ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Violation Photo Forum Bad wiring in store (UK)

Except for the cables to the contactor dragging along the floor, the wiring you see in photo #1 is fairly typical of indoor service boards here.

The cables between the service fuses & meter, and between the meter and panels are double-insulated; there's another layer of red or black insulation under the gray sheath.

Here's another typical older indoor arrangement, this time a single-phase 2-wire (240V) domestic service:



The underground supply from the street enters at the bottom right to the service block/fuse. The unit to the right of the meter is the Economy-7 timeclock, and the black box below the meter is just a junction box. The distribution panel visible to the left is new here, but the rest of the equipment is "traditional" style.

Here's a more modern residential service with the meter accessible from outside in a plastic cabinet, and no added complications of dual-rate tariffs:





The cables disappearing out the back of box run through trunking to the main panel which is located higher up the wall in the inside of the house.

It's our equivalent of Romex, commonly used for residential and light commercial wiring, except that there's no paper under the outer sheath. A couple of people have likened it to American UF cable. See this thread for visual comparisons:

U.S. Romex vs. U.K. \"Twin & earth\"