Help with electrics


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Hallo all! It's been a while since I've lurked here, and I've come crawling back because I need off topic help. Hopefully some of you can shed some light on some (apparently) electrical-related things.

I'm in the process of buying a house. I suspect parts or even all of it will need a rewire. The sockets and plates I've come across fall into four categories:

1. Round-prong, probably disconnected

2. Square-prong, old but probably working

3. Modern, likely 80s or 90s; and

4. WTF is that?!

Here are the 2 WTF things I need help identifying. The strange thing on the wall above a fireplace, and the one on the far left of the image showing 3 separate points. All help gratefully recieved.

post-4105-0-60772100-1348351090_thumb.jp

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I was an electrician 1968-1975.

The location of the first gives it away as an electric clock point.

Cant make out te seconds size. Could be a round 15 amp socket or a 2amp lighting socket if smaller.

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Thank you! You have no idea how difficult it is to find this stuff out if you don't know what to call the things in the first place. Can't work out if wiring was more or less complicated back then, what with multiple points and changing prong shapes...

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Old outlet that one on the skirting board....Best advice I can give as an old retired electrician, is hire a qualified electrician to do a thorough examination of the house electrics, and give you a report.

Chances are, last time the place was wired was well over 30 years back...

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What area is the house?

Even your survey that you pay for will not examine your wiring in detail.

They will recommend you consult a qualified electrician. Your solicitor will ask for an electrical safety certificate.

It could be that you have more recent wiring and some old points have been left to avoid redecorating.

However you should use this to your advantage re price :)

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Look at the fuseboard.

Is it old rewirable fuses?

It needs RCD's. (circuit breakers)

Rewiring, if required, will require much plastering and redecorating.

It would be possible that the circuits can be tested from the mains, and be perfectly ok as far as insulation and earthing are concerned.

Its easy to replace plugs etc. Its the wiring that involves work and disturbance.

When was the house last rewired?

Looking at your second picture, are the live and neutral pins oblong and at 45 degrees, with a round earth pin?

Never seen one like that?

Might be woth summat on eBay?

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Looks like an old house Mick, I recall those old round pin outlets when I was a kid, which points to the 1950's, if so some of the wiring could well be old VIR cables which could well megger Infin but be in a shocking state.

Best thing she could do is employ an electrician and have a whole house wiring survey.

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Thank you so much, everyone! Yep, it's a 1950s house in a little Welsh village. We suspect these sockets have all been disconnected as there are sockets for modern plugs (even 90s-style modern in places, which means the wiring must have been extended if not updated) as well as the very old ones.

My Dad (fortunately) has been wiring and rewiring houses for a good couple of decades and has been kind enough to offer to sort it out for us, but as he lives 4 hours away I'm taking lots of pics and trying to do a bit of the legwork so we can calculate some of our costs well in advance.

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On the picture with three outlets, the one on the left is possibly an old telephone jack, and I think the one on the right is for a TV aerial (coax) or possibly a Rediffusion outlet (remember them?). The one in the middle is an old mains socket.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Oh god... faulty valve on a radiator = raining in our new house :( Two ruined carpets, one ceiling perhaps damaged... one expense we didn't need! Any advice gratefully received.

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You can try tightening it, but it probably needs the system draining down, and the valve removing.

One side is a lock valve that is either on or off, the other is a manual valve that you can turn on and of.

If you are going to drain down and replace the valve ensure you replace the manual valve for a TRV thermostatic valve for effriciency.

Replacements from Scewfix.

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  • 1 month later...

Going to have to put you right there Mick. Not lock valve, but lock shield valve. The lock shield valve is fully adjustable and is used to control the amount of water flowing through the radiator, thus sharing out the available hot water to all radiators. The lock bit refers to the cap on the valve which is supposed to prevent tampering.

When ever you need to turn a lock shield valve off count the number of turns required and always open it by using the same number of turns. Otherwise you may get one rad cold and one blazing hot.

Colin

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