chloe16v
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Registered: 29th Nov 07
Location: Rotherham
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would just like an opinion from an electrician if possible?
me an my partner went to look at a house today, the house is a repo and obviously been used for growing canabis in the large shed in the garden. the house has several plug sockets that have been installed by the previous owner, all the sockets have been wired from other sockets an some sockets have 3 other sockets wired from one another.
if we was to just remove the sockets that have been installed by the previous owner would we be ok? or would the property require a full rewire?
what price would we be looking at for a rewire? the house is a 3 bedroom 2 reception room concrete built house
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Colin
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Registered: 4th Apr 02
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If its just on a loop then shouldnt be a problem in just taking the tails out and pulling the cables.
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Colin
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Registered: 4th Apr 02
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Rewire could cost anything depending on requirements.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Words don't even begin to describe.
Previous drug house for one, check with the mortgage company second for a concrete house. You might find they aren't interested.
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chloe16v
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Registered: 29th Nov 07
Location: Rotherham
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already had the ok from the mortgage company for a concrete house, a lot of houses round us are concrete as they were former pit houses an they were plenty of pits in the area, house has been empty since june an its dirt cheap but does need lots of work, it looks like all the drugs were grown up the garden in the shed
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chloe16v
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Registered: 29th Nov 07
Location: Rotherham
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an john, i thought you would be happy that we were trying to buy our own house an give our council house back to someone who is in more need of it than us 
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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Don't be put off the house because of this.
A socket circuit is a ring circuit, which means it comes from the consumer unit, to the first socket, second socket, third, until the last socket, then loops back to the consumer unit. This is because it's usually wired in 2.5mm (iirc) and by making it a ring circuit, instead of radial, you are doubling the load capacity it can carry.
On sockets, you can have "spurs" from sockets, which means, you can add a socket by tapping into an existing socket. You can only have 1 spur per socket.
I don't know because I've drank and haven't read it properly, but it sounds like there COULD be 3 spurs from 1 socket? If so, remove 2 spurs because it's dangerous.
You shouldn't need an electrician or a certificate for this work to be done.
Also turn off leccy at breaker before doing any work, wear safety boots and use insulated screwdrivers.
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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Uploading some pictures to better explain myself.
Please forgive the fact that socket 3 seems to be labelled socket 1. As said, I've had a drink, but the rest is 100% accurate.
So using my diagrams, you can tell if the sockets are legal. If the previous drug morons have made a lot of spurs from 1 single socket, you can easily remove these.
Here's some labelled pics to help you.
http://i.imgur.com/uIL0S.png
http://i.imgur.com/ZrDjR.png
http://i.imgur.com/XfQlI.png
http://i.imgur.com/jmXFL.png
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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I sound like such a reliable source of information right now, haha
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chloe16v
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Registered: 29th Nov 07
Location: Rotherham
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thanks root very helpful, these sockets have a spur coming from a socket the a spur coming from the socket that is from the original socket if you get me
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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So the spurs are from seperate sockets? That is legal.
If it's spur from spur from spur, that's very illegal, but very easy to make it right.
Either way, it's easy to fix, don't lose sleep over it, it's cheaply fixable and not a problem.
When I moved in my current property, in the outhouse, we have 3 spurred sockets from a bloody light circuit.
When I looked around the property, I saw the outhouse like "great", saw the electrics and was like "all of my wtf?". Obvious cowboy lived here before. Not my house though, I'm not spending to fix it, I just don't use the sockets except for cutting the grass (shouldn't even do that but at least it's not in the house for the fire risk).
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chloe16v
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Registered: 29th Nov 07
Location: Rotherham
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yes there is a srur off a spur off a spur, an god knows what he has done outside, their must be 10 sockets on the side of the wall that looks like they may have been used for xmas decor but didnt look into where they went, their must be some wiring going up the garden to the special potting shed as well 
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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quote:
Originally posted by chloe16v
thanks root very helpful, these sockets have a spur coming from a socket the a spur coming from the socket that is from the original socket if you get me
If the wiring is surface run and you can see it.
If there is only 1 wire (it's actually 3 wires in an insulated sheath but looks like 1 wire) that goes into the very last socket...but nothing comes out of the socket, it's spurred, if that's done off 1 socket 3 times, remove 2 sockets.
If it's done from seperate sockets, leave it be, it's fine
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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quote:
Originally posted by chloe16v
yes there is a srur off a spur off a spur, an god knows what he has done outside, their must be 10 sockets on the side of the wall that looks like they may have been used for xmas decor but didnt look into where they went, their must be some wiring going up the garden to the special potting shed as well
Oh right, in that case, remove the last 2 spurs. The first spur can stay and is legal (if you want it), I'd have your fella wear some safety boots and get some insulated screwdrivers and remove the excess sockets. Obviously they are outside so don't pose much of a fire hazard, but it's still an illegal circuit and is still connected to your consumer unit.
If the house has not been rewired in the past 25 years, it's reccommended that it's done anyway.
Removing wiring is a shitload easier than installing wiring (as for the outside xmas decor).
I've only done level 2 electrical engineering at college, but I've had on site experience with qualified sparks, I've read a lot of books and "fishing" for wires if a nightmare.
Removing wires is far easier than installing new cables so if you're unable to remove the bodge wires, call in a pro.
