Bent wire core into socket

stiofan85

Hi folks,

Recently had some rooms skim coated and was putting back on sockets and some of the cores from the wires are bent back on themselves where they are conected to the socket and some are not.

Is there a correct/official way for this or is it just a case that the electrician left too much exposed and doubled the core back on itself?

Thanks

antiskeptic

stiofan85 wrote: »

Hi folks,

Recently had some rooms skim coated and was putting back on sockets and some of the cores from the wires are bent back on themselves where they are conected to the socket and some are not.

Is there a correct/official way for this or is it just a case that the electrician left too much exposed and doubled the core back on itself?

Thanks

It would be driven by the size of the hole the wire is going into. If it's a relatively large hole (say the terminals of a socket which is sized to accept 2 wires (forming a daisy-chained radial circuit) then an unfolded single wire won't be adequately clamped by the screw when tightened. It'll shift to the side of the hole as the screw is tightened down and the screw will only half-catch it.

By folding back the wire on itself you effectively double up the wire and give a greater surface area for the screw to clamp squarely down onto. Good practice thus.

It would be quicker to snip a too-long wire than fold it back on itself so that's not the reason.

Steve

It also provides a greater area of surface contact between the conductor and the terminal, this reduces electrical resistance and reduces the risk of heating under load.

stiofan85

Thanks for the update folks. Makes sense.

All the sockets are working - is it worth going back through them to check which ones were not doubled back where there was only one wire and do it?

2011

It is important that the connections are tight, the conductor is undamages, the insulation is continued as far as possible.

stiofan85

2011 wrote: »

It is important that the connections are tight, the conductor is undamages, the insulation is continued as far as possible.

So the answer is yes. Cheers

stiofan85

While I'm asking, the connection for the induction hob (7200w) has crimps at the end. There are two of each wire and crimped together. I take it these crimps are not supposed to be removed? Would make connecting in the terminal box quite tough as the 10sqmm takes up a lot of space.

In the attached image the black wire is the hob. It has a brown & black crimped together for Live and two blue (one darker than the other) crimped, with a separate earth.