In uk.d-i-y, Paul paul at javajedi dot com wrote:

I guess from what I have seen so far, its pretty standard practice, and I
have to just live with the re-wire once I move in...

I'm afraid you're about right there. It's barely-compliant skimping on the
part of the detail specifier (I won't dignify their actions by calling them
either an "architect" or a "design engineer"); your floor area is probably
just within the 100msq guideline (and it's only a *guideline* anyway, and
the Regs aren't legally binding in themselves anyway). But it's poor
practice, as you point out; the sage words of p.151 of the OSG, which
suggests "consideration should be given to a separate circuit" for
washing m/c, dryer, and wushdush to avoid unbalancing the legs of a ring
will be answered by the builder as "yup, we considered it [and then thought
about the extra 15 quid in materials and 30 in labour it would've cost,
and rejected it out of hand]"; and annoying too, since putting in two or
three rings (upstairs, down, and kitchen) would've been *much* easier
during construction than after the fact.

Still, at least you'll find out all about the quality of the electrical
installation when you do the upgrade - and you may be lucky (?) enough to
find a serious enough violation of the Regs that you can get the builders
to do a proper job (including the upgrade) as part of a hush-it-up deal ;-)

HTH, Stefek
Cheers

Paul.

"Paul" paul at javajedi dot com wrote in message
...
I have a question for those expereienced electricians among us. I am
buying
a new house,
and now that the second fix has been done and the CU installed I can see
that there is only a single ring serving the whole of the house sockets.
(additional circuits a lighting upstairs inc smoke alarms, lighting
downstairs, electric cooker).

I have serious reservations about this, as I was expecting two rings, one
upstairs, one downstairs.

I have done some reading of the uk.d-i-y FAQ, purchased IEE onsite guide
to
16th
edition wiring regs, had a read on the web and spoken to the NHBC. The
general consensus of all
these is that the regulation states:

- Ring should not cover more than 100m^2

And thats about it. Now I am pretty confident that with a tumble dryer or
washing maching typically pulling up to 2-3KW each (washing machine is
cold
draw only - Bosch), that all I have to do is boil the kettle (3KW) or have
the misses use a hairdryer (2-3KW) on washday and the ring will trip.
Thats
not taking into account loads from things like Dishwashers, computers, TVs
and the like. This concerns me as (a) I have 2 computers I usually leave
on
24/7 and they will not like it and (b) I have an alleregy to setting the
clocks on everything electronic and can barely cope with twice a year for
daylight savings!

Looking at the builders brochure, although their figure of 1000sqft would
mean 93m^2, they have taken the main foot print of the building.
Calculating
with the protruding garage area at the front, and the protruding kitchen
area at the rear (all served by the same ring) the foot print is over
100m^2.

My Question: Can anyone tell me a way I can express the single ring being
overloaded referencing the IEE regulations?

I know that the 100m^2 figure is just a guide, but there are 34 sockets
fed
from this ring, and I am sure I will be using nearly every one; its just
not
up to the job. I am not sure how to prove that though quoting the
regulations, which is what I am going to need to do to get the builders to
take notice.

Thanks for any feedback

Paul

Email: paul at javajedi dot com