No earth wire!

[Dave A]

We're finding a lot of this - no earth wire!
Mostly in light circuits, but every now and then...



Who needs an earth wire to a socket outlet?

Or even the geyser (as long as it's bonded to something, right?)



Just an earth line between the geyser earth point and the water pipes - I kid you not.

Pretty tempted to hunt down whoever issued the COC for the original installation on this one.

[AndyD]

The socket looks like DIY, either that or a complete tosser. They've used a surface mount backbox in a flush mounted installation and it looks like they might have used singles house-wire buried straight in the plaster. Also there's no screws holding the backbox in place, they must have just plastered around it and the cable entry hole looks like it was made with a kitchen knife or something similar.

The geyser also looks like housewire buried in the plaster and no sign whatsoever of an earth wire in the supply and is that a tape joint shortly after it comes out of the wall? Isolator....nahhh why bother. Geyser tray as per regs......nahhh also obviously not necessary. That bonding wire ring terminal looks like it was fitted with a hammer and chisel which in itself is no mean feat with a 4mm lug.

Okay, enough commentary, now lets get down to the serious business of the scoring.

Category 1, Aesthetics.
The missing isolator and earth wiring give the installation a minimalist feel which is very fashionable at present. Look I'll grant you he's no Frank Stella or Yves Klein but the clean lines and lack of clutter by leaving the earth out of that socket is giving the nod toward the cubist movement and their complete rejection of inherited rules and values so, for a delicate combination of art, philosophy and electrical installation I'm giving him a 9 in this category.

Category 2, Danger.
Housewire buried in shallow plaster, complete lack of CPC's...not just unconnected....completely not there at all, tape joint and no isolator are all elements of a complete symphony that gets the heart racing and really delivers from beginning to end. From a danger point of view this little offering packs a punches way above its weight and leaves you begging for more so it's an 8 from me.

Category 3, Overall Message.
Overall the set up shows a strong and unyielding middle finger to all things health and safety. Whilst the highly visible dangling earth wire was a nice touch and the in line tape joint is always a crowd-pleaser I'd have preferred that some of the other little gems were generally more visible to casual observers without the 'use of a tool'. The fact that they're all concealed in a backbox or above a bulkhead ceiling in this particular case kinda dilutes the H&S 'fuck-you' somewhat; hence the less than perfect score in this category. Only a 7 from me I'm afraid.

Conclusions.
Overall score of 8/10 is very respectable, great effort and not without style and a certain bravado. Definitely an installer to look out for in future as I can only see great things coming from here on in.

[tec0]

that is nothing.... LOL

I wish i had a camera back in the day... in my days as contractor i saw a electrician using a hammer drill hammered a cavity placed the wire "normal electrical wire that you will find on a toaster" into the cavity running from the ground the roof. Now i don't know how it was connected up there but i recall he just plastered over the electrical wire.

[kosmonooit]

At a site I was doing LED conversions at (and had to crawl in the ceiling) I found that some random Air Con installers had connected their power cable to a random Plug circuits and diverted the ECC there, so the Earth did not go to the plugs! Generally wiring in ceilings is such a mess, security and CCTV installers add to the havoc - bad practices, no training, no supervision, ...?

In terms of lights, fittings do not need to be earthed if they meet certain conditions, one being out of arms reach from the floor,

[AndyD]

........In terms of lights, fittings do not need to be earthed if they meet certain conditions, one being out of arms reach from the floor,

Can you give the appropriate regulation to back that up please?

[kosmonooit]

Can you give the appropriate regulation to back that up please?

SANS 10142

6.12.3.2 The following conductive parts do not need to be earthed:

b) exposed conductive parts of fixed electrical equipment that are
1) out of arm's reach from the floor (or walking) level,
2) out of arm's reach from a structure that is bonded to earth, and
3) not exposed to the weather or to the condensation, dripping,
splashing or accumulation of water, and
4) not touching a conductive surface;

and/or

6.14.4 Lamp holders
6.14.4.1 A lamp holder shall be shrouded in insulating material or shall
be earthed, unless it is simultaneously
a) out of arm's reach from the floor or walkway level,
b) out of arm's reach from a structure that is bonded to earth,
c) protected from the weather and the splashing, dripping, or accumulation
of water, and
d) not touching a conductive surface.

[AndyD]

Would you call this a lamp holder; or this?

[kosmonooit]

Its a luminary and if its out of arms reach from the floor & structure bonded to earth, protected from weather / splashing etc and not touching a conductive surface it does not need to be earthed.

[bergie]

out of arms reach from your scaffolding or steel ladder. lol
that rule should have been taken out long ago. i fail everything not earthed properly regardless of what the book says.

[bergie]

category 4: speed of installation

save on labour costs 9/10