A ring main question

Talking to my lunch time drinking companion, he mention that a fuse had blown again and couldn't understand why.

It turns out that the house was built about 1958 and has only one fuse for the sockets upstairs and downstairs. Was this common then and does he have a ring or radial wiring?

There is a fuse for lights and another for the cooker.

Dave

Reply to
Dave
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It will be a ring main - but only one for the whole house. Quite common for that period - although many, if not most, properties built at that time will have been upgraded and/or re-wired in the meantime.

Reply to
Roger Mills

I only have one ring and this is an 80's house. Its not a problem. Even if I needed to heat the place there is so much insulation (now) a couple of fan heaters is enough.

I sure as hell don't have enough appliances to draw 7.5 kw to overload the ring. There was a lack of sockets too, but they are easy to add.

Reply to
dennis

A ring unless it was done by the Cisco Kid and Pancho. But if done in 1958 it may have been done in VIR. If that is so the stuff is probably rotting by now

Sounds right for that era.

Reply to
Alang

Sounds like I'd better urge him to get a rewire done.

Thanks

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Sorry, I forgot to add this info.

The usual things that run 27/7 like fridge and freezer, but the fuse has popped twice while a 3 KW kettle, a medium sized fan heater running and the microwave was switch on to warm some milk. I regarded this as quite a light load for a ring.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

I'm sure that what you've got works perfectly ok. You can indeed have lots of sockets, all drawing relatively low currents, without any problem.

However, it sounds as if the ring in the property mentioned in the OP is overloaded - although there's not enough information to be sure.

AIUI, current wiring regs place a limit on the floor area which can be served by a single ring - but a lot of properties obviously pre-date that and, in most cases, the electrics continue to work ok.

Reply to
Roger Mills

is VIR that old style rubbery wire?

[g]
Reply to
george (dicegeorge)

13A ++

10A

6 -10A

So that's a total load of 13 + 10 + 6 = 29amp as a minimum or perhaps as high as 36amps on a 30amp fuse wire(?)

Not really a light load after all then for a single ring.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

george (dicegeorge) explained on 17/12/2008 :

Its a rubbery coating for insulation, with a waxed cotton woven over the top for mechanical protection.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

Yup,

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Reply to
John Rumm

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Remember it well - my father did a seriously major refurbishment of a property in the mid '50's and being a technical architect was aware of the introduction of ring mains. Two things stick out in memory - being the teenage slave who pulled and pushed fishwires down conduits, and then the local electrical guy doing a bit of moon lighting who probably hadn't any experience on ring mains and got neutral and line crossed over on one - was the first time I saw a reasonably big electrical bang!

That house had 3 phase so one phase per floor, but I would like to think that like this situation a rewire has been done.

Rob

Reply to
robgraham

Remember it well - my father did a seriously major refurbishment of a property in the mid '50's and being a technical architect was aware of the introduction of ring mains. Two things stick out in memory - being the teenage slave who pulled and pushed fishwires down conduits, and then the local electrical guy doing a bit of moon lighting who probably hadn't any experience on ring mains and got neutral and line crossed over on one - was the first time I saw a reasonably big electrical bang!

That house had 3 phase so one phase per floor, but I would like to think that like this situation a rewire has been done.

Rob

Wouldn't that have meant three meters?

Reply to
Graham.

And even later ... My house built in 1972/3 only had one ring circuit for the whole house and one lighting circuit (also radial for cooker, and radial which would have been to immersion)

Reply to
Andy Burns

The actual consumption of a fridge/freezer isn't all that much - although it's switched on 24/7, in a stable state its duty cycle is probably only some 25% (at a guess) (apart from negligible things like LEDs) and it's not handling large heating-type loads.

Wouldn't it be a nice idea if a fridge/freezer was able to deliver energy back into the Grid? :-)

Reply to
Frank Erskine

Vulcanised Indian Rubber

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Given that fridges work harder in the summer, what's needed is for them to be able to pre-heat hot water.

Reply to
Tony Bryer

That sounds more like PBJ than VIR

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Reply to
John Rumm

The energy consumption is not too much, however it is worth noting that they use induction motors and hence the current can be higher than the power rating alone would suggest. The extra current does not cost you anything to run, but the fuse does have to carry it.

Reply to
John Rumm

Rewireable or cartridge? If the former has he rewired it with the right wire?

Once circuit was indeed common. At that age it may or may not have a ring, you can't tell without looking[1]. It probably has VIR cable, although it could be very early PVC (possibly with no earth (separate multi-strand uninsulated ones being common), or if it has and earth it will typically be undersized for adequate protection of any spurs.

[1] At my previous place (built 1956) I rewired the next door neighbours property for them (other half of the semi), and that still had its original wiring (and about 8 sockets in the whole house!). That was all VIR, separate earth, and was wired as a radial with a 30A rewireable fuse for protection)
Reply to
John Rumm

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