Dodgy Electrician Pt2

[spam]

Hi,

sorry to start another thread, but this is a very active group and I assume everyone has moved on from my other thread.

I forgot to mention that the electrician that wired up my extractor, chiseled into the wall (no problem) to run the cable into the spur and the extractor. Am I wrong to expect him to then plaster over the cable and make good the channel he's made in the wall?

I'm not on a witch-hunt for this guy, but I think the kitchen people are about to try and charge me for this work, when I didn't request it in the first place. If they do, then I'd like to be able to ask them to come back and finish it properly.

I've uploaded some pics to explain what I mean:

Thanks for all advice

[Peter Andrews]

I would expect him to make good, and I hope that the double socket is on the ring and isn't already a spur.

Peter

[Harry Bloomfield]

-=D@n=- wrote on 26/08/2005 :

1. The cable should have been provided with some mechanical protection, it is against regulations to install the bare PVC in a wall without this.
2. From the photos it looks as if the actual cable size used is too small. Difficult to be certain, however.... It looks like 1.5mm and regulations require 2.5mm be used at least as far as the spur, which needs to be of the fused type.

[spam]

Fantastic. Is there a way for me to check whether the double socket is on the ring and not a spur? I have a Multimeter! ;)

[spam]

Excellent again, I'll go and measure it.

Thanks for the quick response, much appreciated.

[spam]

Thanks for the reply, Peter.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Depends what he was asked to do. Given the quality of his chase, you are probably quite lucky he didn't try to do the making good afterwards ;-)

Nice camera shake ;-)

[ben]

Andrew Gabriel wrote: [snip]

Wouldn't really matter about his plastering technique, it'll fit in with the sad rustic feel of the wall. ;-)

[Colin Wilson]

How many cables go to it ?

[Ian Stirling]

Unless it's more than 50mm deep?

[spam]

Well, the cable appears to be 10mm, and less than 20mm deep into the wall.

[spam]

2 sets of cables coming in, one coming out (the extractor).

[spam]

Heheh, yeah I suppose so. I've got a plasterer coming in on Sunday to sort that out.

Thanks! I've got a Pentax Optio S5i. I've had it for 6 months, and not yet read the manual :(

[spam]

Heheh shurrup, that's getting skimmed and plastered on Sunday. :)

[Harry Bloomfield]

Which means it requires mechanical protection.

2.5mm should be the cross sectional area of one of the copper cores, not the overall width of the grey plastic.

I also wonder about qualification of the installer under Part P?

[John Rumm]

It is ok to install PVC directly into a wall - even without mechanical protection so long as it follows an "expected" route. This means horizontaly or vertically aligned with a visible accessory, or within a

150mm zone beside a room corner or adjacent to the ceiling.

Since this cable does not follow the expected route (i.e. turns a corner above the extractor), it ought to be either > 50mm deep (from both sides of the wall - so tricky in a 4" wall) or be capped.

The "spur" is technically the run from the socket to the FCU. Since it is unfused it should be 2.5mm^2, (1.5mm^2 for a fused spur). The FCU needs to be fused appropriately for the cable feeding the hood.

[Alex]

Well mm is not a unit of area so people will get confused!

alex

[Andrew Gabriel]

In that case, it doesn't matter that it hasn't been mad good yet.

Strange order to do things. Are you going to take everything off the wall, or is the plasterer going to go round the extractor hood, sockets, worktop, etc?

[Grunff]

I was wondering that myself. I'm half expecting a "dodgy plasterer" post, about how he didn't remove the cooker hood, but plastered round it...

[Dave Jones]

A spur of an existing circuit is DIY acceptable, maybe it shouldn't be!