Hi everyone
I was looking to replace my dated 3-lamp chandelier with something more fancy from B&Q (an irony I know).
I opened the plastic ceiling rose & found really old wiring. There is 1 black and 1 very dark brown wire coming out the ceiling, both appear to be seperate cables with woven cloth as the insulation rather than plastic. I can't see a neutral wire anywhere.
The existing chandelier has modern wiring i.e. 1x blue, 1x brown, 1x green/yellow.
The chandelier's blue connects to the old black, and the brown connects to the brown. HOWEVER, the green/yellow coming up from the chandelier only terminates on the metal frame of the chandelier itself.
I was a bit worried by this, so I switched the power back on and touched the outside metal frame of the chandelier with a voltage dectector pen (cheapy from B&Q). It showed the voltage symbol and flickered to 32V, which really concerned me.
I've rechecked that the black/blue and brown/brown definitely aren't aren't exposed or touching.
Please excuse the really dumb question, but is this earthing safe?
If so, why would the voltage dectector pen light up on the exterior of the chandelier when its switched on? Should this not have been installed without modern wiring for the earth?
The light works perfectly, I'm just worried the metal frame may not be safe to handle when switched on.
Many thanks for any gems of advice you can give.
I was looking to replace my dated 3-lamp chandelier with something more fancy from B&Q (an irony I know).
I opened the plastic ceiling rose & found really old wiring. There is 1 black and 1 very dark brown wire coming out the ceiling, both appear to be seperate cables with woven cloth as the insulation rather than plastic. I can't see a neutral wire anywhere.
The existing chandelier has modern wiring i.e. 1x blue, 1x brown, 1x green/yellow.
The chandelier's blue connects to the old black, and the brown connects to the brown. HOWEVER, the green/yellow coming up from the chandelier only terminates on the metal frame of the chandelier itself.
I was a bit worried by this, so I switched the power back on and touched the outside metal frame of the chandelier with a voltage dectector pen (cheapy from B&Q). It showed the voltage symbol and flickered to 32V, which really concerned me.
I've rechecked that the black/blue and brown/brown definitely aren't aren't exposed or touching.
Please excuse the really dumb question, but is this earthing safe?
If so, why would the voltage dectector pen light up on the exterior of the chandelier when its switched on? Should this not have been installed without modern wiring for the earth?
The light works perfectly, I'm just worried the metal frame may not be safe to handle when switched on.
Many thanks for any gems of advice you can give.