Wiring for a UK mains socket

[Joose]

You'd think id be able to google for this, but all my attempts have led to pages about plugs, modems, and SCART leads, for some wierd reason.

Anyway; The house I live in seems to have been constructed by trained monkeys. As such, things leak/creak/wobble/fall off/just dont work. Particularly annoying is that although there are 12 mains sockets in our front room, only 5 of them work. I thought I would take it upon myself to find out why today. After turning off the fuse for downstairs (and then checking that it hadnt been labeled wrong), I took the front off one of the offending sockets.

It was at this point that I realised I wasnt entirely sure how it was supposed to look.

Basically, this is a double socket that works fine on the right but not at all on the left. The wiring going into it seems...suspiciously more prevelant on the right than the left. Other than that, I can find no clue. Anyone know how these things are supposed to go?

[Woo Elephant Yeah]

I know a bit about wiring up new plugs and so on as I have previously installed abotu 5 new double sockets, but recently there have been new laws passed, that stop people from wiring new plugs etc... themselves, and it has to be done by a qualified electrician.

I don't want to sound like an arse, but if I were to suggest a few things, and you then electicuted yourself, I could be in deep shit.

Basically now this law has been passed you "should" get an electrician in to do the work, but you could always take it upon yourself to make sure that any existing wiring is connected properly and not loose.

You could always try swapping a working existing double socket with the one that doesn't (using the same wiring in the same way), and if this is still faulty, then you know the wiring needs looking at and not the socket itself.

From the sounds of it though, it'd more than likely going to be a wiring issue, and it may be that something on the loom is wrongly connected, hence making all the other plugs fucked as well.

Anyways, good luck, and if I remember rightly, Cashy is pretty good at this sort of thing.

[FatherJack]

You could buy a new socket and attach it in the old one's place following the wiring diagram supplied with it, which would at least isolate the source of the problem.

But, as WEY says - there are new laws passed, and anything not done by someone qualified makes selling the place problematic and possibly invalidates insurance.

You could always enrol on a course and get qualified yourself, my Dad recently did this without much trouble.

[Private J.]

Most of the sockets in your house are pobably on a ring main. But as you say

there are 12 mains sockets in our front room, only 5 of them work

I would guess some of them have been added to using a spur, and there is a break in the spur that is causing the rest not to work.

If one half of the double socket works and the other doesn't then you may have a faulty socket. In which case I would strongly suggest you take FatherJack's advice and replace the socket. Most new double sockets these days have single connectors for earth, live and neutral and all the wiring for the individual sockets are hidden inside. So they should be fairly easy to wire up and both sockets should work.

When I move into a new house I always replace the older sockets with new ones when I re-decorate each room.
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[ProfHawking]

Most of the sockets in your house are pobably on a ring main. But as you say

there are 12 mains sockets in our front room, only 5 of them work

I would guess some of them have been added to using a spur, and there is a break in the spur that is causing the rest not to work.

If one half of the double socket works and the other doesn't then you may have a faulty socket. In which case I would strongly suggest you take FatherJack's advice and replace the socket. Most new double sockets these days have single connectors for earth, live and neutral and all the wiring for the individual sockets are hidden inside. So they should be fairly easy to wire up and both sockets should work.

this.

Do you have a multimeter?
I have a light fitting in my room that i have never been able to get working. It has anywhere between 20 and 80v AC coming out of it at any one time

[cashy]

recently there have been new laws passed, that stop people from wiring new plugs etc... themselves, and it has to be done by a qualified electrician.

mmm part P, how i love her money money money!
but theres nothing to say you cant do the work, just if you go to sell your house (maybe insure it too, dont quote me on that) you will need to have it checked over by an electrician. 75% of existing electrical work has been done by complete mongs who dont own a screwdriver anyway, so itd be impossible to stop people doing it as they would have to lock away every house owner who had dodgy builders in the past.

anyway, cant say what the problem is for sure but i'd say that the sockets where only one side of a double is working= faulty socket, and possibly a spur or two with loose/broken wiring but i doubt it. also food for thought, if the wiring is over 25 years old it all needs rewiring anyway

as for profs light, what do you mean? you can get voltage out of it but its variable or it just plain doesnt have go juice?

[Joose]

anyway, cant say what the problem is for sure but i'd say that the sockets where only one side of a double is working= faulty socket, and possibly a spur or two with loose/broken wiring but i doubt it.

All of the dodgy sockets are one half of a double. I suspect a batch of dodgy sockets, possibly off the back of a lorry.

also food for thought, if the wiring is over 25 years old it all needs rewiring anyway

Not even 25 months. The entire house was gutted and rewired before we moved in, a few months ago. but judging from the excellent quality of the rest of the work the landlord did in the house ( ) i suspect he went for the cheap and shitty option.

At least the ants have stopped falling out of the light fittings now its cold out.