VIR problems

[Sintra]

Has nobody thought that the earthing has to be up to scratch before any installation work is completed? Reg 131.8 springs to mind...

Des 56 has mentioned it in his post that's why i deleted my post.

 

[pevvers]

Des 56 has mentioned it in his post that's why i deleted my post.

Oops, that's my bad....

 

[rocker]

Not that I would ever even dream about doing such a thing, but let's say somebody opened up the meter, how easy would it be to replace the tails, do you think?

Also, what about re-sheathing the tails with heatshrink or similar? Any reason not to?

 

[scotsparky]

if the cable head and meter seal were "found to be broken" its dead easy to change tails. pull fuse and away you go I would inform the DNO immediatly you found it but praise them on the quality of the 25mm double insulated cables that are there.

 

[nickblake]

Rocker think you need to cover your self ,if the VIR is as old as you think you could be stickey situation i had a call to a house recently ,a socket getting hot ,looked pretty old install took the socket off as i pulled it from the wall all the insulation dropped off the cable it was arching had to sleeve it the best i could and very very gently ill tell you ,hadno choice but to issue a danger notification , and told her she needed an urgent rewire ,her son took her in and had words with social services and she got a grant to rewire , all happy now , you gotta be cruel to be kind mate ,at least youll sleep at night

 

[rocker]

Okay heres an update.... there's a large isolator for the shower outside the bathroom, considering the current situation (tails are VIR, old cartdridge fuses, rest of house [but not shower] wired in VIR) would I be able to place a shower consumer unit next to this isolator? The shower itself would be on an RCBO, but the 6mm cable leading up t it would only be protected by the existing cartridge fuse. Any ideas, anyone?

 

[nickblake]

I hate VIR what condition is it in poor probably a you have to protect the lights too with an RCd wouldnt it be safer to rewire ,gotta be cruel to be kind ,once its done its done and and you would be happier im sure , or is it not that simple

 

[rocker]

They can't afford a rewire unfortunately, obviousy it's pretty difficult convincing people they need something fixed that works fine!

Don't need to put an RCD on the lights as I ain't touching them, and without a rewire I ain't going to be touching them. The only thing (if anything) I'm going to touch is the shower circuit (in PVC).

I really think the best thing to do under the circs is leaving the existing board as it is, coming out from the cart fuse to some form of RCD/MCB combination either outside the bathroom or chop the 6mm just outside the existing board and in+out of new board, test on the existing wiring, check terminations, bish-bash and indeed bosh. I know coming out of an old board into a new one is rough, but I think under these circumstances it will be the least intrusive and safest option.

Anyone got any ideas??

 

[nickblake]

I understand what you are saying ,what about putting a sub board at the supply , and protect the whole lot old CU and shower , i know its against the regs and they cant afford a rewire so then youd protect the whole house and shower and mark on test sheet requires urgent rewire , making people understand the problems is hard but you;ll know yourself how quickly VIR can deteriorate on the same note you have to cover yourself as if something did happen at least it shows you made an effort to protect the circuits as best you can

 

[Spudnik]

I think you will find that all circuits in a bathroom must have RCD protection.

However, i cant see any reason why you cant just sort the shower on its own CU.

As nick said, make sure you note everything on the cert, warts an all.