Hi all, this is my first post so go easy on me!
Now, this may be a really stupid question, but if I don't ask then it'll just bug me.
I have recently been doing some general decorating in the kitchen and before I go too far, I want to have the wiring checked over. It looks pretty old to me. It appears to be a radial circuit with a branch. The cable leaves the CU and then goes to a JB. One branch from this JB then goes to two double sockets at one side of the kitchen, and the other branch supplies a double socket and combi boiler (with a 3a fused switch) at the other side of the kitchen. The circuit breaker is 16amp. The problem is that I occasionally get nuisance tripping (16a ain't a lot for a kitchen!).
So my question is, is this layout ok? I am considering upping to a 32a breaker but I know I can't if I don't have the right cable in place. The problem I'm having is being sure what the cable is. It's red & black and is much thicker than 2.5mm T&E. The live and neutral consist of 7 twisted wires each whilst the earth is solid and not much thicker than one of the strands from the other cables. It seems that it is much beefier than 2.5mm that feeds the ring finals in the house. Is this 4mm cable? My dad (a retired gas fitter) has had a look at it and says it could be old Imperial cable.
On an unrelated issue....is it acceptable for a ring main to span two floors of a house (2 bedrooms plus as loft conversion), so long as the max. floor space and cable lengths are not exceeded?
Now, this may be a really stupid question, but if I don't ask then it'll just bug me.
I have recently been doing some general decorating in the kitchen and before I go too far, I want to have the wiring checked over. It looks pretty old to me. It appears to be a radial circuit with a branch. The cable leaves the CU and then goes to a JB. One branch from this JB then goes to two double sockets at one side of the kitchen, and the other branch supplies a double socket and combi boiler (with a 3a fused switch) at the other side of the kitchen. The circuit breaker is 16amp. The problem is that I occasionally get nuisance tripping (16a ain't a lot for a kitchen!).
So my question is, is this layout ok? I am considering upping to a 32a breaker but I know I can't if I don't have the right cable in place. The problem I'm having is being sure what the cable is. It's red & black and is much thicker than 2.5mm T&E. The live and neutral consist of 7 twisted wires each whilst the earth is solid and not much thicker than one of the strands from the other cables. It seems that it is much beefier than 2.5mm that feeds the ring finals in the house. Is this 4mm cable? My dad (a retired gas fitter) has had a look at it and says it could be old Imperial cable.
On an unrelated issue....is it acceptable for a ring main to span two floors of a house (2 bedrooms plus as loft conversion), so long as the max. floor space and cable lengths are not exceeded?