Can I push this wire into the wall?

[simplyben]

I've taken down some shelves with lighting that were connected to a switch. The left hand switch used to light up all three shelves at once. The other switches are for other lights in the room.

I was wondering if there is any danger in just disconnecting the switch and pushing the wires into the wall. It would just be a disconnected sure right?

I've tried pulling it out but it seems like it's attached to the strut and I don't really want to cut away any more plaster.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

If you can disconnect the neutral as well as the live then shoving it into the wall and filling the hole will be a bit shoddy but safe.
Looking at your switch you don't have a neutral in there so you need to find the junction box (somewhere between switch and shelf) where the circuit picks up its neutral- good luck with that.
If you don't isolate the neutral there is always the future risk of that neutral getting wet or damaged in the future and giving a nightmare to trace fault.

 

[simplyben]

Thanks, I was fearing it would be a little more complex than I thought. Guess I need to find where those wires are going

 

[huggybear]

Hi Simplyben

Do you intend to keep the same switches after you have made your changes? It looks like metal from the photos. If so, you need to connect all the earth wires to the faceplate and not the backbox.

Regards
Huggybear.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Good spot @huggybear , bet that's not the only metal switchplate.
@simplyben , before you go chasing junction boxes, check any other metal switchplates for earthing as above. You could really do with making sure those CPCs are actually connected at the CU (you'll need a multimeter for that)

 

[simplyben]

Thanks for the extra advice.

I've decided to have a light there to avoid having to chase the wire to the junction box, as we recently had the junction box removed.

All our switches are metal. Looks like I'm going to have to check them all