How many 2.5mm T&E into a 13A socket?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Whatever it is will likely be closest to this socket.

My way is easier. ;-)

[Bill]

I use a tone generator and receiver all the time for tracing data cables, not often on normal mains cables though.

Dave, is your clock set correctly? You seem to be posting an hour ahead of the rest of the country.

[Major Scott]

Surely there would be thousands of people plugging in two 3kW loads and melting them.....

[Dave Liquorice]

Or just cut back the conduit that is feeding the current double socket, fit another double socket, join those as a ring and take the existing spur from one of them,

[Dave Liquorice]

Why would one want a tone generator? A continuity meter (a normal facility on any multimeter) is all that is required.

FS (low) VO "safe". These wires are in a cupboard under the sink. I'm not averse to live working but it does make me nervous, very nervous when there is more than one exposed live conductor. It's easy to keep out of the way of one, keeping out of the way of two in a confined space is a different kettle of fish. I really don't like the FLASH BANG and being splattered with molten copper... Or getting a belt and in both cases whacking ones head against the cupboard frame or WHY.

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 01 April 2013 20:42 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Did I miss this being a surface fitting?

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 01 April 2013 20:14 Major Scott wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Apparantly not.

[Major Scott]

Could it be..... they happily take 24 amps?

[<me9]

Or none are connected, as I found when testing a friend's wiring. Eventually found (several weeks later) a back box which had been plastered over after first fix and had never had its socket fitted. 0/10 for the electrician who originally tested the system!

[Bill]

In message , [e-mail] writes

Not as bad on a safety level, but a friend of mine asked me to check her new, very expensive flat out, because her TV didn't work. Every point had the cable neatly coiled in the boxes behind the sockets, just not connected. In the attic all the cables came to a point on a wall near to a 13A socket, all ready to be connected to a DA, what DA??

There was an aerial though!! Cable sat next to all the others in the attic.

Who passed that lot off as complete and tested?

Some dodgy aerial rigger/builder no doubt.

[Roger Mills]

No, I haven't got a tone generator - but I have got two or three multi-meters which will measure voltage and resistance (and hence continuity). So it shouldn't be too difficult to work out which two wires are connected to each other via the CU - i.e. the ring - with the power *off*.

[Roger Mills]

There won't be any wall-bashing anyway. the existing socket is in a surface box screwed to the *side* of the cabinet, only just inside the door, so I can easily fix another one just below it and connect that into the ring once I've determined which two of the three wires *are* the ring.

[Roger Mills]

Precisely - except that I don't need to cut back the conduit since there's plenty of cable which I can pull through.

[Dave Liquorice]

Recent comment from the OP mentioned socket near front edge of cupboard fed by conduit. Well I think it was the OP not thread drift...

[Roger Mills]

They're actually quite accessible, and I can reach them without any part of me - except my hands - being in the cupboard. Nevertheless, since I now realise that it's perfectly simple to work out which wire is which with the power off, there's no point in having it on!

[Dave Liquorice]

So do I but that is when the two ends you want to trace are physically some distance apart not all poking out of a double back box. B-)

Vintage (1998) news reader doesn't understand the TZ config.sys setting, it'll sort itself out next weekend. B-)

[Alexander Lamaison]

Oh come on. We'll be running new circuits for kettles next.

Alex

[Alexander Lamaison]

I'm sure Tim's right simply because I've seen the 20A quoted so many times. But I'd love to know where it comes from. Is this figure in BS

1363?

Alex

[Major Scott]

How many (non-electrician) people will know not to stick two high powered devices in a double socket? Take a kitchen for example, where lots of things have heaters. Dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, .....

So, they've made something which is unprotected by a fuse which can take only two thirds of the protection of the ring main fuse/breaker. How stupid is that?

[Alexander Lamaison]

I think (the electricians will correct me if I'm wrong) the problem with your statement is that 'take' is too imprecise. They're not firecrackers. They don't get to 20A and pop. The >20A load would have to be pulled continuosly for hours and hours before it mattered.

Instinctively, it seems dangerous, but if you have a think how you would arrange for a 20A load that never turned off you'll see that it's pretty difficult.

Alex