Kitchen Refit - Horror discoveries...

tim'll fix it · Post by **tim'll fix it** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:12 am

i reckon the worst bits are the gold rope edged sockets

panlid · Post by **panlid** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:26 am

i think some people re just shocked when they see mess

davek0974 · Post by **davek0974** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:25 am

What bothered me was that i dont feel two wraps of pvc tape are adequate insulation on a 32A circuit, the screws were not particularly tight so it seemed like a good point for some melting to be going on.

The shower spur really bothered me due to the lack of protection for the shower and myself in a fault. If we had changed to a normal shower, which the size of wiring dictates is ok, it would blow the breaker when the cooker is on

Its not the fact that the mess exists its just that it really was not that hard to do it correctly, or if not correctly, a 1000 times safer.

It turns out that the owners had a flood upstairs which wrecked the kitchen and the work was done under the insurance claim.

Dave

panlid · Post by **panlid** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:50 am

dave, not saying it is ok.
just that i have seen alot worse.

davek0974 · Post by **davek0974** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:29 pm

No worries, i am sure there are plenty worse things out there

Hinton Heating · Post by **Hinton Heating** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:38 pm

I actually agree with panlid, whether 2 layers of tape, the cables own plastic coating, or with a plastic cover, its all just the same once a nail is hammered through it!

Theres loads of rubbish workmanship stuff hidden from view!

davek0974 · Post by **davek0974** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:54 pm

Bit more found after more stripping out...

The 6mm T&E went straight into the bottom of the hob, no connection box or heat resistant flexi. It was quite black & brittle when i pulled it out.

Nice

yourweb · Post by **yourweb** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:43 pm

Just think of what this all would have done to a wood frame house?

I am always amazed on how things were done in the UK from all those pics you guys put up. Has the common sense gone out the window on things like this?

village idiot · Post by **village idiot** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:46 pm

at least he used connectors, the numpty in the house before us just used the "twist & tape" method to extend the cooker cable, using 2.5mm2 T&E

davek0974 · Post by **davek0974** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:13 pm

Here we go again...

Ello, ello, ello, what goes on here...

Stripping anaother wall reveals the excellent twist and tape ring main extension.

I love the state of the wiring in this kitchen, so glad i'm ripping it all out.

Dave

davek0974 · Post by **davek0974** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:23 pm

Spent a good couple of hours trying to suss out how the c/heating boiler was wired up.

Has two cables going in, one should be permanent supply, the other goes out to the pump, seems nice and easy.

Why the f*ck would some monkey take the live feed from one cable and the neutral & earth from the other cable with the other two odd wires going to the pump??

It makes no sense as it's the same number of wires, just makes it impossible to work on the boiler safely etc. I'm not going to change this at present as the other ends go into a strip-block wiring jumble in the cylinder cupboard. I'll leave some notes at each end and re-wire the whole lot when i get onto the heating system. I don't want to add to the workload at present.

Bloody idiots.

Dave

Hinton Heating · Post by **Hinton Heating** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:32 pm

davek0974 wrote:Spent a good couple of hours trying to suss out how the c/heating boiler was wired up.

Has two cables going in, one should be permanent supply, the other goes out to the pump, seems nice and easy.

Why the f*ck would some monkey take the live feed from one cable and the neutral & earth from the other cable with the other two odd wires going to the pump??

It makes no sense as it's the same number of wires, just makes it impossible to work on the boiler safely etc. I'm not going to change this at present as the other ends go into a strip-block wiring jumble in the cylinder cupboard. I'll leave some notes at each end and re-wire the whole lot when i get onto the heating system. I don't want to add to the workload at present.

Bloody idiots.

Dave

surely once the fused spur is off to the boiler, then is safe to work on?

You have already seen is obvious that the N & E comes from a different cable than the Perm Live.

No problem at all.

I'm guessing there are 2 x 2+E to provide

Perm Live
Pump Live
Boiler Live
Neutral
2 x earth.

is fine the way its wired, if not logical.

davek0974 · Post by **davek0974** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 4:20 pm

Still cant see why split it.

I have since found some info on the boiler.

It shows three cables:-
Pump Control
Boiler supply
Boiler control

This would match what you state HintonHeating, I've only got two cables, four cores in total (not counting earths).

That explains things a bit more, but i would still have taken one complete cable for the supply, then used the other for pump and boiler control. The pump neutral must come from the wiring mess upstairs.

Wierd way of doing it.

Dave

Hinton Heating · Post by **Hinton Heating** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 4:22 pm

you cant get 5 core cables... so need to run 2 cables.

Each cable must be earthed.

davek0974 · Post by **davek0974** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:14 am

Yes, ok,

but why split the live feed across two cables. Surely it makes sense to use one T&E to supply the permanent live feed, then the other T&E as the control cable running the pump and boiler?

ps, only one cable is earthed

Dave