Electricians advice sought - or competent person.

[macabethiel]

As some of you know our house was completely rewired after the house fire with some changes to the ring mains layout - Kitchen is completely separate to rest of house for instance. I have had some issues on the ground floor when using my BT Mini Connectors that use Ethernet over Mains protocols.

I have a sneaky feeling that it could be the case that perhaps some of the wiring to the house 13 amp sockets might not be 100% - this would explain why a BT Mini Connector works better in one side of a double socket than the other - it could be the brand of socket perhaps?

Short of checking the tightness of the screws in every single wall socket is there an easier way to check it out ?

Is there an inexpensive testing tool that I could use?

 

[panelbeater]

they do a mains plug into socket tester plug with lights to show good or errers

 

[macabethiel]

they do a mains plug into socket tester plug with lights to show good or errers

Any idea of price and what are they called so I can check some prices on fle bay or at Screwfix etc?

 

[Fez_uk]

Mains socket tester

his would explain why a BT Mini Connector works better in one side of a double socket than the other - it could be the brand of socket perhaps?

The double socket will share the same 3 wires (Live, Neutral and earth), So I doubt it's at fault.

 

[jims-terrano]

Sounds like they have separated into several ring mains. Old way of doing it was upstairs and downstairs separated. Do the sockets have a brand on them such as MK. I’ve had problems in the past with cheap sockets bought from a well known DIY Store. Personally I prefer MK but other brands are available. I have seen cheap double sockets with USB chargers combined with earths not connected properly so basically despite an earth cable connected the plugs had no connection to earth, I’d of expected this to trip a circuit but I’m told not always the case.

 

[macabethiel]

Mains socket tester

Mains socket tester



The double socket will share the same 3 wires (Live, Neutral and earth), So I doubt it's at fault.

Looks like they test wrong wiring & earth continuity rather than load / contact

 

[solarman216]

As Fez says a double socket is fed with LNE but is the socket is switched then one side could have a bad switch, as for checking polarity a plug in socket tester is the best way forward, it will tell you instantly if LNE are correct, as for insufficiently tightened terminal screws the only way is remove the socket and check, Rick

 

[macabethiel]

Interesting Rick

As Fez says a double socket is fed with LNE but is the socket is switched then one side could have a bad switch, as for checking polarity a plug in socket tester is the best way forward, it will tell you instantly if LNE are correct, as for insufficiently tightened terminal screws the only way is remove the socket and check, Rick

TBH I thought that - at present I have worked out that any BT Mini Connectors work best when plugged into the left hand side of a double wall socket.

I will check the brand used - I too am a fan of the likes of MK & Crabtree.

If loss of Broadband speeds persists I will check all the downstairs & upstairs wall sockets. I am pretty sure I have upgraded the hard wired Ethernet Cables from Cat 5e to Cat 6 for nothing but not thankfully at great cest as I have done it all myself.

 

[RJL Services]

LAP MS6860D Socket Tester (91596) on screwfix is £9.99 toolstation also do one a bit cheaper

 

[macabethiel]

That looks a simple bit of kit to test poor earth & reversed wiring.

LAP MS6860D Socket Tester (91596) on screwfix is £9.99 toolstation also do one a bit cheaper

I'm not sure it would detect poor screw tightening but looks a simple device to check earths etc.

 

[rayf3262]

The instrument you need to test the integrity of the wiring and connections is a loop tester. This works by passing a very short duration load (~20A) on the circuit under test and measures the "loop impedance".
A quick scout on ebay shows plenty for sale. This is the model I have:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Robin-PSC-Loop-Tester/264650161722?hash=item3d9e60fe3a:g:wBwAAOSwXMZeWOwj
Live to Neutral testing will be fine, but you will have to defeat the RCD to test L to E or spend more money on a RCD friendly loop tester, they work in a similar way but use multiple shorter duration pulses that the RCD does not "see". Results are the same from either.

