To stop the bare earth wire touching live parts in an enclosure, such as terminal screws.

To stop the bare earth wire touching live parts in an enclosure, such as terminal screws.

Ages ago when ring final 13 Amp sockets were protected by 30 Amp. fuse wire, and R.C.D.s were not used, I came upon a socket where the unsleeved and uninsulated three strand tinned copper earth wire had come into contact with the live conductor/terminal of the socket. Yes it was called live back then. Live was red and neutral was black. I seem to remember that at least one if not two of the earth wire strands had completely burned through and were broken. Such was the power of a live to earth fault. P.V.C. earth sleeving would have prevented that incident.

The type of cable is shown above.

Z.

Sparkingchip said:

To stop the bare earth wire touching live parts in an enclosure, such as terminal screws.

 Sparkingchip ... good point, what Regulation, or hazard/risk, is that intended to address (that's not already covered by other requirements such as protection against overcurrent, or ADS)?

Graham,

132.1(2) Proper functioning. A tripped R.C.D. or tripped M.C.B due to a C.P.C. to L short just will not do!

Z.