My nephew is moving into a rented house. The old consumer unit has at some time been replaced with a more modern one with two RCDs and has two ring circuit MCBs - there is no separate ring for the kitchen. The earthing for the house appears to be via a wire which goes through a ventilation grill and dissapears into the ground, presumably connected to an earth rod.
Two questions: The earth wire mentioned appears to be a bit flimsy, certainly no more than 6mm and maybe only 4mm. Is this considered heavy enough?
Secondly: there is no earthing for the sink - a measurement to a nearby metal cooker socket switch using a digital multimeter gives a reading of around 20 ohms- given that the wiring does not use PME earthing, should the sink be bonded to earth or does the existing arrangement comply with the regulations?
Apparently my nephew was told that an electrical inspection made some time ago, (don't know how long ago), stated that the installation was satisfactory and the landlord - a county council - was not interested in his request for more sockets. The previous tenant got around the lack of sockets by using numerous four way extentions and multi plugs.
There is a lot of wiring which is simply clipped to the surface of the wall or along the top of skirting board with no protection. For instance two surface mounted sockets in the kitchen are wired in this way. Is this considered safe?
Thank in advance for any replies (especially re the sink earthing).
JohnT