New Electrical Socket Installation

Justicia

baldelectrician wrote: »

Having a reliable earth connection is one of the most important things to have.

Agree with this post 100% - I would always have the checks done before introducing additional conductive parts.

Roundabouts

baldelectrician wrote: »

Having a reliable earth connection is one of the most important things to have.
.

Thanks. Is there anyway to check this with a digital multimeter? Or would I need to get the pros in?

I had a right palaver recently with my gas central heating. When the system was turned on, the RCD in the consumer unit tripped. After British Gas had a bash at fixing it an electrician was called. He missed the fault completely. A bright heating engineer eventually found the fault- a short circuit between neutral and earth in the cable supplying mains power to my hot water cylinder (a thermal store to be precise). There was certainly nothing wrong in the earth connection with regard to the RCD tripping. Testament to this is the fact that I had no heat or water for 2 months! But is this perhaps a good sign that my earth connection is sound?

Roundabouts

baldelectrician wrote: »

Having a reliable earth connection is one of the most important things to have.

A quick question to any electricians out there. Okay I understand this will probably be totally frowned upon but what about this as a quick and rudimentary check on the earth connection of my lighting circuit as pictured above:

1. Turn off the MCB in the consumer unit for the lighting circuit concerned.
2. Disconnect live wire from light switch terminal and bend it so that it is touching the metal faceplate of the light switch.
3. Try to turn on the aforementioned MCB in the consumer unit.

If the earth connection is sound then the MCB will switch to OFF or the RCD will trip. If neither of these things happens then there is a problem with the earth connection.

Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

baldelectrician

Roundabouts wrote: »

A quick question to any electricians out there. Okay I understand this will probably be totally frowned upon but what about this as a quick and rudimentary check on the earth connection of my lighting circuit as pictured above:

1. Turn off the MCB in the consumer unit for the lighting circuit concerned.
2. Disconnect live wire from light switch terminal and bend it so that it is touching the metal faceplate of the light switch.
3. Try to turn on the aforementioned MCB in the consumer unit.

If the earth connection is sound then the MCB will switch to OFF or the RCD will trip. If neither of these things happens then there is a problem with the earth connection.

Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

no NO no NO

Roundabouts

baldelectrician wrote: »

no NO no NO

I was rather expecting that sort of response . Without going into any detail, was what I proposed doing wrong? Or dangerous? Or both wrong and dangerous? I've a feeling it's a bit dangerous but largely correct in practice.

baldelectrician

Roundabouts wrote: »

I was rather expecting that sort of response . Without going into any detail, was what I proposed doing wrong? Or dangerous? Or both wrong and dangerous? I've a feeling it's a bit dangerous but largely correct in practice.

In the unlikely event of no earth there is a probability of all the metal gas and water pipework could become live.

An earth loop tester checks the earth fault loop path in a safer manner. They don't do it the way you suggest as that is inhereltly dangerous

phead

jbainbridge wrote: »

Work in the bathroom, kitchen and outdoors is however notifiable.

This changes again come April, with kitchens and outdoors not being covered by part p unless it is a new circuit, I'm not sure if the full new regs have been published yet.

Justicia

phead wrote: »

This changes again come April, with kitchens and outdoors not being covered by part p unless it is a new circuit, I'm not sure if the full new regs have been published yet.

The 2013 document has been published for free download;

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/partp/approved

Roundabouts

baldelectrician wrote: »

In the unlikely event of no earth there is a probability of all the metal gas and water pipework could become live.

An earth loop tester checks the earth fault loop path in a safer manner. They don't do it the way you suggest as that is inhereltly dangerous

Thanks. That makes perfect sense when it's explained like that. I presume that an earth loop tester isn't really for the DIYer to use.

baldelectrician

Roundabouts wrote: »

Thanks. That makes perfect sense when it's explained like that. I presume that an earth loop tester isn't really for the DIYer to use.

The fact that one costs around £400-£600 puts people off- this is not for a multi function tester, these cost more