Adding electrical socket

[py_6294]

Hi all

Finally feel time is right to decorate late mum's bedroom

I've found only 1 plug socket so far, and would ideally like at least another one

After pulling out the chest of drawers I've come across the attached, found in the off position. And was wondering whether this could potentially become a normal plug socket.

I'm not entirely sure what it is for, and I know the chest of drawers has only been pulled out once in about 25 years when a new boiler was fitted. Apparently the water pump? was in that room so the floor boards needed to come up. No idea if that's relevant or not.

Thanks all

[Someone-Else]

What you have there is a "Fused connection unit" You should ideally find out what it is connected to and what it supplies (as you said may have been a pump) The next question is, is it live? as you will need to turn it off in order to change it, yes you could turn off the consumers unit, but you still need to prove it is dead. Do you have any way of testing it?

[arco_iris]

At this stage we can only surmise until as S-E says, it is checked out definitively.

The black/red, grey-outer cable is "twin & earth" and is the feed, supply, coming from the consumer unit. This type of cable is the one that is buried, hidden, in the fabric of the building - in walls & under floorboards.

The brown/blue, white-outer cable is a "flexible" cable which is never hidden and goes to whatever appliance, equipment, that the FCU controls.

Have a look the other side of that wall for the other end of the white cable. (It doesn't look big enough but) could it be for an immersion heater element in the hot water tank? With working central heating that would very rarely be needed or used, to the extent that it has been forgotten. If that is the case, it probably will be "live". Check the consumer unit for labels indicating which trip switch (or fuse cartridge if very old) controls which circuit and read them.

Alternatively take a picture of the CU and come back here.

[kellys_eye]

Old storage heating system? Being mounted so close to the floor makes me think this way. Did the property ever have an Economy 7 system fitted?

[Neelix]

Whats on the other side of the wall? External light?

[py_6294]

Hi all, thanks for the replies!

I'm not sure I have a way to test it

The property is a semi, the wall this attached to is shared with the neighbours! A new boiler was installed roughly 10 years ago, there originally was a boiler in the kitchen and an immersion heater in the airing cupboard. There is now a boiler in the airing cupboard and the old immersion heater has gone. I've attached an image of how I best remember the controls to look like but I'm unsure whether it was a system 7.

The wire enters on the same wall which is directly above the fuse box

I've took a few extra pics as well after lifting the floor boards

Thanks all
Phil

[Neelix]

Time for a new fuseboard

[Someone-Else]

Interesting pictures, particularly this one.

oo-er-mrs.jpg (48.63 KiB) Viewed 1159 times

You can clearly see the flex has been severed. Since you have no way of testing the fused connection unit, you are going to have to call upon the services of a competent person to test it for you, I suspect it will be dead, BUT it may still be LIVE, other than testing there is no way of knowing. (Unless of course the twin and earth cable is also severed.)

Your consumers unit does not comply to the latest regulations, but it does comply to the regulations in force when it was installed, so unless you are renting the property out, or doing any alterations, you can keep your consumers unit.

[ericmark]

The fuse box technically is the limiting factor, as @Someone-Else says, the regulations are not retrospective, so you can continue to use it, but it means no alterations until upgraded.

As to breaking the rules, it depends on who lives in the property, clearly with rental it is a no no, but also any social services visiting etc.