1 ring main for whole house

[Buners]

Upstairs & downstairs on the same breaker, RCD protected board.

Views on this?

 

[bill01803]

If the total floor area is less than 100m² it is fine

 

[Pat H]

My house had that. Not easy to split the ring so I just added new RFC for extended areas. The kitchen has its own RFC that includes the utility room. An extension got its own RFC and so forth.

 

[Andy78]

In a new install, terrible design.
In an existing install, possibly inconvenient and possibly subject to uneven loading depending on kitchen appliance arrangements.

 

[David M]

Upstairs & downstairs on the same breaker, RCD protected board.

Views on this?

As bill01803 says depends on the total floor area and also what the requirements are, i.e kitchen areas (as Pat H mentioned) ideally need their own RFC as these days they tend to require many more sockets with potentially high wattage appliances.

 

[DPG]

The houses on our estate were built in the 70s with only one ring final.

You're more likely to hit problems with cumulative earth leakage when rcds are fitted than with actual overload. As said above, not good design if it's recent.

 

[westward10]

Mine is 1970s one ring final in a three bed house. R2 continuity is sky high because of 1.0 cpcs.

 

[Buners]

25 years old I would guess, went around and had a look the other day as customer wanted a rewire quote, just thought it was a bit strange.

How is normal 2 bed but has had the garage converted into a dining room (extended ring to suite I think) also had a loft conversion too but without further investigation I would only be guessing.

 

[Andy78]

Mine is 1970s one ring final in a three bed house. R2 continuity is sky high because of 1.0 cpcs.

My brother's old place was awful. Good size 3 bed semi, one ring for all sockets, upstairs sockets on the ring, every downstairs socket was a spur dropped from a JB above.

 

[Andy78]

25 years old I would guess, went around and had a look the other day as customer wanted a rewire quote, just thought it was a bit strange.

How is normal 2 bed but has had the garage converted into a dining room (extended ring to suite I think) also had a loft conversion too but without further investigation I would only be guessing.

I have seen plenty of 2up 2 downs with only 3 circuits. Sockets, lights, cooker.

 

[Buners]

It was more down to the addition of the dining room and loft conversion which had me a bit concerned.

 

[Specialist]

It was quite common practice years ago to have one ring for the whole house, especially in a smaller property.
Another common thing was an upstairs ring & downstairs sockets as Spurs or vice / versa.

 

[Wilko]

Mine is 1970s one ring final in a three bed house. R2 continuity is sky high because of 1.0 cpcs.

Westie, reading your status (a bit cheeky I reckon) I'm tempted to say - I could recommend an Electrician to come over and fix your ring - Only tempted, mind .

 

[westward10]

My brother's old place was awful. Good size 3 bed semi, one ring for all sockets, upstairs sockets on the ring, every downstairs socket was a spur dropped from a JB above.

Mine is a ring final apart from a spurred multiple outlet in the kitchen which I will sort when the kitchen is changed, mind you be saying this for the last 12 years. I have added to it and my R2 measures 2.20 ohms.

 

[Octopus]

In the good old days, 3 fuses : 1 for sockets, 1 for lights, 1 for cooker......

 

[Dave OCD]

Mine is a ring final apart from a spurred multiple outlet in the kitchen which I will sort when the kitchen is changed, mind you be saying this for the last 12 years. I have added to it and my R2 measures 2.20 ohms.

That's no problem, just put it on a 6a MCB.

 

[Squid]

My old setup, house used to have lodgers back in the days so each room had a coin operated meter and was fed separately. Was fun changing it all over bit by bit.