A rewire on a property in my area is typically around 2k. If residents live in the property, you can expect to add 1k to this, simply because of the hassle of moving furniture etc, takes time from the job. You would NOT beleive how much hassle it is to tell residents to move their bed because you need to lift up floorboards.
I don't think a property on the market needs a rewire, so you should call up sparks in the area, asking them to remove illegal wiring. They should not charge shitloads because it's fucking easy. Unscrew screws, remove cable. I'd say £300 from a good spark, get some quotes. Fuck, if you're close enough, I'll make the installation safe for £30 (plus any neccessary materials but I don't think there's any needed).
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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LOL just realised you live in Rotherham, if you have trouble I could actually come do the work.
I have insulated tools and safety work gear.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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I would not under any circumstances get root to do anything because he does not know what he's talking about.
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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quote:
Originally posted by John
I would not under any circumstances get root to do anything because he does not know what he's talking about.
Fuck off. Please, show me where I've gone wrong in this thread. I've just stated what is legal and what is illegal and how to correct the illegal wiring.
Suck my balls.
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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Oh, what's that? No reply. Gee, I fucking wonder why. Perhaps it's because John has a personal disliking for me and cannot find any faults in what I've said. Stop replying to my threads and making negative comments, I've never done anything to upset you.
Also I hope in a way I've helped you Chloe, don't let the problem put you off the property anyway.
[Edited on 01-09-2012 by Root]
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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I didn't reply because I was leaving it. The real reason is your previous bad electrical advice and now saying make sure he's got safety boots on. You'd have the power to the house cut if you weren't sure about it and test anything you still weren't sure about.
What did some electrical engineering in college teach you about domestic electrics?
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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quote:
Originally posted by John
I didn't reply because I was leaving it. The real reason is your previous bad electrical advice and now saying make sure he's got safety boots on. You'd have the power to the house cut if you weren't sure about it and test anything you still weren't sure about.
What did some electrical engineering in college teach you about domestic electrics?
You're basing my previous bad advice on telling the guy to DIY it and forgetting to tell him to make it a ring circuit, which I then did. Also it was a very old installation. We helped advise him in the end of the best option without doing all the electric work.
And yes, the MCBs would have to be flipped, but better safe than sorry, so wear the safety boots if you have them. You don't know if somebody is going to turn the power back on.
Most industrial sparks lock the supply with a physical lock so that nobody can tamper with it while they are working.
electrical engineering was 2 courses rolled into 1 really.
We learnt about the different types of circuits in a house, different types of breakers, how to identify them, what wires to run, according to the installation.
I also did some on site work with a few sparks and did a few house rewires with them, installed a shower and extractor for another person.
I'm not clueless, but in my previous thread I did forget about the ring circuit bit and was advising him to do the work because to me, it doesn't seem hard, nor dangerous to do, I did then advise him to just get a spark in later and I'll stop advising others to do small bits of work themselves.
Also I'm sure removing spurs doesn't need the work to be signed off.
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XE Col
Premium Member
Registered: 23rd May 10
Location: Rochdale, AKA:Boissy07
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the house would need a fixed wiring test doing anyway for change of occupancy, best to just ask the spark to look at these at the same time if you are unsure
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ash_corsa
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Registered: 15th Apr 04
Location: Shrewsbury
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Nobody knows where the sockets are located. If they're in a kitchen or other 'special location' it's notifiable under part p meaning it will require a competent spark and will need certification.
Why do you need safety boots and insulated tools root? You should be performing the correct safe isolation procedure every time when working on electric circuits and should never work live.
There's no requirement for a fixed wiring test at change of occupancy either. It's now called an EICR electrical installation condition report.
If you don't know what your taking about dont pass on your lack of knowledge to others, electricity can kill ffs.
My advice would be to call a local qualified electrician to take a look, give you a quote for doing the work and advise you better than anyone over a forum!
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baza31
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Registered: 19th Apr 03
Location: yorkshire
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it will be as easy to just rewire the house, am i right in thinking you have kids? if you start doing bits its only slightly improving and there maybe concealed faults . Plus once you change mains board you will probably find rcd will trip out. If you rewire it then you know its safe, and will test out ok . £2000 rough figure on a basic rewire and test on what you described
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XE Col
Premium Member
Registered: 23rd May 10
Location: Rochdale, AKA:Boissy07
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quote:
Originally posted by ash_corsa
Nobody knows where the sockets are located. If they're in a kitchen or other 'special location' it's notifiable under part p meaning it will require a competent spark and will need certification.
Why do you need safety boots and insulated tools root? You should be performing the correct safe isolation procedure every time when working on electric circuits and should never work live.
There's no requirement for a fixed wiring test at change of occupancy either. It's now called an EICR electrical installation condition report.
If you don't know what your taking about dont pass on your lack of knowledge to others, electricity can kill ffs.
My advice would be to call a local qualified electrician to take a look, give you a quote for doing the work and advise you better than anyone over a forum!
Still a need for an EICR at change of occupancy. hence an electrician being on site anyway?!
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Rickavo
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Registered: 2nd Jul 09
Location: Manchester
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quote:
Originally posted by John
I would not under any circumstances get root to do anything because he does not know what he's talking about.
This tbh  you've advised a guy to work on electrics with insulated screwdrivers / boots and NOT told him to turn the power off and make sure it's off?
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