Wiring method

[jibjob]

Hi Guys,

Came across this while carrying out an EICR the other day, looks like solid copper singles in some sort of flexible PVC conduit, I've never encountered this before & wondered if anyone could shed any light on what type of wiring method this is, found at the sockets also but in orange. All wiring appears to leave CU in T&E. Property is a ground floor flat built early to mid 80s.

Many thans in adavnce

 

[telectrix]

something i've not seen before.

 

[R G]

That there is Gilflex , came across a bit of that in early 90s on a British Legion care home , strange stuff ,,

Used in place of conduit as the sheath is toughened and its just buried so cuts down costs ,,,

 

[7029 dave]

As^^^^ have seen it, in a block of flats built in the late 60's, and builds of the 80,s cheap an nasty.

 

[jibjob]

That there is Gilflex , came across a bit of that in early 90s on a British Legion care home , strange stuff ,,

Used in place of conduit as the sheath is toughened and its just buried so cuts down costs ,,,

Does the sheath come with inner cores or do you have to put them in? I ask mainly because the cores are solid as opposed to being stranded

 

[R G]

Conductors tend to snap , you have to be careful with it , also be careful where you drill , the orange stuff is quite a tough sheath and about an inch wide , can be reused , bear in mind the small size cpc on the 2.5 though , also the cpc has green only so requires over sleeving ,,,

The cables you see there are the later 80s , the stuff I came across was 60s ,,,

 

[R G]

You can't move the cores , I tried , Gilflex make containment , so I think it came as a sheath that was wired on site , not sure TBH ,

 

[jibjob]

So if it leaves CU as T&E it must be joined somewhere? I've tried googling it to get some idea as to what it looks like prior to installation but no joy, all sounds a bit M. Mouse to me. The cpc in my photo is in GY, a later install perhaps?

 

[R G]

Its not brilliant this stuff , I think Gilflex sort of disown it TBH , I have looked it up as well and its not mentioned by Gilflex , I suppose if you contact them they would tell you more , not sure , I only found the name on a label on the side of it , In your case I should imagine theres a joint box somewhere , if it all tests out O/K I wouldn't get involved with it , because where this is used is mainly in concrete bunkers and would be difficult to rewire to say the least , unless you had to of course ,,,,

 

[telectrix]

gn/y came in around 1970.

 

[jibjob]

Thanks guys for all your help, wiring tested fine where this appears to of been used, eventually, no earth at last light, found break at a light fitting up stream & your right Ray, there ain't no give in cables, the cpc looked as thought it had popped out due to being a bit on the short side.

 

[cornishboy]

Anaconda also made a similar product in the 1980's , you could fix it to the ground and screed over but was totally useless once you put more than one bend in it

 

[NickD]

Hi Guys,

Came across this while carrying out an EICR the other day, looks like solid copper singles in some sort of flexible PVC conduit, I've never encountered this before & wondered if anyone could shed any light on what type of wiring method this is, found at the sockets also but in orange. All wiring appears to leave CU in T&E. Property is a ground floor flat built early to mid 80s.

Many thans in adavnce

View attachment 23663

Reminds me of this for some reason

http://submit.boingboing.net/files/2012/03/280X.gif

 

[onions1066]

Yes we call it modula wiring. Worked on it a few times it's not great.

 

[Engineer54]

Looks similar to the prewired systems they used in precast concrete housing and blocks of flats. No idea how successful it was or wasn't!! lol!!

 

[stevethesparks]

Cable-con (cabled Conduit) was another word or make for this.
I see this in my first weeks of apprenticeship, wiring a block of small flats near to Russell Square in London. The spec was to install a rewireable system, and the spec of the cable met the criteria.
It had to be warmed with a flame in the winter to enable it to bend without snapping, also to keep it rewirable, bends had to be kept reasonably slow. Basically it was crap.
This was near enough 42 years ago, I'd love to know if any poor bugger has tried rewiring any of it yet. That was the first and last time I used it or had seen it.

 

[Clive P]

Hi,

Used this for wiring blocks of flats in the 70's. Came on a drum pre-wired, you just laid it in and screeded over the top. It was supposedly rewirable, but having tried that a few times it was impossible. It was supposed to be a quick install , which it was but didn't really take off.

Regards.

 

[jay sean]

Ive worked with the stuff in council properties.
Its pants, the 2.5 came with a 1.0mm earth which would break.