Substantial re-wiring 21 years after electrics were installed - unusual?

[Question]

We had a electrics conditions report done a few weeks ago and were told that we need to change the wiring for four rooms.  (It is a five bedroom house). The whole house was re-wired 21 years ago and we got an NIC EIC installation certificate.   We have not noticed any problems with the electrics.

 

Is this unusual?  I thought wiring lasted a lot longer?

[jayc89]

Regs change that often you're never "good" for that long. IIRC, the general recommendation is a rewire every 30 years.

[ProDave]

STOP.  Get a second opinion from a different electrician.

 

I would be VERY surprised if a 21 year old install needs rewiring.  Care to say EXACTLY what was said on the EICR.

 

Unless the original wiring was a shoddy or substandard job, themost I would expect is to be recommending a new consumer unit.  Even that is debatable.

[TonyT]

21 years ago we were using red and black cabling, this doesn’t make it unsafe.

 

just needs a sticker on the fuseboard

metal fuseboard

[SteamyTea]

21 years ago was in the 21^st century.  The wiring should be OK.

My house is 35 years old.  Wiring is fine.

Mother's house is getting close to 50 years, apart from a new consumer unit when my Father (an electrical engineer) wanted to add a couple of circuits, everything is original and in good condition.

[ProDave]

There are sadly a lot of electricians that like to over state "faults" in the hope of getting work that is not strictly necessary.  Nothing wrong with red and black cable and plastic consumer units.  I see plenty of old wiring almost daily and it is quite rate to find any cases where the actual cabling is at fault.

[Radian]

16 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

21 years ago was in the 21^st century.

Huh?... err? Oh $#!t  how did I get so old so quick.

 

[Question]

Thanks for your comments. 

 

The electrician said that the resistance between live and neutral (or was it the earth) is too low, and that was the case for all the power sockets and lights in the four rooms.  So he is recommending a full rewiring for those rooms.  Is this sensible?

[SteamyTea]

9 hours ago, Radian said:

Huh?... err? Oh $#!t  how did I get so old so quick.

It is a shocker ain't it.

[ProDave]

9 hours ago, Question said:

Thanks for your comments. 

 

The electrician said that the resistance between live and neutral (or was it the earth) is too low, and that was the case for all the power sockets and lights in the four rooms.  So he is recommending a full rewiring for those rooms.  Is this sensible?

That requires "further investigation"  I would be very surprised if it was the actual cable that was at fault.  More likely is a a faulty socket or light fitting.  The correct procedure is to disconnect all the accessories on each affected circuit and test each leg of the cable.  If it's not a faulty accessory it could be a screw has nicked a cable, in which case that damaged cable would need replacing, but highly unlikely to be the whole lot.

 

If this electrician is incapable of testing it like that and just wants to replace the lot, get a different electrician.

[saveasteading]

6 hours ago, ProDave said:

incapable of testing it like that

I have noticed that some electricians can 'read' a building and forecast where a problem is, and can also use some very complex testing kit.

Others have a bag of screwdrivers, and don't / can't do as above, and don't really understand electricity.

Dare I say, it is shocking.

 

[ProDave]

30 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I have noticed that some electricians can 'read' a building and forecast where a problem is, and can also use some very complex testing kit.

Others have a bag of screwdrivers, and don't / can't do as above, and don't really understand electricity.

Dare I say, it is shocking.

 

And another thing you see is (usually young) electricians trying to give C1 or C2 codes to things that are not really dangerous. like some who code a plastic CU as C2 because it might catch fire.  It was not many years ago these were the norm, and changes to the wiring regs are not retrospective, so arguably you should not be failing an EICR because it does not exactly comply with the present regs.  The worst thing the EIT did a number of years ago was to remove the old C4 code.