Welcome to another episode of “my house was wired by a clown”

so much fun....i keep finding switches that power all sorts of lights/ sockets. and ive only been here 30 years :) looks like getting close to a rewire grrrrrrrrrr.
 
Meh, seen worse, this is from a recent EICR
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We had an EICR done on the property we purchased. Would that ever pick things up like this? I find it unlikely that the EICR would scratch much beyond the surface. Meaning that stuff like this and dodgy plumbing are real risks when purchasing property.

How do you protect against it? Pay a plumber/spark to spend the day going over the property with a fine tooth comb?
 
Macky said:
We had an EICR done on the property we purchased.
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Maybe some of them would escape by, but the twisted connections on the downlighters I'd like to think would be found for example, poor connections to downlighters (normally just the sheath stripped too far back)are pretty common so you generally try and take one per room down for a look (if you can, sometimes you cant without risking the decoration) You also get a feel for the place, if a DIYer has been doing stuff, and if a new kitchen has been fitted, along with common things to look closely at, downlighters, under cabinet lights, conservatory sockets, etc.

No EICR will find everything wrong, but a good one will give you a good indication on what the general standard is like and will drag up a lot of the poor bits, the trouble is, getting a good EICR.....
 
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Oof that looks terrible.

Out of interest if you're a sparky where you not tempted to buy a home for renovation when you got one? I guess a lot of the time it's not worth the money/time/effort.
 
Buffman said:
Oof that looks terrible.

Out of interest if you're a sparky where you not tempted to buy a home for renovation when you got one? I guess a lot of the time it's not worth the money/time/effort.
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There's a lot to be said for doing the same job all day and coming home to doing your own. it's a pain that not many tradesmen can be bothered with, hence the constant ear ache from the missus.

Also lol at that backbox. Massive Screws, no grommets, cable wedged in behind, Fast Fix lugs wedged in. Lovely.

On an EICR you'll get what you pay for. If you're only paying £100 odd you'll be lucky to get a couple hours of an electricians time, it'll end up failing and it'll be covered in FI's. But to be honest if you're at the level this home appears to be at, you basically make safe until the budget allows a rewire.
 
What would happen in a situation like this if this house caught fire, and upon inspection found lots of dodgy wiring?

I'm sure you could say it was like that before you bought the house till you're blue in the face, but we all know what insurance companies are like for wriggling out of a claim.
 
Semple said:
What would happen in a situation like this if this house caught fire, and upon inspection found lots of dodgy wiring?

I'm sure you could say it was like that before you bought the house till you're blue in the face, but we all know what insurance companies are like for wriggling out of a claim.
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pretty sure in my case nothings changed since the sale advert so it would be hard for them to prove I ripped the kitchen out to rewire it (dangerously) and then put it back again :)

it would be down to them to prove i assume.
 
I've got all this to look forward to.

Replaced the consumer unit not long ago, & noticed it was suspiciously old for the age of the house (wooden backed Wylex one) & there were unused rawl plugs behind it, indicating it wasn't the first time it had been changed... I think an old boy had done some DIY work sometime in the 90s & put an old fused board back in because 'that's what he knew/trusted' :rolleyes:
I also found a bag of really old ceramic powder-filled fuses that added suspicion...

Anyway, turns out the kitchen ring became a non-ring at some point too & some portions of cable have even been pulled out so sockets that were once obviously on the ring are now spurs to who knows where... It's not tripping the RCBO so i'm leaving it for now until I replace the kitchen.
 
Ok gone a bit further tonight. Am at a loss with this one. Cant think how to even fix it. Hes removed a socket in the middle of the ring and then attached some 3 core flex to it. Which then fed the disaster i fixed at the weekend, which then goes on to feed the dishwasher and the under cabinet lights and the igniter on the gas hob. Only thing i can think to do is install a double socket behind here and put a plug on the cable going to the dishwasher and the electric hob. Anyone else got any better sugestions?

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Im even tempted to just put a single socket back on and then just have an extension lead under the unit and leave this hole here to acess the socket if needed
 
Jeez, can't really visualise it. Fcu to maintain the ring then supply the dishwasher etc from that? You shouldn't really have loads of appliances spurred like this, also the lights really should be fused down to 3a.
 
200sols said:
Jeez, can't really visualise it. Fcu to maintain the ring then supply the dishwasher etc from that? You shouldn't really have loads of appliances spurred like this, also the lights really should be fused down to 3a.
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i think im gona bin the lights off. Install a double socket here and put a plug on the hob and the dishwasher
 
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