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Blimey , Italian wiring eh !!

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townfanjon

townfanjon

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Last week myself and Mrs TFJ caught up with our friends who bought an old nact up Italian farmhouse in the foothills of the Italian Alps. The whole house is wired like this , all exposed twin and earth fixed with metal nails / pins. PMSL , if anybody thinks our sparkie pals might want a laugh please post it over to the darkside. ( i ve no idea how to )
 
correct me if im wrong but we havent had anything like this ?
 
The same guy who wired that up must've built my Alfasud.

Shaun, you're too young to know what one of those is.
 
gmartine said:
The same guy who wired that up must've built my Alfasud.

Shaun, you're too young to know what one of those is.
Click to expand...

wheeler dealers ;)
 
Pins with hats on , wouldn't want to lean any metal furnature / fittings against those .
Has anywone found if Live is wire furthest from securing pin ?
(or the one in middle for protection !)
 
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zzzjim said:
Pins with hats on , wouldn't want to lean any metal furnature / fittings against those .
Has anywone found if Live is wire furthest from securing pin ?
(or the one in middle for protection !)
Click to expand...

Cracking isnt it , he is concentrating on the rebuild for the moment lol
 
Cool , a different pace of life .
( Drove down a - fresh new farm track like their drive , just other day )
( ..being the uk it ended in a mud puddle )
 
zzzjim said:
Cool , a different pace of life .
( Drove down a - fresh new farm track like their drive , just other day )
( ..being the uk it ended in a mud puddle )
Click to expand...

The little building at the bottom of the drive is a well , house hasnt been lived in for 15 years , old lass that lived there used to use the well for drinking , cooking , washing etc etc , she lived into her ninetys .
 
Ooohhh, Alfasuds! And the little Alfa deltas...green lanes, jumpers for goalposts, suits you sir!
Or is that the vodka talkin...
Getting back to the point, anyone come across lead wiring in their travels?
 
Moffski72 said:
Ooohhh, Alfasuds! And the little Alfa deltas...green lanes, jumpers for goalposts, suits you sir!
Or is that the vodka talkin...
Getting back to the point, anyone come across lead wiring in their travels?
Click to expand...

I've not seen lead if such a thing existed (just checked - it did!) but I have seen a fair bit of ropey old powdery aluminium wire with the insulation flaking off.
 
Lead outer sheath with alu conductors
 
I have seen stuff just as bad over here...I recall my grans house had lead covered surface wiring that dated back to the 1940's along with single round pin socket in each room.

It was normal to have three or four doublers in some sockets.

In fact I can remember light flexes in some rooms having an extra lamp holder at 90* to the normal one, and this allowed things like irons to be plugged into the lighting circuit!
 
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The porcelain knobs in the wall and associated porcelain fittings (to modern standards) are still available for the authentic look, if you like that sort of thing. The porcelain knobs are designed to hold fabric covered twisted cable, a bit like our old lamp pendants were. The twisted cable, now double insulated and with an extra cable, the earth, is still available as a replica if you want to retain the period look.

E.g. Lucicastiglione fabbrica lampadari: Componenti per impianto elettrico con filo treccia ed interruttori in ceramica aggiornato al 17/01/2017

I think the plastic Ticino brand switch and the wiring itself is relatively modern, though looks like a bodge to be honest.

If not, scrap the cable and look at ebay or similar for selling the porcelain stuff.

In fairness, I've seen much worse than that over here, and since the Italians consider twin and earth cable ('piattino') for mains wiring to be a relic of ancient history, I think it's fair to say that our wiring and their wiring developed differently, and leave it at that.
 
Pete E said:
In fact I can remember light flexes in some rooms having an extra lamp holder at 90* to the normal one, and this allowed things like irons to be plugged into the lighting circuit!
Click to expand...
Perfectly safe, so long as you iron doesn't exceed 5A current draw, and you only iron in daytime and if...

But then how many strings of single-insulated Christmas lights with 240V running through 20 bulbs in series may still be in use? Pretty sure mine meet that description...
 
Ric2013 said:
But then how many strings of single-insulated Christmas lights with 240V running through 20 bulbs in series may still be in use? Pretty sure mine meet that description...
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I'd forgotten about those and the annual ritual of finding the blown bulb...I can also remember my dear old mum spraying the tree with hair spray to try to stop the needles dropping...how the house never burnt down I will never know!
 
It's the people who unscrew a bulb to turn them off. Why? Sadly I can no longer get permanent contact lamps easily, so sooner or later one of the replacements will blow and I'll be going through every single one to find the dud one, like in the days before permanent contact lamps. Then back to Christmas tree candles, I assume. I know a shop that still has a few old stock ones...
 
Ric2013 said:
It's the people who unscrew a bulb to turn them off. Why? Sadly I can no longer get permanent contact lamps easily, so sooner or later one of the replacements will blow and I'll be going through every single one to find the dud one, like in the days before permanent contact lamps. Then back to Christmas tree candles, I assume. I know a shop that still has a few old stock ones...
Click to expand...

Just buy a string of led lights.
 
Chuck said:
Just buy a string of led lights.
Click to expand...
I don't like the look of any I have seen, sadly. Nearly every bulb in my house is LED and I find them acceptable for that, but the LED coloured fairly lights I've seen don't cut it yet. Still, I reckon I've got 10 years to find a set, at least.
 
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