Live and Neutral incorrect wiring

[Pedge]

I have just rewired two sockets in my kitchen to my fusebox as the current wiring was surface mounted and I have now changed it to being flush with the wall.

What I noticed is that the dual gang socket which we use for our fridge freezer had the Neutral (Black) cable wired to the Live terminal in the socket and the Live (Red) to the Neutral terminal. Before comencing the work I checked the fusebox to see what cable was feeding the 15amp fuse and could not see any incorrect wiring there. This dual gang socket also feeds a spur single socket where this was correctly wired with Red going to Live and Black going to Neutral.

What are the consequences of this incorrect wiring I have just found? Would there have been a potential fire?

Luckily I found this and since then I have been cursing the tw*ts who wired this up. Probably my local authorities contractors.

I know some people strongly advise that rewiring isn't something that should be done on a diy basis and I agree to an extent however there are certain things that can be done if you're sure of what your doing and have looked into it beforehand.

[mike ring]

Pedge wrote in news: [e-mail]:

You can't be sure that the socket was wrong unless you test it, which I suggest you do ASAP or quicker.

If a cross had taken place upstream, the contractors may have found the outlet tested wrong, and taken the quick way to correct it.

This was not acceptable, it's even less acceptable to swap it without looking at what you're doing.

The reason I say that is that you should surely know what the hazards of a live/neutral cross are; work it out for yourself - the live is not fused, the neutral is.

Suggest you get one of those tester plugs and use it before using the outlet again.

I've answered quickly, because although there are much more knowledgeable sparks than me around here, you need to take quick action to keep safe

mike

[Lurch]

On 6 Feb 2005 19:31:58 GMT, Pedge strung together this:

Only if there was a fault with an appliance plugged into the incorrectly wired socket, and only if the fault happened to be between neutral and earth, and also happened to be of a lowish current so as not to trip the CPD. In effect, it's doubtful that it would ever cause a major problem and certainly wouldbn't if nothing faulty was ever plugged into it. The main thing would have been that the fuse, and possibly single pole switch of the socket, would have been in the neutral conductor.

[chris_doran]

I also found this in a house I was once checking out with my tester plug. It turned out that the original sockets were two types, apparently identical except that some had their live terminals on the left and others on the right. (Is there a reg on this?) Obviously, the electricians had just wired them all the same without looking.

Whilst not desperately urgent, you may sleep better if you get a tester plug (mine was only a quid at a boot sale) and do the whole house.

Chris

[bigcat]

Its a minor fault, unlikely to ever cause any problem. Its best to fix it for optimum safety, and the way to do so seems obvious enough.

It might be wise to assess first whether youre able to do the job safely or not. As electrical faults go it couldnt be much simpler, but some mothers do 'ave em.

NT