Wall lights wired to earth instead of neutral. Danger?

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In my house the wall lights, which have a two wire connection, have been connected to live and to earth instead of live and neutral. They work OK, but what are the dangers?
 
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If you're really in Turkey then it doesn't say a lot for their wiring regulations!!

This will work as long as your earth is OK. However, any fault with the earth and all sorts of nasty things will start to happen ranging from dimming lights to danger of death if you touch anything.

It is NOT repeat NOT good practice, is potentially dangerous and I would get it rectified as soon as possible.

(Come back Part P, all is forgiven :) )
 
Thanks for replying. Yes, really am in Turkey. The words "Turkey" and "wiring regulations" are generally not to be found in the same sentence! :LOL: I've now traced where everything goes (thank God I brought my test meter with me from UK) and am able to reconnect the wall lights to neutral, although the green/yellow wires will have to serve this purpose. I'll sleeve the ends in blue. Whoever wired this house seems to have used colours randomly.
 
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kevplumb said:
NOT good practice, is potentially dangerous
theres a gag there somewhere :LOL:

You're right. But there are much more dangerous things here to worry about. Like eating. Driving. Looking foreign... :LOL:
 
it sounds to me like the wall lights were added on as an extra and someone used the earth at the switch because there was no conviniant neutral

you should really rewire the switch drop with three and earth cable to give you enough cores for a proper live switched live neutral and earth.
 
Dear Moderator,

Although I live in Turkey, I deliberately posted in the UK section because I was interested in the technical and safety aspects of using earth instead of neutral, which is a country independent topic. So I'm a little disappointed to see you've moved it to non-UK where the subject is unlikely to raise an eyebrow.

Great forum though :)

Geoff
____________________________

Moderator

I did wait to see if you are really in Turkey before i moved it. But you are also non UK, if i let your post stay in UK electrics, every one will want theirs in UK electrics.

welcome aboard :)
 
ExPat said:
Although I live in Turkey, I deliberately posted in the UK section because I was interested in the technical and safety aspects of using earth instead of neutral, which is a country independent topic.
Not really - different countries do have different standards. I've read that in the former East Germany it used to be common practice to have locally regenerated earths at each socket by linking to Neutral.
 
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