Electrics in a victorian terrace

[catherine]

I have recently purchased (for the first time) a 2 bed terrace dating from around 1900 in Derbyshire.
The survey suggested a full re-wire was due but i thought we wouldnt have to do this immediatly.....however since we moved in 3 weeks ago we have been having several problems with the electrics eg light bulbs blowing (4 halogens in 2 weeks!) and sparks (blue flashes) from light sockets and plug sockets. I am now very concerned that this is not safe and need to get it rectified quickly.
The fuse box doesnt look particually old, neither do the light swiches and the kitchen was redone 2 years ago with 6 new plug sockets added as well as 2 extra in the living room. The previous owners (for 7 years) say they never had the electrics tested.
Any suggestions- help!

 

[Ian Bond]

Well , I completely rewired my house, but due to the new regs am no longer qualified to do most things electrical (part P).

You really need to get a trusted (i.e. recommended by a friend who's used them) electrician in to check and test your installation.

It may be perfectly OK apart from poor connections in the sockets.

Or it could be a mix of new and very old cables with modern sockets and a consumer unit stuck on, requiring a rewire as per your survey.

This can't be diagnosed properly over t'internet to be fair.

Hopefully someone reading this will be local to you, and can recommend a firm.

I can only add:

a) beware 'free' surverys, where the objective is to sell you something you may not really need.

b) don't take risks with the electrics if you're not happy that they're safe. don't use the dodgy sockets.

 

[GeoffP]

Hi Catherine,

I’m not an electrician but I would say that you need to get the whole wiring checked ASAP.

My son-in-law, has an electrical contracting company that is fully N.I.C.E.I.C. approved and is reasonably close to you so if you need any help please p.m. me.

After a quick word with him he tells me that, by law, any installation has to be carried out by a registered Part P installer, whatever that means, so be careful.

Geoff

 

[Ian Bond]

It's slightly more complicated.

You can DIY it and pay for it to be inspected, and certified but in practice very few amateurs are going to do that. I would imagine that I am in a very small group of non-electricians who've done a full rewire. And now having done it, I can understand why.

One thing that you may consider is supervising or actually doing the chasing and route preparation.

That way you can avoid the upset of having historic features damaged by over-enthusiastic people working to a tight schedule.

I'm thinking in particular about lifting floors, cutting through plasterwork and ceilings, and negotiating cornices and so on.

You'll want to sort all the wiring and plumbing out before embarking on major redectoration of course. One day, I might even finish a room in my own house!!!!!

 

[chuckey]

You have a couple of things going on here. Light bulbs "blow" either because the filament has got too thin (old age), Have been mechanically damaged because either they have been knocked or switched on/off an excessive number of times or are are subject to over voltage. The only way the fixed wiring could contribute to the short bulb life, is if there is a bad contact so the power is coming and going, i.e. a flickering bulb. You say blue flashes from the light sockets. I presume you mean bulb holders. There are two main sorts of bulb holders, the most common are the bayonet, the bulbs have two little pins sticking out of the side of the base, with two contacts (silver bits) on the end of the bulb. These rely on a spring inside a brass tube to push the contact on to the bulb base with age corrosion can cause these contacts to stick and so not make contact properly. Solution change the bulb holder - allowed by part P. The newer bulb holders, use a screw on the bulb base and the bulb just screws in, if its not screwed in properly sparking is possible, also the contact to the centre of the bulb is a strip of metal, some times this looses its springyness, again tighten bulb/change bulbholder. Sparking in power sockets, when? is it just when you switch them on/off or is in when you plug something in, i.e. is it the fitting or the actual contacts on to the plug that are sparking.
WD40 is excellent in making poor electrical moving contacts work again, bit messy to use though (and volume controls in radios). spray the item and excercise it. All 13A plugs should have their pins wiped with a tissue wetted with WD40, they will go in a lot easier and especially the 110V yellow connectors - changes them completely.
Frank

 

[DJN]

Catherine
You need get a couple of industry certified electricians to survey the house and give you a cost to bring up to spec, you may also need to improve the house earth which the electric board can do for a few hundred.

The house may only require a small amount of work to bring it to spec

I should worn you that insurance companies are always looking to get out of paying out and if you have a fire caused by the electric you may not be covered.

D

 

[Pford75]

Good advice above. I would recommend that any electrician you contact is NICEIC registered (http://www.niceic.org.uk)

If you are referring to sparks from the lightswitches (rather than the bulb holders) I would recommend a survey asap. This occurred with our house and was due to the earth failing and various sections of (metal) conduit becoming live. There is nothing to say that this is the same problem as yourself, but speaking as someone who has had their children get electric shocks from lightswitches, I would always recommend better safe than sorry

Most NICEIC electricians will do a 'landlords' survey (usually conducted before renting a property out) for £100-150. This is a much better bet than inviting someone round for free to give you their opinion (they will tend to 'sell' their next job)

 

[Flyfisher]

Just bear in mind that once inspected and found to be faulty, you are pretty much forced to have the remedial work done because of insurance issues (not necessarily by the inspector's firm though).

Sparking switches and sockets could be something as simple as a loose wire requiring no more than a screwdriver to tighten the fixing screw (after switching off all power of course).

Or, possibly, worn switch or socket contacts, requiring no more than replacement (again after switching off all power).

I'm pretty sure neither types of repair require a qualified electrician.

But, the symptoms could, as pointed out, also indicate something far more serious so they should certainly be checked out by someone.

 

[MdB]

It was common in old houses not to have an earth connection on the lighting circuits. The earth wire might be there but it may not be connected to anything. This was certainly the case in this house (rewired by a bodger in the 1970s) and we are completely rewiring.