nightjar wrote:
"Goo Goo" wrote in message
...
"James Salisbury" wrote in
message
...
I was wondering how the sockets were wired up.... it's an old
house as
well, and the sockets are blatently old. I may get an electrician
in;
although it's possible the neighbourhood had a powercut a few
times
during the day - but unlikely i'd suggest.


How old is old? Are they round pin or square?

Round-ISH... i can just tell they're old, they're not the same
design as
modern mains sockets, and the switches aren't the same design as
what i'd
consider 'modern' plugs.

I suggest turning the mains master switch off and moving into an
hotel until
you get an electrician in. If you don't have the 'modern' style
square pin
sockets, the wiring is decades past its useful life and it is
dangerous.

Colin Bignell


I suspect a different situation. There is no such thing as a roundish
pin plug, not here, and the OP seems a bit short on basic electrical
knowledge. Plug pins are either rectangular or round, or occasionally
flat, but not roundish.

I expect the OP has early square pin sockets, which have straight top
and bottom and rounded sides, like this: (__) These can be as recent as
1980s, in which case theres no reason to worry, or they could date back
to the 60s.

The 3 copper metal pins on the mains plugs, the prongs that go into the
wall socket holes, if /theyre/ round, Colin's right, and your install
will be truly risky. Very very unlikely, but if the plugs only have 2
round metal pins instead of 3, leave now, that would be 1930s or
earlier wiring, complete with the dreaded clix plugs.

Otherwise I dont think anything youve told us indicates any cause for
concern or need for an electrician. But I'm well aware that might not
be the case: your info is so totally muddled its basically imposible to
know whats going on. Poor lad doesnt even know what a power cut is.

There is one thing you can easily do to spot problems, that is waggle
all the mains flexes, plugs and so on. If it causes power to cut out
you do need an electrician to fix something. Dont do it yourself,
seriously, stick to the things you do know about.


NT