Hi all, I went to view a house today with the intention of renovating it. The electrics looked to be rather old! Looking at the picture below can anyone shed any light on the approximate age of the system and the likelyhood that it would need replacing?
Steve
to tell by the pic but I think there's some rubber cable there. It's possible the ring main wiring is still ok since it's often newer than the lighting, but the cost of wire is so small as part of the overall cost it's just simpler to replace everything.
Looked like my parents old house, circa 1950
replaced something older mounted on the board below), and the lower right Wylex could be as old as 1950's. The wiring looks to be PVC, which means it could date back to 1950's.
I would replace all those CU's with just one, redo all the earthing and neaten up the cabling. PVC cable itself should be OK regardless of age providing it all has earth conductors. Obviously if the rest of the installation is in a bad way or grossley under provisioned for today's requirements, then it's not worth titivating and should all be rewired. Otherwise, test the circuits, and if the accessories (switches, sockets, etc) are older than around 1970, they are probably due for replacement.
They're not that old!
It's not a system, it's a bagful of bits that have accumulated over time. I'd be more concerned by the untidiness of it and the loose-lay cabling, rather than sheer age.
If it even looks like it's in PVC T&E rather than rubber. Mind you, check the lighting cabling. Rings get upgraded for greater demand - no-one bothers about that old spare bedroom and the single ceiling rose with the crunchy 7/029 going to it.
It certainly needs complete replacement. Ask the seller for an appropriate price reduction.
Ohhh, nice ;-)
Age - probably various!
Judging by the number of CUs it has been extended lots of times.
The cable itself is PVC (except for what looks like the original set of rubber insulated meter tails - but those appear to go down out of frame so I don't know what they are powering). So ought to be OK - however much will depend on what the rest of the house wiring is like.
On the subject of meter tails - just how much terminal space is there in that meter? I count five sets coming out - can't see where two of them go though.
Personally I would replace that mess with a modern CU and get rid of some of the spaghetti.
The earthing and main earth bonding looks suspect that could almost certainly do with an upgrade as well.
On a slightly unrelated note, drop me a line per my sig, and i`ll see what I can do about getting the cutout replaced for you :-p
...Or you can give me a bell direct on Monday (i`m a lazy barsteward, so make it after about 9:30am) on 0151 221 2179
Crikey. That would be a powerful rose. ;-)
3/029 or 1/044 were the standard lighting cables years ago.
You saw it's in your patch as well then, Colin!! How are you??
In my usual deadpan tone - "here, does that count ?" :-}
I`m not bad thanks - yourself ?
Steve Buckley explained :
The white Wylex unit would be around 1970 to 1980-ish and replaced something much older, judging by the marks and hole just below it. The cooker switch would be 1950 - 1970.
Right or wrong the whole lot looks a mess and has been an amateur looking job, so probably long overdue for a complete rewire and upgrade.
Maybe this one was properly sized for running a small pottery kiln off the lampholder adapter :-)
Owain
Most of the pic is too dark to see what's what. Some isnt too old, some likely is fairly historic. The bigger problem is whats connected to them, and what condition is it all in. Also it looks such a spaghetti junction that its impossible to trace eveything easily, ie probably wont be able to tell exactly what has been done. If there were sockets on light circuits, run of 2 CU fuses paralleled, you'd be none the wiser.
It all suggests:
I would rewire, partly because its bad as is, and partly because there is likely to be something as yet unseen somewhere thats a whole lot worse.
NT
Definiting some negotiating power there, re price reduction.
I'm not _that_ old ! I've taken the stuff out often enough, but never put any of it in.
You could pay an electrician to do a full inspection. While you're at it get a heating engineer to look at the heating too (if there is any).
Mark
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