DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Electricians’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 416.2.2, 134.2.1, 610.6, 631.1, 314.4, 132.13, 514.9

We were on site to re-install an electric shower which was removed a few years earlier. We found both ends of the T&E and it tested true. We had some difficulty running a new water feed and a new section of T&E. While at the consumer unit testing the existing shower cable we found some interestingly poor wiring to everything else in the property.

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The home had apparently been re-wired about five years earlier. From what we could see however someone had installed a consumer unit only. The property is wired in T&E using the old colours (red and black) and we even found one old rubber cable (cracked and broken) running to the upstairs lights. This house was not rewired. The consumer unit is a 6 way box with 5 mini circuit breakers and the breakers are from three different manufacturers!

We were stumped by the cooker circuit mini circuit breaker which in turn ran via pair of 14mm tales to a mini single way consumer unit which in turn fed the 6mm cable back to the cooker. Lots and lots of cables, sloppy workmanship, unsafe cables and a gigantic hole cut into the top and running the entire length of the consumer unit cover. Make sure you don’t get taken like this. Hire a professional!

We are installing a new consumer unit next week which will address most of the issues. We’ll also be removing the rubber cable which feeds the upstairs lights.

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