Tracking from another electrical socket. Is this ok?

[dprovan]

Hi all,

I am hoping that someone can put my mind at ease. My friend who is a builder, not an electrician, said he would fit a new electrical socket for me. I needed a new single socket in my kitchen. He tracked a cable from my utility room washing machine socket to the kitchen apprximately 20 cm along the wall and 20 cm up the wall and then through the wall into the kitchen.

He had no plastic coving for the cable so wrapped it in insulating tape and told me to pollyfilla the cavity, when I asked if it would be ok without the plastic casing he said it would. It is encased in an internal solid wall.

Now, I imagine that the cable should be in plastic casing but is this ok/safe.

thank you

 

[DNS1]

Pretty much sums it up really. I certaintly wouldn't have routed a cable there, and although it technically does comply (route wise) noone would ever suspect there to be a cable there should they chose to drill there in the future.

Just what I was thinking, although it's in a safe zone, it would have made much more sense to send it through the wall and then vertically up to the FSU/DP directly above.

 

[DNS1]

Hold on, dprovan is in Northern Ireland... Part P only applies to England and Wales. What regs apply to NI?

 

[dprovan]

thanks for all the replies guys.

the track is well under 1/6th of the wall. this wall is an external wall and the track is approximately 1/11th of the full depth of the wall.

Looks like I need to phone an electrician, how shall i explain the situation... just tell him that a mate has tracked a socket for me and think he may have bothched it

 

[Richard]

Tell him the truth. Simples

 

[Des 56]

It appears to be standard Diy installation quality
At a guess.there doesn't seem to be too much contravention of regulations (if the spur is permitted),but it has poor installation standards written on it

The chances are it may very well be ok,but that would be confirmed by the installing electrician normally

I am sorry to say,but in your case you had no problem permitting an amateur install, now you are looking for confirmation of your decision,because you now doubt the sensibility of choosing an unskilled builder to carry out your electrical installation

A poor decision when its a trade that can kill in the worst scenario
What is noted on the certification ?

 

[Richard]

What is noted on the certification ?

Your optimistic!!

 

[dprovan]

Des56,
you are of course correct. I did choose to let a builder do the work and am now questioning the decision.


Do you mean certificate for the work.... If so, I have no certificate... That said I have an elecrtician do all sorts of work before installing spoltlights etc and have never received a certificate.

 

[Des 56]

Regulation 631.1 of the old red book

Roughly and concisely,it says

Upon completion of a new installation or changes to an existing, an electrical installation certificate based on the model in Appendix 6 shall be provided
It shall include record of the inspection and test results

Your previous electrician was not following the regulations contained in Bs 7671

 

[dprovan]

Des,

leaves me with a bit of a dillema given that he is the electrician i would be phoning to look at this....

cheers for all the input

 

[Inteificio]

Undoubtedly get a sparky in to have a look.

It would not cost much, the wiring if good would take minutes to confirm.

It might even have worked out cheaper getting a builder to chase it and a spark to wire (I HATE chasing wires and reflect in my pricing).

 

[Silly Sausage]

Undoubtedly get a sparky in to have a look.

But not the one you're referring to in your own thread. :smiley2::smiley2::smiley2:

 

[dprovan]

thanks guys, i will get a spark in as suggested.

re that track is it ok open as it is until the spark gets here or should is tick some pollyfille in to cover it for now. Or does it not really matter

 

[brizospark]

The duct tape over the cable is bizarre never seen anything like it - here's hoping that he hasn't wrapped this around the cable to cover up part of the cable he has damaged - panicked - and wrapped the tape around it - this is what my money would be on,

You can see from the standard of workmanship that the installation is poor - which surely must question if the cables are terminated correctly and if the socket has been taken from a suitable circuit

Regarding the spark you had in doing the downlights, the fact that you never received any certification would not automatically make the guy an inadequate spark, it depends on the circumstances i.e. if it was a homer job then you are very unlikely to receive any certification however if he carried out the work on behalf of a company then you should definitely recieve certification

You can pretty much guarantee though that if you get a spark in to check the builders work there will be more than one fault picked up - and as far as the cable unprotected by capping - although the cables are within the zones it is considered good practice to cap the cable or put the cable in conduit

 

[micknew]

Best not to touch, leave it and get an electrician in ASAP.

 

[gottahugenoggin]

The builder may think the plaster will react with the cable sheath,so he thought you have to wrap it like gas fitters wrap copper pipes when exposed to cement?