Not happy with Electrical Wiring

[halfmoonforever]

Hi, so I'm busy installing newer plugs and light switches, and I'm not happy with how the wiring was done in my ground floor unit. Some wires twist together going into a socket, and testing it, found that it's required for one half of the lights and/or plugs to work, which is annoying and bulky and ugly.

Would it be worth my time to have an electrician literally rewire the entire place to do a much neater job? What would something like that even cost?

TIA!

 

[Sinbad]

Get a quote for the full rewiring, then pick your jaw up off the floor and live with what works.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Hi, so I'm busy installing newer plugs and light switches, and I'm not happy with how the wiring was done in my ground floor unit. Some wires twist together going into a socket, and testing it, found that it's required for one half of the lights and/or plugs to work, which is annoying and bulky and ugly.

Would it be worth my time to have an electrician literally rewire the entire place to do a much neater job? What would something like that even cost?

TIA!

What would you mean twist together?

If you find a good electrician and get him to quote upfront it might actually not be that bad. Chances are that you might not be compliant anyway and you would have to fix it at some point in time.

For the longest time I was reluctant to replace our plastic water-pipes in the roof with copper (as people said that this will cost 10's of thousands of Rand) - finally called a plumber to give me a quote and it worked out to 5K. I think rewiring of a floor could cost a good 20K. Your biggest challenge would be if you are not able to pull new wiring in (because of walls/foundation shifted and crushing the conduits) - then it will become expensive and very difficult to predict upfront.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Hi, so I'm busy installing newer plugs and light switches, and I'm not happy with how the wiring was done in my ground floor unit. Some wires twist together going into a socket, and testing it, found that it's required for one half of the lights and/or plugs to work, which is annoying and bulky and ugly.

Would it be worth my time to have an electrician literally rewire the entire place to do a much neater job? What would something like that even cost?

TIA!

2 bedroom place, and making the assumption that its a multistory unit. I would assume the cost to rewire would be anywhere from R20k to R40k.

 

[halfmoonforever]

Thanks guys, I actually might do the whole rewiring so I can get an additional plug installed by the bathroom (within regulations, Zone 3 is allowed a plug) and at the same time renovate the bathroom to fit within my life. Don't plan on selling it for at least the next 15 years so doing what suits me right now.

Thanks again for the input

 

[ToxicBunny]

You shouldn't need to rewire for the additional plugs ... I would honestly use that money in other renovations

 

[thehuman]

Older houses was jump wired from socket to socket.

 

[Drake2007]

Hi, so I'm busy installing newer plugs and light switches, and I'm not happy with how the wiring was done in my ground floor unit. Some wires twist together going into a socket, and testing it, found that it's required for one half of the lights and/or plugs to work, which is annoying and bulky and ugly.

Would it be worth my time to have an electrician literally rewire the entire place to do a much neater job? What would something like that even cost?

TIA!

That is standard practice!

The only stipulation is 5 plugs per circuit. ( double plugs count as 2 so 2 doubles and 1 single). So bridging from plug to plug is limited to that amount. Also the neutral is bridged in your light circuit, that is also Standard practice.


Alternatively all those seperate plugs and lights wires going into your DB board instead would be another unholy mess it itself.

Live with it.

Oh no, wait, get an electrician to Quote you. He will see you coming from a mile away and literally fall over laughing and crawling all the way to the bank.

 

[ArmatageShanks]

That is standard practice!

The only stipulation is 5 plugs per circuit. ( double plugs count as 2 so 2 doubles and 1 single). So bridging from plug to plug is limited to that amount. Also the neutral is bridged in your light circuit, that is also Standard practice.


Alternatively all those seperate plugs and lights wires going into your DB board instead would be another unholy mess it itself.

Live with it.

Oh no, wait, get an electrician to Quote you. He will see you coming from a mile away and literally fall over laughing and crawling all the way to the bank.

Standard Practice it might be, corruption is also standard practice, doesn't make it right.

 

[Billy]

That is standard practice!

The only stipulation is 5 plugs per circuit. ( double plugs count as 2 so 2 doubles and 1 single). So bridging from plug to plug is limited to that amount. Also the neutral is bridged in your light circuit, that is also Standard practice.


