightyear]

rip & strip .I bet on that ring it will have 4mm cable .

 

[magnoliafan89]

Afraid not, it's only 2.5mm. I think it must have started as a radial when the house was smaller and over time when it was extended they added more and made it a ring but didn't update the breaker or take into consideration the size of the ring.
It's a house full of bad practices, bodge jobs and horrendous work.....like the one lighting circuit which was obviously a tad to short to make it to the board so it terminates into a connector block just above the board and a little piece goes from that into the board

 

[Rpa07]

So, you're a 3rd year apprentice who bought his house off of the in laws.
Question 1 did you get it at a good price?
Question 2 was it a good enough price to factor in a rewire?
Question 3 actually it's not a question it's a suggestion - get in there with a supervisor and rewire it to how you want including everything you'll need for the future. If you were a florist I wouldn't suggest this but you are probably in a great position to make it work to your advantage.
Just don't get your father in law to help!

 

[7029 dave]

rip & strip .I bet on that ring it will have 4mm cable .

I bet it will be rubber only because of the brown baker-light, looks like MK , the white came out in late 60's early 70's in white. 7/029 pvc cable possible.

 

[buzzlightyear]

been to many jobs that had v/r cable on old baker-light sockets and lead .

 

[westward10]

It is MK and one thing you can be certain of todays MK sockets won't be working in 50 to 60 years time.

 

[PEG]

It's "Bakelite"...the other one is Gregg's slimming range

 

[Rpa07]

It is MK and one thing you can be certain of todays MK sockets won't be working in 50 to 60 years time.

We'll all be dead and anyway, they'll be talking about T+E in the same way we talk about VIR - we won't want to be around to defend that, will we?

 

[magnoliafan89]

I did get it for a good price yeh lol he does gripe me I do appreciate the opportunity they gave us but he just doesn't like it if someone says he's wrong or knows a little more than him.
Like I said there is a lot of bad practices and bodged jobs all over the place I'll try and upload more pics but deffo needs a really wire

View attachment 35505

View attachment 35506

 

[BroadReach]

Looks like someone has been in there before. Slotted screws would have been the order of the day when the socket was new, I would have thought?

 

[7029 dave]

Told you that is 7/029 pvc and did not even the cover off . lol