In message ,
"Smudger" smudger@here wrote:

[snip some rather-too-detailed stuff from me]


Nice one. Maybe it was my gaffer. He did wear a belt _and_ braces. ;-)

Smudger


Sorry, I was in "one of those moods" last night. The last thing I want
to have to do is to ensure a completely fireproof backing for every CU
(and other switchgear) I fit in a domestic premises, especially when I
don't see other people doing it.

OT: I was interested to (re)read 526-03-02 last night. The regulation
states that terminations or joints of "live or PEN" conductors should be
within the appropriate enclosures. What about standard earths - CPCs?
Does this regulation imply that what I found under a client's floor the
other day is actually ok(ish)?

To explain, this is a client whose system really needs quite extensive
work (some of it cosmetic mind you) but who is on a very small budget.
He didn't really want me to do all the things I suggested were vital
(bonding mainly) because of the received wisdom that BS7671 isn't (yet)
statutory in domestic situations, and that updates aren't retrospective.
He did want me to do some other work though which I said I wouldn't do
unless he also let me sort out his bonding. Lucky for me he went to
another electrician who gave him a similar answer but couldn't start
this week :-)

Anyway, this guy is on a tight budget and every minute counts. I was
under a floorboard pulling wires when I spotted a 2G box similar to
those used for central heating wiring with about a dozen lighting cables
entering it. Bearing in mind that this house was supposedly rewired
under a council grant some 15 years ago I didn't expect anything
dreadful, it was quite tidy inside and as surface boxes with lids are,
as far as I'm aware, suitable enclosures for electrical connections I
was prepared to leave it as an interesting thing to see...

....until I noticed that the earths from all these lighting cables did
not enter the box, but were simply twisted together underneath it. No
sleeving, no connector, just a mechanical twist.

Needless to say it'd have been far too difficult to try to get them into
the box, so I ended up re-doing the lot on a piece of ply with several
junction boxes mounted on it. Justifying this extra half-day or so of
work to this client was difficult, but 526-03-02 made me think: had I
simply put a (very large) choccie block on the ends of the CPCs and
wrapped the lot in GY tape, this might not have satisfied other
regulations, but would it have satisfied 526-03-02?

OT again: on the subject of dodgy council rewires, this is one of those
houses where the landing light is wired with its live taken from the
downstairs lighting circuit (jumpered into hall switch, on to landing
switch, up to landing light) but takes its neutral from the upstairs
lights. I thought this wasn't allowed?

Hwyl!

M.

--
Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/
Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology
.... Profanity, the language computerists know.