Pics of a service cable (TNS)

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

I have been meaning to post these pics of a lead sheathed service cable for a while now, circa 1965 but with a newer earth connection. This one was TNS. These pics are the end section that would have been connected to the service cut out (head).

1st pic is a overview. The service fuse was connected to the right hand top cable & the neutral to the left hand top cable. Bottom would have gone into the ground.

Next pic is a view of the cut off end showing the concentric construction. Cable appears to be 25mm which is unusually large for a domestic as this service had 2 X 100A service fuses connected

This pic is of the cut off end that i stripped back to show the lead sheath and the oiled paper insulation

Last pic is of a constant spring earth clip onto the lead sheath that replaced the older soldered joins.

A TNCS cable end would be the same except no lead sheath. The earth would be connected to the neutral in the service head.

 

[russ9898]

Saw alot of supply cables when i was periodic testing up sheffield in the council houses. I was suprised how many are still in service. Getting on for 50 years old now

 

[batty]

well my house was built early 50's and still has the same service cable although they have recently replaced the head because the fuse was stuck so it needed replacing when meter needed changing. One or two down my road have had cable failures but thats not bad when cabling is 60 years old.

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

Saw alot of supply cables when i was periodic testing up sheffield in the council houses. I was suprised how many are still in service. Getting on for 50 years old now

Yes indeed, baring in mind without them the houses would have no electricity ; \

 

[steptoe]

nice pix slips.

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 00:03 ---------- Previous post was made at 00:02 ----------

just wondering,

following on from my arrangements post,

could we get some pix of supply cables up too.?

 

[russ9898]

Yes indeed, baring in mind without them the houses would have no electricity ; \

Oops meant paper lead supply cables majority of the council houses i work in in stoke have fairly new supply cables. (20years max id say)

 

[Badger]

i personally think the dno suppliers should make it their responsibilty to replace cables to properties every 30 years max!

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

i personally think the dno suppliers should make it their responsibilty to replace cables to properties every 30 years max!

So you would not mind putting up with all the disruption from roadworks or paying for the work in higher bills ?

 

[Badger]

well there are ways they could do it using a ducting system, feed cable through, the duct and connect up job done!!

 

[russ9898]

Agree with badger there. Generally a domestic property is recomended around the 30 year mark as apparently this is the life expectancy of pvc.

Your not telling me a supply cable which is evposed to the elements should just be left in until it fails. Never right!

Inspection pit at the end of every drive with a duct to the household meter box/entry point to property. Could tap of the main service cable in the inspection pit to the property. Could also have tncs/pme earth spike located in the inspection pits.

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

Sounds good but the cables appear better off buried than in pits & ducts. I had a 3 phase service alteration done last Friday had a long chat with the jointer whom seemed quite knowledgeable. He said he was far happier working with the old lead sheath and oiled paper cables than Pvc. He showed me how dense the paper insulation was that you could not push a screwdriver through, but could on the new pvc. I was surprised the removed cable, fitted in the 1930's was only about 4mm and had 100A per phase running on it. This he said was ok as the buried paper and lead easily dissipated any heat .

I asked him about the BS951 clamp fitted here & on most others in N London (see other thread) and he replied it was standard practice for years as they were not allowed a flame to solder a cable on in the customers property. He cut open the one removed and it was perfect inside under the clamp. He & i recon its impossible for a 951 clamp to short out a cable if left untouched. The only way that could happen is if the cable is disturbed

 

[steptoe]

guys, I think if money is no object then the DNO will deffo replace your cable,

but,

are you the same people complain when they ask for 2.5K to move a HED?

why fix something that isnt broke?

do you insist that every PIR you do that is 25/30 years old is rewired?

 

[russ9898]

do you insist that every PIR you do that is 25/30 years old is rewired?

Bloody well do. Got to make a living somehow. (only kidding....i work for a company on a fixed salary its not in my interest to create work for myself )

 

[Sidewinder]

russ,

Actually it is in your interest to generate work for the company, however not at the expense of its reputation.

If you generated a real value added days work per month to the company books as did all your colleagues, (I obviously don't know the size of the co.) then think of the increase in business, and thus the increased job security.

I had people who worked for me who would not try to upsell, or generate any additional work, it was left to others to do this, thing was the others also had thigns to do and were left being snowed under with work that no one else would do.

In the end the company failed as those were the key players in the organisation and they were left to do all the petty things as well as find all the jobs for everyone.

Think about it for a minute.

 

[Evans Electric]

Hey Slippery , that cable is quite normal for most of Birmingham TBH . We call it an STA cable (Steel Tape Armour) The cast joints are rusting away in the ground and the plumbed earth on the lead sheaths are failing , no one is aware of this until a sparky happens to go there for whatever reason and do a Ze .

Informing the DNO is usually a waste of time , the last conversation went as follows :-

" I've been to two houses in this road and the earth connection is no good in either, the same could be the same for the rest of the road, any chance of getting a PME done?"

"We don't do that in that area , you need to get an electrician in"

" They did, its me, and I never said what area this is, can I speak to an engineer?"

" No we don't allow that , you must get your own electrician if you have a problem "

Since the network was sold off ( it was the MEB) many foriegn companies have taken over , I think when they see the state of the network and how much upgrading needs to be done , they sell out . I think theres been French , American and German firms , no one knows who they are dealing with .

 

[batty]

I think EDF is owned by the chinese now.

 

[russ9898]

Hi Sidewinder,

I work for what was the local councils maintenance team. We were taken over by a private company whos name i wont mention approx 3 years ago. (never know whos scouring google)

As a result of this there is ofcourse a limited budget for us to work with, a budget which has got dramatically smaller this year. The company i work for are also increadibly h&s consious which means any job that is high level now costs thousands to complete and not hundreds. Eg we cant change a 500w security light lamp of a pair of ladders we have to errect a tower scaffold. Steps are only to be used on an emergency job , planned work we have to use a podium. I generally do commercial work rather than domestic and im now on a mewp several times a month as opposed to several times a year.

So upselling isnt really an option although if i see something which needs doing i contact the relevent people to seek authorisation to do the work.

My company claim to be tendering for private work but we rarely if ever win any due to our high costs.

So its a fine balance of having enough work to keep us busy but not too much that we suck the budget dry.

 

[Sidewinder]

Ahh I see lightly different situation!

Though spotting anything additional outside the normal contract could help?

All in all a pretty unique scenario!