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

techmob

Hi DVardy

What does this mean exactly?

with no circuit breakers is that dangerous?

I am not sure about the cooker but i think you are right as each of those amps are labled and the cooker is one of them that is missing

are circuit breakers expensive, i do have a sparky friend who is going to take a look when he gets a chance

DVardysShadow

WestonDave wrote: »

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.

The units are Wylex circuit breakers, not cartridge fuses.

Wylex cartridge fuses shown here http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Manufacturers/Wylex/Wylex_Standard_Carriers/index.html top picture.

The modern wylex circuit breakers do look different from those in the OPs picture

techmob

hi

the house was a repossession so they don't give any information about the house and it is sold as seen really

most of the lighting work, some haven't bulbs in so not tried them the emergen switch doesn't seem to light up

the tape over it will be when it got repossessed, the same happened to the gas meter, taps, toilet etc

WestonDave wrote: »

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.

DVardysShadow

techmob wrote: »

Hi DVardy

What does this mean exactly?

with no circuit breakers is that dangerous?

I am not sure about the cooker but i think you are right as each of those amps are labled and the cooker is one of them that is missing

are circuit breakers expensive, i do have a sparky friend who is going to take a look when he gets a chance

No circuit breakers means it won't work. If there is no shield over the contacts, it will be dangerous from the pint of view that there is exposed live metalwork. On looking more closely, it looks like all ways do have shields.

If you look at the picyure on http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/WYC30.html the shield is the red part which is fixed to the consumer unit. The brown part is a fuse and carrier, which are inserted - note that your installation has old style circuit breakers.

mttylad

As it was a repossession I am assuming that you got it at a reduced rate?

You do need to factor in getting the electrics replaced/bought upto standard in your redecoration/remodelling costs.

Do this BEFORE doing any decorating.

I would also suggest getting the gas and water systems checked out too, they are likely to be of similar age.

ormus

they are the old type wylex breakers . the push plug ones.
about a fiver each on ebay.

techmob

mttylad wrote: »

As it was a repossession I am assuming that you got it at a reduced rate?

You do need to factor in getting the electrics replaced/bought upto standard in your redecoration/remodelling costs.

Do this BEFORE doing any decorating.

I would also suggest getting the gas and water systems checked out too, they are likely to be of similar age.

if the consumer unit is about 25 years old does that mean it needs replacing, simply because of age?

ormus

no its fine. however the electrics need to be checked over as to why there breakers missing or not fitted.
is there only one ring main? is there no cooker circuit?

techmob

i am taking a sparky friend round tonight to hopefully have a look

will update this thread later

thanks

macman

Surely when buying a repo property you have to factor in a rewire and replumb as standard?
Th CU may not be out of date, but a house wired in 1985 will not have sufficient sockets for most modern requierments. And that's assuming that it was rewired when the 'new' CU was installed, which may not be the case.