My experience of light switches in Germany , France and Spain is the same as UK ie down = on and on that basis does indeed appear to be harmonised.
Light switch upside-down
- Thread starter chumley0312
- Start date
Sponsored Links
Are you sure? I have found the opposite.
Definitely down = off here and in the US on TV of course.
Sponsored Links
I don't think anyone is arguing with that.
eh? Your post above seems to be.
Just noticed where you are!
Ah, I see what you meant now. 
I remember a bloke taking a Wylex CU back to the wholsesalers who refused to replace it because he had beggard up the mainswitch (red rocker) by opening it up up "correct it" because it was "upside down" , OH deary me
Apart from staying in a Git while rewiring another which was in the process of being considerably extended my European travel in the last 30 years has been limited to fairly touristy Hotels, the place in Portugal didn't seem to have any pattern and the rockers were fine, as in not prominent and hardly moved so very fiddly to locate and operate, there seemed to be lots of 2 way switching there so I'm more than happy to accept that as an explanation. Hotel in Malta was without doubt uber British with our 3¼" format including 13, 5,15A and additionally 16A sockets. However as we booked in there was a customer complaining about the lights not working and several times said they'd put the switches up, from the accent we assumed from North America. Of course the problem was not putting the keycard in the slot and didn't believe the receptionists explanation that they had to go down, even to the point of being rude,
We have frequently travelled with Grandchildren and found they've only been confused in Dubrovnik and Peroj.
Cruise ships seem to be up = on except their switched 16A sockets.
Last edited:
Was that a "Yes"?
What do you think?
Well there is plenty of merit in leaving things as they are in a lot of instances I agree with you.
Where a common consensus applies though a change might be inevitable, also if a safer way has more merit then we consider a change too.
I think if we just starting out today we would have picked down for off, given if you agree with that then changing to down for off might be appropriate in this case.
It`s a case of accidental offs being preferred to accidental ons and comparing that risk to what folk might normally expect.
So IMHO that change might well have been the best compromise and as time goes by the what we have always been used to changes proprtionally.
Other may disagree though.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Light switches up = off every time please. A room plunging into darkness by accident is not a safety solution.
We seem to get by with two way and intermediate switching on staircases!
Edit: I didn't think to count, but 33% of my light switches could be left in either orientation.
And I hadn't even noticed!
Last edited:
DIYnot Local
Staff member
If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.
Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.
Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local
Sponsored Links
