wiring under the floor boards, if its filled with concrete?

care2

fluffpot wrote: »

If your friend is an electrician he will have a tester and the knowledge with with to locate and rectify the fault, which might not involve taking up your floor or rewiring all your sockets. I know he's a mate but would it be worth getting another opinion?

If it was me I'd be looking at a different solution to your problem rather than taking up the floor. After 3 days I think he should too!!

He said, 'the wiring is in a bad state, there r junction boxes somewhere under the floor which r difficult to locate,the sockets r not wired in a ring main or radially, so instead of tryin 2 locate old wires its better to run new ones.

fluffpot

He could down rate the circuit breaker to 20A if it's not a ring. However, if have loads of heavy power use appliances on that circuit, it might be prone to overloading, but I've seen many kitchens running on 20A. That said if the tests show the cables are shot, then it's probably rewire time - can the cables not be chased into the walls? Or run from above as someone has already suggested?

care2

fluffpot wrote: »

He could down rate the circuit breaker to 20A if it's not a ring. However, if have loads of heavy power use appliances on that circuit, it might be prone to overloading, but I've seen many kitchens running on 20A. That said if the tests show the cables are shot, then it's probably rewire time - can the cables not be chased into the walls? Or run from above as someone has already suggested?

he said, "The problem with the existing wiring is that it shows very low insulation reasistance between live and earth. It is almost impossible to trace the wire causing this low resistance because the cables are laid in a very disorderly manner. The wire running from the consumer unit is 6mm2 but then split into 2.5mm runs. One or two sockets are even wired in 1.5mm. The joists on first floor arefilled with concrete so it is most likely that exixsting cables are buried in concrete.Therefore the only way is run new cables and a new consumer unit"

fluffpot

Hi there

His explanation sounds sensible - he's obviously investigated which is good.

Is there really no way to run the cables in the walls?

I think others have suggested that in similar situations where there is a concrete floor or wood floor that cannot be lifted, it is usual to run cables from above ie lift upstairs floor boards to run the cables under and then drop down to each socket.

RCD protection will be required for the new sockets/cables if your existing board doesn't have it. I guess this is why he's suggesting a new board. However, if this is the only circuit being worked on then it would be possible to save £ and just fit a mini RCD board for the new circuit. If you have the money though I would recommend a new board - but be aware that other problems may be found when the rest of the circuits are tested...

Hope this helps

Fluff