My Father's asked me to replace his fusebox for a slit load CU, he
doesn't want to rewire the house which I have suggested as its rubber
cable. I havent looked at the job propery yet but my question is, what
to do if the cables are too short for the new places in the new CU?

I would prefer to at least fit the CU as it will offer more protection
than they have now, which basically is nowt !! If I can I'll pressure
them into a rewire.

The message .com
from "Staffbull" contains these words:

rubber cable.

Back out now before it all goes wrong.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

In article .com,
Staffbull wrote:
My Father's asked me to replace his fusebox for a slit load CU, he
doesn't want to rewire the house which I have suggested as its rubber
cable. I havent looked at the job propery yet but my question is, what
to do if the cables are too short for the new places in the new CU?

If it really does have any rubber cable don't even touch it as it will
fall apart.

I would prefer to at least fit the CU as it will offer more protection
than they have now, which basically is nowt !!

I'd simply fit an RCD before the existing fusebox, etc.

If I can I'll pressure them into a rewire.

Almost certainly essential. It will be 50 years old at least.

--
*Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sun, 29 Oct 2006 23:59:48 GMT, Guy King
wrote:

The message .com
from "Staffbull" contains these words:

rubber cable.

Back out now before it all goes wrong.

Got to agree fully with this one.

Rubber degrades and crumbles if touched. You could be getting into a
very nasty job situation.

It's an all or nothing situation.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article .com,
Staffbull wrote:

My Father's asked me to replace his fusebox for a slit load CU, he
doesn't want to rewire the house which I have suggested as its rubber
cable. I havent looked at the job propery yet but my question is, what
to do if the cables are too short for the new places in the new CU?

If it really does have any rubber cable don't even touch it as it will
fall apart.

I would prefer to at least fit the CU as it will offer more protection
than they have now, which basically is nowt !!

I'd simply fit an RCD before the existing fusebox, etc.

this will promptly ensure they have no leccy supply. And may still
leave you legally liable. I suspect you might be opening yourself up to
a small risk of serious charges for hooking up a 50 yr old installation
in who knows what condition.

A split load CU wont offer much more safety anyway, mcbs are no safer
than fuses, expect when in the hands of suicidal darwinian morons, and
loss of earth at the socket is not an especially high ranking risk with
old wiring. RCD will protect against L-E shorts, but not L-N, but this
is only so if the RCD is workable in the first place. Even if the
wiring is still sound, which is not impossible, the usual bakelite
switches with no snap action would quickly take out the rcd.


NT

On 29 Oct 2006 15:13:41 -0800 someone who may be "Staffbull"
wrote this:-

My Father's asked me to replace his fusebox for a slit load CU, he
doesn't want to rewire the house which I have suggested as its rubber
cable. I havent looked at the job propery yet but my question is, what
to do if the cables are too short for the new places in the new CU?

To add to what the others have said, if you try this you will
probably find that the insulation of the wires coming into the
existing consumer unit crumbles as you work on them. You will then
end up with bare wires. How long they are will be the least of your
troubles.

I would prefer to at least fit the CU as it will offer more protection
than they have now, which basically is nowt !!

It is unlikely the existing installation has no protective devices.
Trying to do half the job will almost certainly make the
installation more dangerous.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Staffbull wrote:

My Father's asked me to replace his fusebox for a slit load CU, he
doesn't want to rewire the house which I have suggested as its rubber
cable. I havent looked at the job propery yet but my question is, what
to do if the cables are too short for the new places in the new CU?

I would prefer to at least fit the CU as it will offer more protection
than they have now, which basically is nowt !! If I can I'll pressure
them into a rewire.

Not a chance - you will end up with a pile of crumbling rubber and a
load of bare wires!

Full rewire time I am afraid.



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

My Father's asked me to replace his fusebox for a slit load CU, he
doesn't want to rewire the house which I have suggested as its rubber
cable. I havent looked at the job propery yet but my question is, what
to do if the cables are too short for the new places in the new CU?

The rubber cable should be regarded as somewhere between at risk and
immediately dangerous. You certainly should not disturb it. It absolutely
MUST be changed as soon as possible. If there are money troubles, there may
be a scheme with the local council to loan money for the work at low
interest, or in return for a charge on the property.

The only modification I would consider would be to install a new consumer
unit and run the entire existing installation from a 32A RCBO using new PVC
cable to the old fuse box entry. Doing this I would NOT touch any rubber
cable at all (except when totally removing a section). I would also regard
this as an emergency fix until an electrician can come to rewire the entire
property. I would only do it if the rubber appears to be in good condition
and I could trust the residents to be sensible (i.e. they are family, no
children live in the house, and they are not members of the public).

