ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades very old installation

Trumpy and anyone else who saw my post before the edits:

I sincerely apologise if I offended anyone, I had forgotten to take into account that certain words as slang in the US can have rather harsh meanings in other countries!

A hundred lashes with an FPE circuit breaker for me!

I'd better apologise too then, since 'plonker' and 'pillock' are both euphamisms for profanities, ( guess what!), but manufactured ones created by 'Aunty BBC' to avoid offence. Plonker comes from Only Foools and Horses, and Pillock comes from Steptoe and Son.
Reminds me of Winston Churchill, who added "Spherical Objects!!!" on the bottom of a memo he returned to sender. The memo came back with-
"Who is Spherical, and what does he object to?"

Alan

To be honest guys,
You have to be careful what you say and how it is worded on a site like this.
We have a PG Rating here and you don't know who is looking at this site, either.
Aside from that, I find Alan's comments quite humourous(sp?).
But, I think we should get back to the topic at hand here.

Paul,
yest that is the fitting!

or should i say, Was the fitting.

i have written a letter to the clients son to let him know of the condition of the electrical installation and pointed out our reccomendations, lets see what happens now.

i had to do something as, like most of us out here doing this job, i have to ensure that everything i do is safe and secure and will not damage the property or persons within it.
i have to admit that i do sleep very well at night knowing that i have done a good job for a fair days pay. and not ripped anyone off in the process

Britspark

Good call Britspark,
The thing that you have to think about with any old installation is often the lack of Earthing on Light fittings and the like.
Safety is paramount these days and the best way to ensure this is a good, low resistance connection back to the supplying Switchboard.
Cable integrity is another factor, with older cables, with any movement can cause them to crumble leaving bare wires.
I don't subscribe to the idea of sleeving bare wires with PVC sleeving.
I'd sooner tear the whole lot out and start again.
Old wiring systems are nothing short of a fire hazard and in some cases can indemnify your Insurance policy.
However Britspark, I think you did the right thing in sending the letter to the son, something may get done about it, although I wouldn't hold my breath.
Guys, if you are going to write a letter like this, back it up with test results and an explanation of the results.
It's your best defence and also a marketing tool, you guys are professionals, use that to get work.

Trumpy,
You see it was a very strange house. The guy was a pot smoking hippie living out in the Tasmanian bush and he'd built the house himself. There was not a square room in the place and it even had a tree trunk in the middle of the living room which the house had been built around.
Fortunately, the house had been wired by a licenced electrician. A GPO had been installed under the house for a washing machine (you could walk in under part of the house as it was on the side of a hill). Only thing was when my friend decided to wall in his 'laundry' the power point wasn't relocated. The lethal extension lead was so short that I could barely get the wires around the cord grips in the plug (and we know often DIY'ers never use those don't we?)
and still have enough to reach the socket.
Being in the Tassie bush on a weekend holiday there was no where I could get a decent length of 3 core flex so had to at least make what was there safe. It's surprises like this that make electrical work so interesting

Aussie,
You're telling me!.
There are a few (not many) houses like that over here too, I walked into one down in Waimate here a couple of years back and wondered what the h*ll was going on with the tree coming up through the middle of the living room floor, it had been cut just below rafter level and you would never have noticed from outside.
I agree mate, I've seen a lot of Australia, but I've never been to Tasmania, I'm told a lot of hippies live there, the ones that never realised that the 60's ended sometime ago.

I totally agree with Trumpy saying that sleeving and repairing crumbling rubber sheathed cables is inadvisable.

As inadvisable as "Trying to Nail Jello To the Ceiling". ( I,m still laughing at that Alan )

kiwi,
You only have to have an old switch-board blow up in your face as you open it, to realise how good sleeving is.
It burns too well too!.

Trumpy I have had domestic fuse-box blow up in my face as I opened it. It was the crumbling rubber service main cable that shorted and the 63A pole fuse made for a decent bang. I'm still in therapy

Now I wear a welding helmet and a flak-jacket when I open old fuse-boxes. Kinda freaks the Home-owner out though.