The electrician that did the new work on your property should have carried out a test such as this and the results recorded on the paperwork submitted to yourself. He could choose to do a loop test with the aforementioned tester or an "R1+R2" test shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQgDd2mysu0

 

[macabethiel]

Thanks for the reply & detail.

The instrument you need to test the integrity of the wiring and connections is a loop tester. This works by passing a very short duration load (~20A) on the circuit under test and measures the "loop impedance".
A quick scout on ebay shows plenty for sale. This is the model I have:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Robin-PSC-Loop-Tester/264650161722?hash=item3d9e60fe3a:g:wBwAAOSwXMZeWOwj
Live to Neutral testing will be fine, but you will have to defeat the RCD to test L to E or spend more money on a RCD friendly loop tester, they work in a similar way but use multiple shorter duration pulses that the RCD does not "see". Results are the same from either.

The electrician that did the new work on your property should have carried out a test such as this and the results recorded on the paperwork submitted to yourself. He could choose to do a loop test with the aforementioned tester or an "R1+R2" test shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQgDd2mysu0

Thanks for that extra information it is very useful, In my archives I have a lot of stuff about the various standards of work that were carried out including photos of the fancy gas flu we have the contractor submitted loads of paperwork to my Loss Assessor and Insurance Company a lot of that was copied to me so I will do some digging.

Unfortunately when the electrical work was carried out the first guy who I had a lot of confidence in was taken ill so all the upstairs wiring was done with regular checks with me visiting the site.
When it came to wiring the downstairs & the consumer unit a second electrician was involved. I was not consulted about any of the downstairs wiring I just found it done when I visited the site at the weekend. As a result some sockets were missed - a lot of stuff was not quite as I wanted it but the walls had been plastered - in the end I did a bit of a deal to accept the electrical work that was done in exchange for not being charged for some extra kitchen work.

Within a couple of months of moving back home we had fuses tripping - after a couple of visits this was resolved. As a result of this I took out some wiring insurance for 12 months as I had lost confidence in the wiring. To be fair it has not faulted again so I have not bothered with further cover. It might be a good start if I just checked a couple of sockets myself & if they are okay I might just change one of the questionable double sockets. Its a cheap fix - as has been said it might be just one double socket with a iffy switch.

It might be worth me just getting a professional in to check the ring mains properly and pay the cost for peace of mind. I have no idea what order of magnitude that would be. I have lived in this house since 1984 and did a lot of the extra socket wiring myself including moving & replacing the consumer unit so I knew my wiring very well. The re-wire is a complete unknown to me in so many ways. We even lost the split load consumer unit in the process but we have many more RCB fuses.

 

[rayf3262]

The relevant paperwork is the Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC), within this there will be a section headed "Schedule of test results for the installation" this is a record of the test results for ALL circuits supplied from the C.U. This testing and documentation is mandatory for the work to be compliant with building regulations and BS7671.

Not having the "split load" CU is not a bad thing, as it sounds as though the electrician has used an RCBO for each circuit so a fault will only affect that individual circuit. An RCBO is a combined MCB+RCD in one breaker so is capable of tripping on either overload or earth leakage. Some RCBO's have an indicator that shows what caused the breaker to trip, over-current or leakage.

 

[macabethiel]

The relevant paperwork is the Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC), within this there will be a section headed "Schedule of test results for the installation" this is a record of the test results for ALL circuits supplied from the C.U. This testing and documentation is mandatory for the work to be compliant with building regulations and BS7671.

Not having the "split load" CU is not a bad thing, as it sounds as though the electrician has used an RCBO for each circuit so a fault will only affect that individual circuit. An RCBO is a combined MCB+RCD in one breaker so is capable of tripping on either overload or earth leakage. Some RCBO's have an indicator that shows what caused the breaker to trip, over-current or leakage.

I am pretty sure I have a copy of the EIC and I know my Loss Assessor will supply me of more details if needed.

To be fair the old split load consumer unit was effectively circumvented as when the fire in the roof space started it affected the upstairs loft circuits first so the lighting failed almost immediately then the circuits tripped due to the shower supply tripping.

So much for lighting in the event of a fire! Good job we were downstairs.