ring main

[trickyb]

OK all heres the scenario fitting new cu in a house its on old 3036 type no rcds in sight . anyway testing reveles no ring curcuit one 2.5 supplys all sockets the other 2.5 in the same fuse holder supplys one socket upstairs in corner bedroom ? took socket off has 2 live & 2 neutral black/red wires ? propity has been extended at back and side . not been in this trade long but is it common practice to put a ring upstairs and spur downstairs ? because all groundfloor sockets look like spurs. :smile5:

 

[i=p/u]

vew pics, might help somone awnser,, very hard to give an awnser

 

[Octopus]

Did a CU change on a house like this lately - had ring circuit but all sockets have 1 wire - 1970 ish (must be loads of hidden JB's)

 

[spark 68]

I have seen on older properties, a front-back split (division) of circuits, rather than the more usual upstairs downstairs, and on occasion where there has been a full height extension added, a side to side split.

I think this was done prior to the advent of the splitload CU, so that you could still have power and lighting on each floor, if a fuse blew, some of the more senior members may care to elaborate

 

[Deleted member 26818]

What rating is the fuse?
Sounds like it should be 20A.

 

[Guitarist]

During the 70's many builders installed a ring main upstairs then dropped spurs to each downstairs socket to save money on cabling.....

 

[Guitarist]

Was considered adequate at the time as most households owned about 6 things needing a mains supply :cheesy:

 

[trickyb]

Hi had a 32A fuse in the ring curcuit or should i say what it supposed to be a ring! don,t think it,s all radials not with 9 sockets on one wire and 1 on another!should i try to join ring?

 

[brucelee]

Did a CU change on a house like this lately - had ring circuit but all sockets have 1 wire - 1970 ish (must be loads of hidden JB's)

same as my brothers a ring hidden under floorboards WITH LEGS TO DOWNSTAIRS SOCKETS the upstairs are wired as normal they must have done it to save on cable lol
and that the best of the wiring

 

[trickyb]

so what your trying to tell me is this house is full of JB,s ! lol

 

[brucelee]

possibly mate
at the board you have 2 legs upon testing you revealed one radial had one socket did you say though that this had two individual T/E if so were does the other cable go ?
and the other 9 do they all have 2 legs or has one got 1 leg
If so then maybe at some point someone has disconnected the ring and made it 2 radials maybe due to fault but then didnt replace the fuse with A SMALLER RATING AS SPIN SAYS 20A or they were doing a little DIY
or try to locate the break if there is one it could just be it was wired as a radial with 9 sockets then someone ran another seperate radial to supply the individual skt

so on testing you had no end to end reading on the Lines, neutrals and cpcs

try testing from ccu to first socket and so on to find the last of the 9 skts if this has 2 CABLES WERE DOES THE OTHER GO

in my brothers house its the same as i described above
then there is also a seperate radial circuit to a JB its looks like 4mm but is stranded imperial then from the JB there are 3 seperate 2.5mm equivalent imperial twins supplying 2 sockets in living room and 1 in the hall
then the other circuit is a ring circuit under floor with a single drops to sockets in living room and hall
half the kitchen is wired to this ring then the newer part which is a extension into the old attached garage has a newer ring installed from a seperate ccu
this will be my next project and it would be easier to rewire but not possible
all upstairs have the correct wiring well of a fashion

 

[Guitarist]

The spurs were often straight out of the backs of the upstairs sockets so may not be many jb's at all.

 

[Rockingit]

Well I guess that even now in 17th, there's nothing technically wrong in wiring one circuit (be it ring or radial) upstairs and dropping spurs from each point to run down, it's just not that clever an idea, really, and makes it a real sod for the next sparks in the place to diagnose a fault!!

 

[rich.250]

A 2.5 to a jb then spider off to everything seems to be common in older places. On a 30a,
Needs to be down rated as spin and a few said to 20a max.

Just cos the socket has two cables in the back doesn't mean it's a ring necessarily......

 

[rich.250]

Do people have to use the term ring main.....
You could try and put a socket on a ring main. Be a good watch.
Maybe I'm grumpy this morn.
Sorry guys

 

[timo1]

Do people have to use the term ring main.....
You could try and put a socket on a ring main. Be a good watch.
Maybe I'm grumpy this morn.
Sorry guys

Ha Ha, I bet you cant help yourself saying "Bulbs are for daffodils" either lol:daisy:

 

[steve447]

Had similar in the place im in now...was 1 ring main for the entire house, on further inspection the ring was downstairs but one socket in the dining room had a spur ran from that up the wall into a JB under the floor boards of the middle bedroom then this JB had 3 additional 2.5s coming out of it to feed a single socket in each of the 3 bedrooms !.
The downstairs has a utility room that had a double socket also spurred off the ring, which in turn had a SWA terminated into it to feed the Garage!.

 

[Engineer54]

Do people have to use the term ring main.....
You could try and put a socket on a ring main. Be a good watch.
Maybe I'm grumpy this morn.
Sorry guys

Unfortunately for you, that was the term that used throughout the industry for Ring circuits from the 50's -60's, it's like a ''sticky'' lol!! must admit i was brought up calling them the same, and still from time to time call a RFC a ring main!! lol!! At least We know what we mean, even if others don't!!.... lol!!!

 

[rich.250]

Fair enough e54. I was just being grumpy LOL.