In message
,
" writes

So the leccy trips out today forcing me to do some investigating. I
knew the pond for the socket was wired in 0.75mm2 flex off the back of
a socket and had been meaning to disconnect it for some time, so took
the opportunity to do so, and the power tripping off was solved.

What I wasn't expecting however was the socket to also be wired in
0.75mm2 flex! We had our fridge and tumble drier plugged into that
socket!

Some more prodding reveals one side of our kitcken wired as in the
diagram (see the link).

http://i52.tinypic.com/5uimwo.jpg

Fridge, 3KW tumble drier and outside socket all fed off 0.75mm2 flex.
Eeek!

a 3KW kettle, 3KW tumble drier, 1KW toaster, 800W microwave, 250W of
lighting, and a fridge all connected off one 2.5mm2 spur. Eeek!

I've disconnected all the 0.75mm2 flex. How would you fix the rest as
you are only allowed one single or double socket on a spur.

Only way I can see is to run wire from the last FCU up to the ceiling
above, hopefully find where the circuit descends to the socket on the
ring and make it a ring again. This would be a right PITA as are
floors are chipboard (but might give me an excuse to fix where the
floor is uneven in the spare room due to being carved up for what
looks like installation of the central heating).

I Thought about putting the spur on a FCU but I think the load is
probably too much for a 13A fuse.


what sort of access and how much mess do you want to make? Or are you
happy with a 'good enough for now' job? And whilst it's true that only a
single fitting on the spur is allowed on current regs, it wasn't always
thus, and in reality multiple outlet spurs can be fine unless you hang
multiple large loads on them. The wiring here has few for example (old
install of course)

I'd start by sticking the spur on a 13A FCU, you will probably find it
works fine, it won't blow instantly you get to 13A anyway, and you won't
be using all the loads at the same time, though probably a good idea to
only put the TD on when you aren't likely to be using the kettle.

Then you can work up to sorting a better job. As an alternative to the
ceiling could you go down beneath the work top, either taking out plinth
for access underneasth cupboard, or running cable inside the cupboard?
to run a cable back to make a longer ring?
--
Chris French