You may well find that the RCBO constantly trips. If so, the cable is
immediately dangerous, rather than simply at risk. Entirely disconnect the
electrical installation and find temporary accommodation for your father.

Christian.

Staffbull wrote:
My Father's asked me to replace his fusebox for a slit load CU, he
doesn't want to rewire the house which I have suggested as its rubber
cable. I havent looked at the job propery yet but my question is, what
to do if the cables are too short for the new places in the new CU?

I would prefer to at least fit the CU as it will offer more protection
than they have now, which basically is nowt !! If I can I'll pressure
them into a rewire.


Thanks, I'll get him to go for the rewire, it is well overdue, and if
he's bothered about too much mess I'll use conduit on the surface. Each
bedroom only has one socket at the moment anyhoo, so by adding another
per room wont be much bother. If I can get past "why do you need so
many plugs in one room" :-)

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:14:49 -0800, Staffbull wrote:


Staffbull wrote:
My Father's asked me to replace his fusebox for a slit load CU, he
doesn't want to rewire the house which I have suggested as its rubber
cable. I havent looked at the job propery yet but my question is, what
to do if the cables are too short for the new places in the new CU?

I would prefer to at least fit the CU as it will offer more protection
than they have now, which basically is nowt !! If I can I'll pressure
them into a rewire.


Thanks, I'll get him to go for the rewire, it is well overdue, and if
he's bothered about too much mess I'll use conduit on the surface. Each
bedroom only has one socket at the moment anyhoo, so by adding another
per room wont be much bother. If I can get past "why do you need so
many plugs in one room" :-)


A few years ago I bought a flat which had had a Wylex CU installed and as
it turned out the sockets changed to 13A. Behind everything as I later
discovered with the original 1935 rubber/fabric (VIR ?) wiring in conduits.

Obviously I couldn't let such a flat so I had to rewire it pronto.
To speed things up all the power was done in stick on surface
trunking and surface sockets (mostly right over the original
positions). "Contract" quality accessories, basic pendants etc.etc.

Last year I chased everything in, sunk everything flush and used a
consistent volex s/s set of accessories throughout.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

In article ,
Jim Michaels wrote:
A few years ago I bought a flat which had had a Wylex CU installed and
as it turned out the sockets changed to 13A. Behind everything as I
later discovered with the original 1935 rubber/fabric (VIR ?) wiring in
conduits.


If it was in conduit, why not pull out old wire and pull in new?

It's not as easy as it sounds. And you're then restricted to existing
positions for sockets and switches, etc, which are never where you want
them.

--
*Just remember...if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Thanks, I'll get him to go for the rewire, it is well overdue, and if
he's bothered about too much mess I'll use conduit on the surface. Each
bedroom only has one socket at the moment anyhoo, so by adding another
per room wont be much bother.

Legally, you will need to add a lot more than one per room. There are
minimum standards for the numbers of sockets in each room. This is to
improve safety by reducing the use of trailing leads (trip hazard) and daisy
chained adapters (electrical and fire hazard).

Christian.

Christian McArdle wrote:

Legally, you will need to add a lot more than one per room. There are
minimum standards for the numbers of sockets in each room. This is to
improve safety by reducing the use of trailing leads (trip hazard) and daisy
chained adapters (electrical and fire hazard).

I was thinking that. There's a table in the On-Site Guide giving
recommended numbers of sockets. Four to six (doubles) for a bedroom.

--
Andy

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 00:13:48 -0600, Jim Michaels wrote:

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:56:25 +0000, Ed Sirett
wrote:




A few years ago I bought a flat which had had a Wylex CU installed and as
it turned out the sockets changed to 13A. Behind everything as I later
discovered with the original 1935 rubber/fabric (VIR ?) wiring in conduits.


If it was in conduit, why not pull out old wire and pull in new?

That's exactly how the lighting was rewired.
I wouldn't have got 2.5T+E down the conduits.
I needed more sockets for even the most basic rewire.
I still would have had to run additional cabling anyway.
I didn't have any singles and I would have encountered additional earthing
issues wrt the conduits.




--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:39:40 GMT wrote :
I was thinking that. There's a table in the On-Site Guide giving
recommended numbers of sockets. Four to six (doubles) for a bedroom.

That number seems excessively high. What number do the major (nhbc
registered (for what it's worth)) builders install. My house would
require about 60, I reckon there's about 25, and half of those are
singles.

I've got eight in my bedroom and IIRC 44 in total in my 2-bed flat. The
thing about having lots is that you put your furniture where you want it,
not in positions dictated by the need not to cover sockets.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

That number seems excessively high. What number do the major (nhbc
registered (for what it's worth)) builders install.

I can't imagine they flagrantly disregard the building regulations, so I
suspect they install 4 to 6 doubles.

Christian.