New wiring regs

[ProDave]

 

[Andy™]

i wish that was true. it would be the only sensible change, none of this you need arc fault lettuced

 

[Dairyspark]

April fools? Haha

 

[Lurch]

I would officially be the happiest person on the planet (briefly) if this actually happened.

 

[apprentice87]

Proper wiring colours would make britain great again.. It would be a great start!! Next thing would be to bring back the "proper" money.. All the foreigners would clear off, as they have not the intellect to understand it. [certain northern europeans excepted!]

If only it would happen.... [Oh, nearly forgot, and bring back proper petrol too..]

john..

 

[Tony S]

Since I started we’ve had:

Red White Blue Black

Red Yellow Blue Black

Brown Black Grey Blue

Let’s go for:

Pink Orange Green Purple

 

[Lurch]

Let’s go for:

Pink Orange Green Purple

I would rather that than brown black grey.

 

[Tony S]

Try working in a murky coal plant or in a foundry where everything is covered in black/grey shyte, the new harmonised colours are a death trap.

Unfortunately Brexit doesn’t mean leaving the IEC. Many UK electricians would be more than happy if we put two fingers up to the IEC.

 

[Andy™]

same in a dark cupboard / loft, expecially on some cables where you have dark brown, black & dark grey

 

[Lurch]

expecially on some cables where you have dark brown, black & dark grey

Or a crappy cable where they are all dark, or the black is really light. The colour change is still pretty much the top reason I don't like being an electrician any more.

 

[Blue Duck]

Or a crappy cable where they are all dark, or the black is really light. The colour change is still pretty much the top reason I don't like being an electrician any more.

Go work for the DNO, they saw that using brown/ black /grey wasn't a good idea when trying to identify cables at the bottom of a muddy hole so they stuck to the old colours.

 

[Murdoch]

Why did we drop using red?

 

[Tony S]

Why did we drop using red?

Blame the IEC

Red, Yellow, Blue and Black were obvious even in low light.

Our problem is the IET kowtowing to the IEC instead of defending our interests.

 

[Andy™]

Why did we drop using red?

electricity suddenly got made safer, so 'red for danger' was no longer appropriate

 

[phil d]

I remember when flexes went from red, black and green, to brown ,blue, green/yellow. The idea being that even in poor light the lightest was always earth and the darkest always live, I hate the new colours and still think of them as red, yellow and blue in my head. Plus there seems to be a variation on what gets used for what, some take it as Brown l1, Black l2 and Grey as l3, others take it as Brown l1 Grey l2 and Black as l3, even worse on single phase, some us brown as permanent live black as switched live and grey as neutral, others use grey as switched live and black as neutral. Bring back the old colours, we all knew where we stood with them.

 

[Tony S]

Miss Sweden may be able to confirm this, I’m pretty sure the DNO’s still use RYB due to all the legacy equipment on their networks.

 

[phil d]

Miss Sweden may be able to confirm this, I’m pretty sure the DNO’s still use RYB due to all the legacy equipment on their networks.

Around here we have what is known as "the liverpool cross", apparently many years ago there was a cock up made and somehow on the old red, white, blue and black, the white ended up being used as neutral. I was only made aware of this when I was on a job and the DNO were working there also, one was telling me about this and apparently they'd had situations where houses had been connected up using 2 phases rather than phase and neutral. In some area's they insist on you having your own electrician present when they do any work, one factory I was working in and they were changing the supply cable, they did their tests to confirm correct phasing/polarity, then insisted that I repeated the tests and signed a document saying the work was correct.

Apparently this came about after the "Liverpool cross" had caused some very expensive issues at a large factory, when I asked their engineer what would have happened had I not been there at the time he replied "we'd have left the supply off until you could attend and verify correct connection"

 

[Tony S]

The red/blue crossed phases in Mid Cheshire and Merseyside are down to ICI’s Western Point power station. Most of their plants run RBY. Our power station was the same, when we connected to the grid YB had to be swapped.

In a fit of pure genius the works electrical engineer decided three new plants should be RYB phase rotation. OK while they were islanded but supplies soon started to cross in to other areas and chaos followed.

 

[Sharpend]

Well there you have it folks, even when electricians were deemed as professional technical tradesmen, there was alwsys a 5ww lurking in the shadows ready to throw a curve ball into any given situation and we're surprised that they grown in numbers!!!

 

[sprocketflup]

Proper wiring colours would make britain great again.. It would be a great start!! Next thing would be to bring back the "proper" money.. All the foreigners would clear off, as they have not the intellect to understand it. [certain northern europeans excepted!]

If only it would happen.... [Oh, nearly forgot, and bring back proper petrol too..]

john..

By 'proper money' are you referring to the old pounds, shillings and pence lark?

I was born a month before decimalisation, Ive had it patiently explained to me a hundred times and I still don't get it. It makes as much sense as the scoring system in cricket, i.e. none at all.