"mick" wrote in message
k...
On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:35:31 -0700, p.scott wrote:

Hey Folks,

I recently had to replace a ring main socket in a part of the house that
was re-wired 20+ years ago by an ex-electricity board inspector. I was
surprised to see that the earth connectors, instead of being wired into
the socket, were twisted together along with a flying earth and
connected to the earth connector in the metal box. The flying earth
alone went to the socket. None of the earths were sheathed!

Previously, I would have connected all three earth wires into the
socket. However, this unexpected configuration seems less likely to come
adrift because the three-wire collection goes into a fixed connector and
only a single wire goes to the socket. The three-wire collection only
needs disturbing if re-wiring is needed, not whenever a socket is
replaced.



Some 30 years ago I was taught to wire the earths to the socket (sheathed)
and a single piece of insulated earth wire to the connector on the metal
box. The reason given for this was that without the connection to the back
box the only way the box was earthed was through the screws holding the
socket and needed to be 'bonded' in case the socket was unscrewed whilst it
was live. Mind you this was at the time when councils were specifying earth
bonding to metal window frames.

Tony