Changing a damaged switch is different to swapping a load of fronts from white to fancy chrome.
Changing a damaged switch is maintenance. Swapping a load for chrome is not.
Jobsworth
- Thread starter ban-all-sheds
- Start date
Changing a damaged switch is different to swapping a load of fronts from white to fancy chrome.
Changing a damaged switch is maintenance. Swapping a load for chrome is not.
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Exactly.
There is a huge difference between a circuit not complying with the current edition, and the installation being a bodge.
I wouldn't swap some fluorescent fittings in a kitchen the other day. One didn't have an earth, and the other had singles run from it running to this second fitting. It needed a run of T+E from one fitting to the other, but someone chose to do it with two runs of singles. If there had been a loft above, I may have swapped the cable quickly at the same time, but as there was a tiled bathroom above, this wasn't going to happen. I walked away, happily. Some other fool may have gone back and swapped them anyway. Not me. Not going to do it.
Every job is different, every job needs it's own consideration. There is no straight YES or NO answer. Judge each job when you get there.
I think I would need to ask myself, if this was an EICR, how would I code it?
Clearly having no fault protection on a (part) circuit is a bad thing, and would be considered worse than not having an RCD on the switch drop. It's also a fundamental principle of wiring which has been around for decades.
Would you be happy to put a plug on an appliance and let your family/friends/client use it if the cores were dangling out the other end?
Clearly having no fault protection on a (part) circuit is a bad thing, and would be considered worse than not having an RCD on the switch drop. It's also a fundamental principle of wiring which has been around for decades.
Would you be happy to put a plug on an appliance and let your family/friends/client use it if the cores were dangling out the other end?
No twisting there.
That reply had about 15-20 lines of mine in it (depending on the width of your browser window).
10 sentences, some very short.
About 30 seconds needed to read it.
And you immediately dismissed it as too long to read.
You can't be bothered to spend 30-odd seconds reading 15-20 lines of text.
Unacceptable.
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Quoted completely out of context. More twisting. 
What did I quote "out of context"?
Earlier on you complained about being damned if you do, damned if you don't. When I quote a post of yours in its entirety, not omitting or reordering any of it, and making it absolutely clear which parts I am responding to, you say you can't be bothered to read my "endless multi quote post". But when I don't quote you in full you say I'm quoting you out of context.
Earlier on you complained about being damned if you do, damned if you don't. When I quote a post of yours in its entirety, not omitting or reordering any of it, and making it absolutely clear which parts I am responding to, you say you can't be bothered to read my "endless multi quote post". But when I don't quote you in full you say I'm quoting you out of context.
I don't think there's much difference.
I don't suppose it makes any difference if the replacement switch is metal, if a decent earth is available.
Would you have to pretend that an old switch is damaged before replacing?
I agree. I don't think there is much difference at all. As you say, whether the switch is plastic or metal is irrelevant if there is an effective earth available. The nearest to a difference is that replacing a damaged socket may actually make things safer - but replacing a non-damaged one does not make anything any less safe.
Kind Regards, John
Absolutely.
By replacing a switch that has been installed badly does at least give you a chance to check it.
It gives you the chance to improve it. As the wiring has been installed badly, you may find loose connections, broken wires, no grommets, no green and yellow sleeving etc.
So you can at least put that right.
REPLACING ONE SWITCH OR SEVERAL?
It is completely different.
Swapping a faulty or damaged switch like for like, and swapping a room full becuase you like the look of chrome. DIFFERENT.
It's like painting and decorating a house when the roof leaks. Pillocks do that saying "we have no money for the roof". They can find money for the painting and decorating though.
Quite so - and, even if there is nothing 'to put right', what one ends up with is no less safe that what one started with.
If I understand correctly, some people are distinguishing between things which were probably not compliant even when they were installed (like unprotected single-insulated singles) and other things (lack of RCD protection, lack of 'separation of circuits', maybe cables straying outside safe zones etc.) which may have been compliant when installed, but would not be compliant under current regs. In all these cases, the householder should be informed, and advised as one sees fit, but if they don't want anything done about those things, I'm far from convinced that this is a reason for refusing to undertake work that doesn't make things any less safe then they currently are - if the electrician is concerned, those concerns can be noted on an EIC or MWC.
A doctor wouldn't normally refuse to treat a consequence of a disease because the patient, after having been advised, had made the choice not to have the underlying disease treated.
Kind Regards, John
An EIC or MWC covered in get out clauses is a worthless document.
What's the difference? If someone's view is that it would be inappropriate/dangerous/a threat to their career/whatever to replace several switches, why would they feel it appropriate/'OK' to replace just one?
Kind Regards, John
If one was damaged or faulty, replace it. You can't use the same argument for a whole room in shiny chrome.
What a load of bull this thread is.
What a load of bull this thread is.
I'm done with this.
If you feel it correct, that's fine.
You would struggle to find any reputable firm that would happily replace a room full of accessories with shiny chrome ones if the installation was not up to a reasonable standard.
I think that's were this sits - REASONABLE STANDARD.
If you feel it correct, that's fine.
You would struggle to find any reputable firm that would happily replace a room full of accessories with shiny chrome ones if the installation was not up to a reasonable standard.
I think that's were this sits - REASONABLE STANDARD.
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