Electrical wiring - inaccessible junction box.

Jul 10, 2004 4 Replies

I have a junction box on a ring main below a bedroom floor, where a cable leaves to form a spur to a single socket. I know this does not conform to the wiring regulations (where all screw terminal should be accessible).



Replacing the cables to eliminate the junction box would require underfloor access to other rooms, alternatively replacing the screw connections with crimped connections requires obtaining the specialised tools (or employing someone who has them).



What are the practical issues in leaving things as they are? Is it just that in the (unlikely) event of a fault developing it would be necessary to lift the floor?



[As an aside this was a house rewire carried out (and certified) about 8 years ago by an NICEIC contractor. With the introduction of Part P no doubt such poor practices will become more common!]

James



If it's below a 'normal' suspended floor with floorboards, then I'd say very few junction boxes anywhere conform to regs if this is the case.

If you can access the junction box by lifting the floor boards then it is accessible, if it was plastered into a wall that would be a different matter.

Dave Jones

Not really necessary to change your installation, but if this is done, what type of enclosure is recommended for the crimped joints?

Chris

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 22:28:42 +0100, "James" strung together this:

Under a floor is accessable, plastered into a wall isn't.

Pretty much, as long as the floor is liftable then I'd leave them as they are, theres no problem with regards to the regs in doing this.

What poor practice?

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