House Electrical Issues

daviwy · 11 Feb 2016

All,

I have an issue with my house and will require some candid advise on what to do, I have recently had issues with different electrical appliances / light bulb / bathroom wiring packing up.

If you put 4 bulbs in different areas of the house, you can guarantee that 1 or 2 will blow off within the first 2 weeks... The surges are irregular and a pattern cannot be put on them...

The house is about 55 years old and a few of the cables are touching the floor, a sizzle and spark often happens when taking the plugs in and out.

We have a lot of sockets which are about 1cm off the floor and not more... and the fuse switch box is as per the image

I need some assistance and advise on what to do, would I need to do a complete rewiring of the house? do I need to change the switch box? or what do I need to do to correct the current as-built issues?

AndyPRK · 11 Feb 2016

1. Where are you purchasing the lamps from? Maybe they are cheap/defective. Try purchasing them from else where.

2. Turn off sockets before removing plugs to prevent sparks etc.

stillp · 11 Feb 2016

That's probably the original fusebox from when the house was built, but the idiotic positioning of those socket-outlets makes me wonder what else is wrong. I think you need at least an EICR, and some remedial work such as raising those socket-outlets. I'd want to replace that fusebox with a modern consumer unit with RCDs.

Taylortwocities · 11 Feb 2016

daviwy said:
I need some assistance and advise on what to do, would I need to do a complete rewiring of the house?

The only way to properly answer that is to have what is called an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) done on the house.

That will tell you what MUST be done to ensure that you have a safe installation. It will also tell you where your installation falls short of today's regulations. Note that there is no requirement to "keep up" with the constantly changing regulations, providing the installation is not being changed or added to.

Find yourself a local electrician that has an Inspection and Testing qualification.

ericmark · 11 Feb 2016

As said only real way is an EICR. The old box like you show is still in use in my house although a RCD feeds each of the two boxes in use so until 2016 when new fire regulations came in it was fully compliant. Even now if I put a metal box over the fuse boxes it could still be made compliant.

As to sockets you could mount them sidewards if there are matching tapped holes in the back box, although I would not mount upside down as items could fall into the cable outlet of the plug.

PBC_1966 · 11 Feb 2016

That particular socket pictured certainly isn't original to the house - More like a 1980's replacement, but mounted on the skirting board in a similar way to which the original most likely was fitted.

DaveHerns · 11 Feb 2016

But painted to match the skirting board !

EFLImpudence · 11 Feb 2016

DaveHerns said:
But painted to match the skirting board !

Well - most of it.

JBR · 11 Feb 2016

The problem with sockets so low on the skirting board is that the cable from the plugs becomes bent and can become damaged. Yours looks like it could well go that way.

We have one such socket (the only one in the house) which I should really have replaced but, as a 'temporary' measure some years ago(!) I simply inserted a two-way adapter and plug the vacuum cleaner (or whatever) into the outlet on the top - no bent cable.

JohnW2 · 12 Feb 2016

JBR said:
We have one such socket (the only one in the house) which I should really have replaced but, as a 'temporary' measure some years ago(!) I simply inserted a two-way adapter and plug the vacuum cleaner (or whatever) into the outlet on the top - no bent cable.

Inversion of the socket is the other ("temporary"!) solution.

Kind Regards, John

JBR · 12 Feb 2016

JohnW2 said:
JBR said:

We have one such socket (the only one in the house) which I should really have replaced but, as a 'temporary' measure some years ago(!) I simply inserted a two-way adapter and plug the vacuum cleaner (or whatever) into the outlet on the top - no bent cable.

Click to expand...

Inversion of the socket is the other ("temporary"!) solution.

Kind Regards, John

True, but my idea didn't require a screwdriver!

daviwy · 15 Feb 2016

Appreciate all the feedback and also the humor! trying to expedite an electrician in to do the EICR and therefore confirm what's needing doing...

Stars all youz...

ericmark · 15 Feb 2016

I would not invert the socket simply as the plug will have the opening for the cable at the top so an item dropped could go into the cable opening and short some thing out. Mounting sidewards is not a problem.

Swapping for an angled box

may cure the problem.

JohnW2 · 15 Feb 2016

ericmark said:
I would not invert the socket simply as the plug will have the opening for the cable at the top so an item dropped could go into the cable opening and short some thing out. Mounting sidewards is not a problem.

That's theoretically true, at least with some designs of plugs, but I think it incredibly unlikely that what you describe would happen.

ericmark said:
Swapping for an angled box .... may cure the problem.

Quite apart from aesthetics, I think that one of those installed at 'low skirting level' (which is what we were talking about) would be extremely vulnerable to mechanical damage!

Kind Regards, John

PBC_1966 · 15 Feb 2016

JohnW2 said:
Quite apart from aesthetics, I think that one of those installed at 'low skirting level' (which is what we were talking about) would be extremely vulnerable to mechanical damage!

A metal one would be better in that respect, but no doubt would do even less for the aesthetics!