No earth!

You say the 70s, but could it be pre 1966, if so there wasn't any cpc (earth) on lighting circuits back then, so maybe it older than it appears.

 

Seen that on a few places over the years.

Present place I'm in, several light fitting were like that,earth cut back, & this shack was rewired in the early 80's I think, have since rewire them.

 

I suggest you read section 10 of this for guidance: http://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/mediafile/100423440/Best-Practice-Guide-1-Issue-3-.pdf

Also what testing did you conduct prior to the exchange of the consumer unit? It's very poor practice to conduct a consumer unit exchange without doing basic testing prior installation to indentify any faults that will need rectifying.

If you have left it connected what have you detailed on the EIC you issued the customer?

 

Rare to see aluminium, usual tinned copper. It is around, and noticeable not by colour, but by how soft and brittle it is.

There was a period when twin and earth appeared, but older sparks continued installing as they had done previously and just snipped the earths out.

 

Don't ever recall aluminium in a domestic situation. There was a period in the mid 70's when copper was short in supply so they introduced copper clad cable. It was an aluminium conductor with a copper coating. Torque screwdrivers were required to ensure the connections were not overtightened. Terrible stuff to work with as I recall.

Kind regards

 

There is a small estate near me where all houses have the lighting circuit wired with the copper clad aluminium cable. It is very rare. We get calls there all the time where people have swapping fittings and end up with no lights due to snapped terminations. My local village hall is also riddled with it.

 

Aluminum conductors were larger in x section than copper. (for obvious reasons) Work hardened very easily. Corroded easily as well.
Earths probably snipped when rcd started tripping and some untrained monkey with no test gear or experience was called in to sort the problem.
RS

 

If memory serves me right it was only around for about a year if that before copper came available again. Do you use torque drivers or reconnect by touch?

 

Put the appropriate label on the c/unit and note it on the EIC, check that there are no metal light switches or fittings.

 

And, use plastic 3.5 mm PLASTIC screws in light switches to insulated totally...used that technique from 15 years ago.
RS

 

In the late 60s and early 70s the metal back boxes often had plastic lugs rather than metal. Standard metal M3.5mm screws could be used.

 

2 doors down from me. The old boy (84) was converting his attic to a bedroom doing the work himself. He called me in to have a look at a ceiling rose that was now in the wrong place. The cabling in the house had been touched for over 50 years, there were all sorts of old cable in there from old rubber coated , live and neutral ran through single cables, horrible wooden junction boxes, and as mentioned earlier - no earth, a lovely wooden backed consumer unit with fuse wire and of course his own bodges over the years.

I refused to anywhere near it (and so did the electician) that lives between us until he gets it sorted. His answer he didn't understand what the fuss was about as it had been ok since he moved in and didn't want the mess - despite having the attic open before it was boarded and wanting to fit an upstairs bathroom with an electric shower ..... grrr

 

Or use the Screwfix LAP switch plates with the plastic covers over the screw holes.

 

I tried to reconnect earth wires cut off like you describe in the Falklands after spending ages re-connecting found there was one junction box in the ceiling which I could not access so all work was in vain. Only doing a favour so no time to worry about, but clearly you can't charge for half a job so I would be wary at reconnecting only needs one connection you can't reach.

I have thought about that job many times, I was not happy having not finished the work, I have wondered if I could have fitted two earth rods either side of building, but like you back then I did not test enough and not a clue if the generator actually had a earth tapping? So it could have been TN-S or IT I have not a clue. Some 30 years ago now just didn't think to check.

I also made an error on one farm did not realise the generator was centre tapped so needed fuses in what looked like the neutral but was in fact line 2. It is so easy to make mistakes and I welcomed the inspecting and testing which had a huge boost with Part P. Yes we should have done it before but first time I was allowed a loop impedance tester was around 1995 it was just not part of our kit. Yes we had a low ohm meter but using one of them was a big job to test earths compared with plugging in and pressing button. Result was general lack of testing.

 

So its been ok for donkeys years like that but as soon as you fit an RCD protected consumer unit someone is going to get fried? I doubt it. If they were going to meet their maker then surely it would happen before the new unit was fitted.

That leaflet above makes it sound so simple, I presume we just follow it to the letter and then pop along and get our 11% pay rise just like the MPs did.


*******.

 

If the custom want to change all the switches...good idea.....
RS

 

I've still to find a source of spares for those little plastic buggers. I guess write to the manufacturer to find out... I hate visiting a property with them in place as they always get gouge marks when you poke them out.