Highly Unusual Doubled Up Earthing Wires on UK Domestic Installation 5

[gwolf2]

I have recently bought a 1960's bungalow in the UK which has a highly unusual (but probably safe) 240v electrical wiring arrangement. I thought I'd check with some experts before ripping 50% of it out. I have had no luck polling local electricians who either don't know or don't want to get involved. I have an electrical inspection certificate from 2013 but that electrician is no longer around. It's an interesting case so please read on.

Basically the house has a HUGE secondary earthing circuit independent of the normal 3 core ring main. It seems to be applied to everything but the lighting circuits (although I may simply not have found those wires yet). Every wall outlet socket has the normal 3 core ring main including earth AND a second independent earth wire which leads up into the loft and is attached to two 6ft long 2 inch x 1/4 inch copper bus-bars mounted on the roof beams. All meticulously executed and labelled. Furthermore every piece of water and gas pipe in every room has the same. The wires are fairly high capacity, of the order of 6-10 mm^2 cross section and there are about 40 connected by large bolts to the bus-bar. There are also 4 large wires of the order of 10mm^2 bolted to a copper plate in the floor near the incoming meter. Wow.

My gut feeling is that the previous owner (a now deceased ex Marconi worker) was a bit odd and/or had once had a bad experience with electricity. Maybe he was trying to create some sort of Faraday cage to protect his mind from cosmic rays or cold war death rays? I noticed an Ethernet connection in the spacious but otherwise basic loft which would be slightly unusual for a retiree of that generation. It is rumoured by neighbours that he used to have a lot of computers up there and 'worked from home', which I find highly unlikely. Maybe he needed an exceptionally clean or stable electrical supply for something? I have not yet found any high powered supply wires to the loft or anywhere else to indicate high power kit he may have been running.

Anyway. Has anyone seen anything like this before, for which there may be a legitimate reason, and which might still be applicable to the property?

All comments welcome before I gradually remove all of these extra earths.

Regards,

Gwolf

 

[gwolf2]

Noted. I may have to pay for the tests but if the problem is 'south' of my meter the fix may be free. Sigh. Yet another dependency. The drive and front garden update will have to wait in case of digging. Fantastic to know these potential issues up front. D

 

[gwolf2]

Epilogue.

I have a highly competent and forensically minded electrician in (He is a semi retired 'Physics Major' in American parlance). On a scale of 1 (very good) to 8 (very bad and must be corrected) my house to the substation earth scored a 2.5. The secondary system was all utter nonsense. We mapped the house system last week and he tested the rest today. He has removed the extra earth, is now adding some nice extras to the house and he and/or I will pull out the remainder of the old secondary earth system as we go along.

Madness over.

Many thanks to all on this thread.

Gwolf (David)

 

[itsmoked]

Thanks much David for the followup. We all like them.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[ScottyUK]

Make sure you drop one of the 10mm² bonds onto the incoming gas and another onto the incoming water main. They're actually required by the big yellow book. I'm sure your electrician will know this in better detail than me: I absolutely hate doing domestic works - 'Housebashing' in the trade parlance. It's a tough way to make a living these days because it's very competitive and most customers would rather pay for a cheap job than a good job which means the good guys either drop their standards or go out of business. It's a race to the bottom quality-wise, and the 'Part P' registration for domestic works isn't work the paper it's written on judging by the quality of work some registered electricians turn out.

Rant over!

 

[gwolf2]

Yes two of the four enormous earth's coming down from the loft were connected to gas and water pipes and have been slightly changed but essentially retained and refitted.

 

[gwolf2]

The extra earth hammered into the ground next to the mains feed has gone, the ground connection to the original sheath was fine.