Alternatively all those seperate plugs and lights wires going into your DB board instead would be another unholy mess it itself.

Live with it.

Oh no, wait, get an electrician to Quote you. He will see you coming from a mile away and literally fall over laughing and crawling all the way to the bank.

This topic would seem to disagree. https://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/437373-Max-plug-sockets-per-breaker

I cannot recall a limit, and it is too early to dig out the Wiring regs to check. If you think that the limit is 5 sockets, how about a quote from the regulation?

I have now had time to check, and can not find any limit to the number of sockets on a circuit. If I remember correctly, a previous edition of the regulations limited the circuit to a maximum of two rooms, that has now been discarded.

 

[Former member 61586]

Standard Practice it might be, corruption is also standard practice, doesn't make it right.

Lots of things are not right. But they happen nonetheless. Its the way the world works. Electrician will see this guy coming and milk him for all he is worth.

 

[bromster]

I did this in my 4 bed house. I got 2 guys at 900 per day. (450ea)

They stripped everything out and rewired the whole house including new conduits in the roof and moving my db board. So far, I'm in for about 12 days at R10800 and there is maybe a day or 2 of work remaining. Moving your prepaid meter is also a pain and extra money.

Keep in mind that this is just labour. I bought all of the wires, boxes, breakers etc. I also had a clear vision of what I wanted where and I stayed on top of them as much as possible to prevent them from dragging their feet. I had already done all of the chasing for new plug points etc before they arrived. Do this if possible because they hate it and waste a whole day on it.

 

[envo]

I'm surprised at how many people think it's standard practice to push two separate wires into 1 socket and if one doesn't connect, so half of the house loses power? Also, fire hazard. But yea "standard practice" I guess, lol. Definitely not standard.

 

[Geoff.D]

Its not against standards either to lead one socket off another.

And in my home built a long time ago, the CBs for the plugs are all 30A not 20A and there are far more than 5 per CB.

 

[Sinbad]

I'm surprised at how many people think it's standard practice to push two separate wires into 1 socket and if one doesn't connect, so half of the house loses power? Also, fire hazard. But yea "standard practice" I guess, lol. Definitely not standard.

Just about every socket I've ever opened has had something like that done in it.
Hell, until recently wires were joined with these:

and probably still are.

 

[Geoff.D]

Just about every socket I've ever opened has had something like that done in it.
Hell, until recently wires were joined with these:
View attachment 421264
and probably still are.

Still legal and in use, although all the older ones were white. Some electricians swear by them stating that they are much more reliable than the fancy new connector blocks.

 

[Geoff.D]

I "rewired" my place myself when I installed a complete emergency power distribution system. Some days I asked myself what the hell possessed me to even have started with the exercise.

I have recently seen some "professional work" done on a place my daughter bought in Centurion. The "work" done was to be able to get the CoC. The quality is absolutely disgusting. In line joints in conduits to extend wire. The wrong gauge of wire used to do the extensions. All just to be able to have "isolators" at remote power points.

 

[Oopsie]

Only an electrician with a "Wire man's Licence" can rewire your house legally. You cannot do so yourself. If you do, the electrician must re check all re wiring for connections and wire gauge.

 

[Sinbad]

Only an electrician with a "Wire man's Licence" can rewire your house legally. You cannot do so yourself. If you do, the electrician must re check all re wiring for connections and wire gauge.

So you can rewire it yourself. You just need a CoC from a qualified sparky

 

[Gazzacpt]

So you can rewire it yourself. You just need a CoC from a qualified sparky

Pretty much. If you don't know a sparky they will charge you properly for that CoC.
On a side note when my brother moved in to his house a sparky had done 10k's worth of work to bring the electrics up to regs and issue a CoC as required to by law when buying/selling a house. ( paid for by previous owner) I spent the next few days fixing things that were not within regs. Junction boxes left open, sockets only held in with one screw, more than 3 wires joined with a con block, proper dodgy earth links, and the list goes on. When we did practicals back in the day you literally had to use a set square to do your DB wire bends and cable management inside the DB was a must. I do some work for family and friends and some of the boards I come across are a nightmare but a CoC has been issued.