no earth in fuse box

Debs2009

Hi
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but was wondering if anyone could help.
We bought our house 3and a half years ago and needed a new cooker. The last built cooker was just plugged in and there was no wire for the new one to be wired in to the fuse box. The electrician we had to wire it in, noticed there was no earth in the fuse box (which I know we were very lucky things have been ok) is there anything we can do about this or has it been too long now since we bought the house?

Thanks for any advice

Debbie

muckybutt

An earth point should have been provided somewhere in or near the fuse box by the electricity supplier.

Have you got any photos of where your fuse box is and the meter etc ?

If there is no eart at all then got in touch with the electricity supplier and ask them to fit one asap, oh and I hope the electrician didnt connect the new cooker supply up until its sorted.

fluffpot

Amazingly the electricity supplier is not obliged to provide an earth. It's a bit of a lottery, but if you're in London you've got no chance of a free one. Did your cooker electrician not tell you this? He shouldn't have fitted the cooker until this was sorted out as it's potentially a dangerous situation (as Mucky says).

I suggest you find another electrician (https://www.competentperson.co.uk) to run some tests to establish if there is no earth and then explain the options. The cheapest one may well be an earth rod in your garden, although this may then require you to update your fuse board if it has no RCD protection.

Hope this helps - come back if anything is not clear

Fluff

keystone

fluffpot wrote: »

Amazingly the electricity supplier is not obliged to provide an earth.

Oh I think they are under ESQC 2002. CLICKY

Cheers

1984ReturnsForReal_2

keystone wrote: »

Oh I think they are under ESQC 2002. CLICKY

Cheers

I can tell you are a towny/city boy.


In the countryside outside of modern day housing its mostly TT systems with 2 lines going in from a pylon/pole. Live & neutral with a ground spike (earth)outside which the householders maintain.


The OP is confused. The guy who installed the cooker was probably talking equipotential. (if that is how you spell it) or he is the most dangerous electrician alive (soon to be dead).

keystone

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

I can tell you are a towny/city boy.

In the countryside outside of modern day housing its mostly TT systems with 2 lines going in from a pylon/pole. Live & neutral with a ground spike (earth)outside which the householders maintain.

Agreed but that doesn't remove the obligation on the DNO to provide TNS or PME if the network is up to it. But being a law unto themselves...........

The OP is confused.

I suspect you may be correct. Thats why post #2's request for a pic was a damned good idea.

Cheers

Debs2009

Hi Thanks for all the replies.

I think i was quite shocked there was no earth to the fuse box and the danger we had been in.

The electrician fitted an earth in to the fuse box today, i think what happened was the previous owner got a new fuse box fitted but there was no earth to the new fuse box.

I dont know much about electrics but understand that this was dangerous, I was wondering if there was a complaint procedure having been sold a house with a fault like this or was it too late after 3 and and a half years.

Luckly over the time we have stayed here the only thing that happened was my sons phone charger blew up in a socket and gave us all a fright.

I'm not sure how to post a picture

Thanks again

Debbie

macman

No, there is no comeback at any stage if you buy a house with dangerous wiring. A normal homebuyers report or survey specifically excludes the electrical/gas/plumbing systems, it is up to to you to have this tested at extra cost if you wish. The surveyor will comment if they see something obviously awry (like exposed wiring), but they don't test the system or open the CU, they would not anyway be qualified to do so. Caveat emptor!
Sounds like the CU install was an appalling DIY bodge, so you really should have the whole system checked for your safety.

cyclonebri1

Debs2009 wrote: »

Hi Thanks for all the replies.

I think i was quite shocked there was no earth to the fuse box and the danger we had been in.

The electrician fitted an earth in to the fuse box today, i think what happened was the previous owner got a new fuse box fitted but there was no earth to the new fuse box.

I dont know much about electrics but understand that this was dangerous, I was wondering if there was a complaint procedure having been sold a house with a fault like this or was it too late after 3 and and a half years.

Luckly over the time we have stayed here the only thing that happened was my sons phone charger blew up in a socket and gave us all a fright.

I'm not sure how to post a picture

Thanks again

Debbie

I think the previous owner did this himself, it may have been done 3 1/2 years ago, if it was part P regs were in place to prevent this, regardless I cannot comprehend that any qualified electrician leaving a job like that, even 20 years ago,

ic

When you say "no earth", do you mean "no earth bonding"? As for the exploding charger - the vast majority of chargers don't need an earth as they're double insulated, and in-fact just have a plastic earth pin - so that was probably an unrelated fault with the charger itself.

Debs2009

ic wrote: »

When you say "no earth", do you mean "no earth bonding"? As for the exploding charger - the vast majority of chargers don't need an earth as they're double insulated, and in-fact just have a plastic earth pin - so that was probably an unrelated fault with the charger itself.

Hi ic,
Is earth bonding the grey sort of rubber wire that goes in to the fuse box? This is what I was meaning.

Debbie