House built in 1930's how old do you think the electrics are?

Gloomendoom

peterbaker wrote: »

Not allowed to DIY thesdays though.

Good luck!

It is still allowed. You do need to get checked and signed off to meet Part P of the building regs though (where applicable.)

YorkshireBoy

Lead cabling was used until the mid 50's, followed by rubber and fabric insulated cables which were phased out in the 60's.

Flat PVC was introduced in the 60's, but be aware that many lighting circuits installed at the outset were not cabled in flat T&E...only flat twin - ie there was no earth.

Jonesya

Appendix C of the Part P document has a load of examples of old cabling/installation practice that can help date an installation:

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADP_2006.pdf

Boba_Fett

does anyone know how much a re-wire is including new conssumer unit, mine is a 1930s mid terrace and just had my survey saying it needs a re-wire but no one will give me a quote over the phone.

anyboday had to have this done?

macman

How can anyone say that without knowing the no. of circuits, no. of rooms, no. and type of socket/switches required, no. of lights etc, the size of the rooms, access, and the existing installation?
You can probably get a very rough estimate over the phone if you supply those details, but a quotation is binding and requires a site visit.

ormus

Boba_Fett wrote: »

does anyone know how much a re-wire is including new conssumer unit, mine is a 1930s mid terrace and just had my survey saying it needs a re-wire but no one will give me a quote over the phone.

anyboday had to have this done?

they wont give a firm quote over the phone, but a budget price for you would be approx 1500-2500 quid.
for a 2 bed terraced house.

2000-3500 for a 3 or 4 bed house.

techmob

macman wrote: »

If it's never been rewired since it was built then it will be pretty obvious after 80 years! Otherwise it could have been done at any time. Post a pic of the CU and someone might hazard a guess.

here is a picture of the unit




The good news it looks like the wires are not the old type

wallbash

Its newer than mine ,so its less than 20 years old .

DVardysShadow

techmob wrote: »

here is a picture of the unit




The good news it looks like the wires are not the old type

6 way Wylex unit, 2 5A circuits, 1 15 Amp. 2 empty ways with shields for 30A circuit breakers and 1 empty way which might have no shield. [Edit: looked more closely - it looks like what I thought was an empty way with no shield actually does have a blue 15A shield]

I am guessing about 1985. There really is a question as to why the circuit breakers are missing - probably there will be no supply to the cooker and the ring main will be dead.

Budget for some investigation, replacement circuit breakers and possibly some repairs. It looks like the repossessed person may have taken the circuit breakers for their next place, but that is a pure guess.

WestonDave

Looking at that - the cables are grey so not rubber, so you can start thinking that the insulation on the cabling isn't going to fail iminently. It is however cartridges fuses so predates modern trip switches, but is white rather than "bakelite" type plastic. It is fairly reminiscent to me of the type of fuse board my father installed in our then newly purchased 1930's semi in around 1977.

I would be a little concerned at how few fuses are in the box - from what I can tell the white spot ones are 5A which would be lighting only and the blue is 15A which is surely too low for a ring main - put it this way if that is all you have in the house, a decent kettle plus one other electrical item and you blow a fuse. Can you find out why there appears to be 3 missing fuses? What is the tape/film over the fuses - has it been sealed off for some reason?

On this basis I think you really need an electrician to do a system test fairly urgently just to see what is what and make sure its safe to use. It may be OK but it doesn't look that great to me.