Retired
Well-known member
Hi,
Many thanks for your suggestions Sidewinder which make a lot of sense; Having a socket that could be used whilst the ring is isolated would be good but I'm concerned about a future owner of our bungalow in years to come; if the owner is a novice to all things electrical then in this instance perhaps would think isolating the sockets in the kitchen could be done at just one mcb when in fact two circuits are involved; I know I'm very picky and I know how to test for live but not everybody does; I'm possibly making a big issue of this but when I isolate sockets in a room I like to know they are all isolated. However much safety is introduced someone will bypass it?
Thanks roys; I go back to the sixties when kids couldn't afford new cycles so cycles were made up of whatever could be scrounged; the first ever cycle I rode was in a pit yard on tarmac; my chums and I had found this cycle; it had wheels but no tyres and no drive the chain missing; we would push it up the pit yard and whiz back down making a heck of a lot of noise dragging our feet as brakes which did our shoes a power of good; whip and top plus skipping rope was the high fashion of toys assuming parents could afford them; I well remember when food was a luxury; we only had gas and water until electricity was brought in; I sure am a dinosaur and can vividly remember how tough our lives were in those days but surprisingly people smiled and rubbed along well together; kids played out until dark and our door was never locked; what a revelation Radio Luxembourg was and of course no mobile phones in fact no land lines either; very few owned a car and we could play in the middle of the road apart from the odd bus.
I enjoy woodworking and the furniture I make is made out of proper materials with proper joints unlike the flat pack stuff so loved these days; our hardwood kitchen is made of mostly offcuts but will never age it being stained and varnished in the traditional manner; I still live in the past when high quality came before profit and this is reflected these days as we compare machinery; companies like Wadkin and Dominion made very heavy cast iron machinery designed for decades of daily use with minimal maintenance and not a circuit board in sight; now its all CNC and electronics; of course CNC has brought huge benefits in speed when it comes to long production runs but how many these days can turn a one off on a lathe to fine tolerances; looking at some of the youngsters I see on TV these days it baffles me how they manage to get out of bed unaided. When I see tradespeople along our street I wonder how they ever get any work done because both hands are fully occupied with mobile phone and cigarette; our neighbours have tree surgeons in this morning who were sitting in their vehicle smoking which makes a change from wandering around with mobile phone welded to their ear? Yes I'm old fashioned but I'd be the useful one on a desert island after a ship wreck.
Back to the plot though; I've had a frustrating morning with this single socket in the kitchen so I'm going about this job the wrong way; my intention was to get everything ready for replacing the CU but I think the best way forward is to install the new CU then take my time with all the circuits; everything is working fine as it is; I'm trying too hard to do everything at once whilst working on my own. After dinner I'll drill the new CU for the new glands adding spare glands whilst access is so good; I think the knockouts are 32mm and 20mm but I need to install 25mm glands which are the Wiska ones accepting double cables. It's better than being bored.
Kind regards, Colin.
Many thanks for your suggestions Sidewinder which make a lot of sense; Having a socket that could be used whilst the ring is isolated would be good but I'm concerned about a future owner of our bungalow in years to come; if the owner is a novice to all things electrical then in this instance perhaps would think isolating the sockets in the kitchen could be done at just one mcb when in fact two circuits are involved; I know I'm very picky and I know how to test for live but not everybody does; I'm possibly making a big issue of this but when I isolate sockets in a room I like to know they are all isolated. However much safety is introduced someone will bypass it?
Thanks roys; I go back to the sixties when kids couldn't afford new cycles so cycles were made up of whatever could be scrounged; the first ever cycle I rode was in a pit yard on tarmac; my chums and I had found this cycle; it had wheels but no tyres and no drive the chain missing; we would push it up the pit yard and whiz back down making a heck of a lot of noise dragging our feet as brakes which did our shoes a power of good; whip and top plus skipping rope was the high fashion of toys assuming parents could afford them; I well remember when food was a luxury; we only had gas and water until electricity was brought in; I sure am a dinosaur and can vividly remember how tough our lives were in those days but surprisingly people smiled and rubbed along well together; kids played out until dark and our door was never locked; what a revelation Radio Luxembourg was and of course no mobile phones in fact no land lines either; very few owned a car and we could play in the middle of the road apart from the odd bus.
I enjoy woodworking and the furniture I make is made out of proper materials with proper joints unlike the flat pack stuff so loved these days; our hardwood kitchen is made of mostly offcuts but will never age it being stained and varnished in the traditional manner; I still live in the past when high quality came before profit and this is reflected these days as we compare machinery; companies like Wadkin and Dominion made very heavy cast iron machinery designed for decades of daily use with minimal maintenance and not a circuit board in sight; now its all CNC and electronics; of course CNC has brought huge benefits in speed when it comes to long production runs but how many these days can turn a one off on a lathe to fine tolerances; looking at some of the youngsters I see on TV these days it baffles me how they manage to get out of bed unaided. When I see tradespeople along our street I wonder how they ever get any work done because both hands are fully occupied with mobile phone and cigarette; our neighbours have tree surgeons in this morning who were sitting in their vehicle smoking which makes a change from wandering around with mobile phone welded to their ear? Yes I'm old fashioned but I'd be the useful one on a desert island after a ship wreck.
Back to the plot though; I've had a frustrating morning with this single socket in the kitchen so I'm going about this job the wrong way; my intention was to get everything ready for replacing the CU but I think the best way forward is to install the new CU then take my time with all the circuits; everything is working fine as it is; I'm trying too hard to do everything at once whilst working on my own. After dinner I'll drill the new CU for the new glands adding spare glands whilst access is so good; I think the knockouts are 32mm and 20mm but I need to install 25mm glands which are the Wiska ones accepting double cables. It's better than being bored.
Kind regards, Colin.
