Hi, new to the forum and a relative novice with electricals. We live in a rented house with an external gas meter and the earth bond for it was installed by a gas engineer (sometime before we moved in) after a safety check as he wasn't happy that it wasn't earth bonded. He seems to have ran the earth cable pretty much around half of the downstairs before connecting it to the control board and I'm wondering if I can disconnect the cable from the meter in order to re-route it to make it easier to hide and protect it from possible damage. If so would I need to do anything to provide an earth to the meter for the length of time it takes to run the re-route! (I'd expect about 15 mins as I'd do as much prep work for the job as poss before disconnection.) Thanks in advance for any answers you can give.
Earth re-route
- Thread starter Oldgrump
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Does your landlord know your are intending to alter this?
( point of note....(s)he won't have been a Gas "Engineer" although (s)he may well be self titled)
and fiddling with any cable whilst on supply is not a good idea
just saying
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As a landlord I would be LIVID if I thought the tenant was altering the electrical instalation. It is not your house, do not mess with it.
Gas fitters can be funny so and so's and "fail" it if they cannot see an earth bond right next to or in the meter box, yet the regs say it must be bonded within a certain distance of where the pipe enters the property, which sometimes is a long way from the meter box.
It is down to your landlord to sort out any issues between the gas man and the electrician not you.
Gas fitters can be funny so and so's and "fail" it if they cannot see an earth bond right next to or in the meter box, yet the regs say it must be bonded within a certain distance of where the pipe enters the property, which sometimes is a long way from the meter box.
It is down to your landlord to sort out any issues between the gas man and the electrician not you.
Gas engineer is what I was told by the landlord. The way the cable has been run also gives away that it wasn't a sparky that ran it because it runs round the bottom of the stairs and half the hallway before it connects to the electrical board instead of going through the bottom stair. To add to my initial question I have no intention of doing anything without the landlords OK (will most likely run conduit to cover it) I'm just curious as to whether someone who's a novice (I know enough to change a light fitting if one goes) could do it safely.
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In your own home you possibly could do it safely....
BUT... any Landlord expecting a DIY, unqualified person to do any electrical work would be open to "no reasonable defence" should anyone be injured at a later date due to an electrical fault.
I cannot see how a Landlord could possibly stand up in a court and claim they had applied good practice, due diligence in their decisions to allow DIY electrical alterations!
The bottom line is.. will you be issuing any electrical certification or other equivalent documentation to prove the earthing and bonding is in accordance with BS7671 wiring regulations?
If yes.. then go ahead..
If no... then keep your nose clean and stand well back!!!
your landlord has a legal duty to ensure the electrical installation is in a safe condition. allowing DIYers to do their own work will compromise that so you can expect no
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Re the routing of the cable. There is nothing "wrong" with it taking a longer route. It depends what brief was given to the electrician. Assuming (best guess) the gas meter is by the front door and electric supply / meter under the stairs then the best route would be floor boards up in the hall and route it underneath, But fitted carpets / laminate floor or simply being instructed to do it as cheap as possible would stop that.
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A job can look like a pile of 
but actually be correct , safe, function properly
a job can look like
and be lethal
just adding my £/50 worth
but actually be correct , safe, function properlya job can look like
and be lethaljust adding my £/50 worth
