"N. Thornton" wrote in message
om...

You say the house has been rewired recently, but to be honest thats
hard to believe from the pics of the fusebox. Partial rewiring might
have been done, but the idea that someone managed to gain enough
access to that old fusebox is stretching it. And again, if they didnt
replace an old and inaccessible 4-way wire fuse only box, or even
upgrade it to mcbs, youve got to wonder what they were thinking.

You may be right - I can't remember (or find!) what I said about rewiring,
but it certainly wouldn't have been that
recent; I just meant that it was more recent than the fusebox suggests. I
would certainly
guess that the gas meter was added later though.

I certainly have lots of checking to do; I agree.

If it were mine I might start by checking resistance from house wiring
earth to real earth, as it would at least give a very quick idea of
how unsatisfactory things are. If R is high you would have a high risk
install there. If R is nice and low that would at least be reassuring
on that fairly major point.

What do you define as 'real earth' - are you refering to the incoming cable
sheath? Or an earth rod somewhere (which would be difficult as there's no
'soft' ground anywhere nearby.

Thanks
David