Two Sets of Wires in Socket/Spurs Question Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[paddymaxson]

Hi all,

Sorry if this is a stupid question but:

Over the weekend I replaced almost all my sockets. my house was built mid 60s and every socket in the house was a single so I've put doubles in there.

While doing this I came across many sockets with two sets of wires and didn't really know what they were for but in one case I used one of the two sets to put a socket on the opposite side of the stud wall.

I haven't seen any untoward behaviour from this

I've been looking at running a spur for my unpowered conservatory (from a socket that has two sets of wires) and having looked that up I see that it's normal to have two sets of wires in some sockets as it's a ring.

Can anyone tell me:

-As everything is working fine, do I have a problem where I took the two sets of wires and used them for two separate sockets?

-Am I right in thinking I'm fine to run a spur off the socket I was going to (it has two sets of wires and will then have 3)

Cheers

Paddy

[Mr White]

I would strongly suggest you get an electrician in to give your wiring an EICR, to find out is there anything else wrong with what you have done, and in the short term, put the cables back where they were. You could end up with a fire.

[paddymaxson]

Alright, thanks for the advice - do you know if I'm right regarding being able to do a spur off the sockets that have two sets of wires in them though?

I didn't do anything unusual on any other socket, they're all wired exactly as I found them.

[Mr White]

It is what you did after that i am worried about. You really can cause a fire by doing what you have done.
Also just "because it works" does not mean it is safe.

[paddymaxson]

I agree, thanks. I've returned the wiring to how it was on that socket and all other sockets as mentioned are wired exactly as they were.

Am I right in thinking a spur socket can be run from the sockets that have two sets of wire though?