Help. I think my wife is trying to kill me!!

[paul.stewart]

Hello all. The situation is as follows. We have just fitted a new kitchen and my wife wants me to fit under cabinet lighting. The problems is, is that she does not want the wire with plug on view as presently this would have to plug into one of the sockets above the worktop. She seems to think that I can chivvy a channel for the light flex and wire directly into the back of socket. To make matters worse, for the lighting on the opposite side of the kitchen she wants me to do the same, but wire directly into a fused (spur?) that serves the extractor fan.

Does anyone concur with this? We have recently moved home and updated the life insurance for a lofty sum and me thinks she is up to no good

 

[davy_owen_88]

Please no not take offence at this, but neither yourself, nor your your wife have a clue what you are doing, and judging by the advice your wife has given you, the only advice I can offer is not to listen to her again and get a suitably qualified and registered electrician in to do the work.

Out of curiosity do you know what a safe zone is? Do you know what Part P is? Do you understand the concept of fusing down smaller cables before connecting them 'directly into the back of a socket'?

 

[paul.stewart]

Is there a problem in me not having a clue? Isn't that why I am asking?

Sorry but I didn't notice that you had to be a time served sparky to ask a question!

I asked a couple of questions on this forum a couple of years ago and got the same kind of answer. What's wrong with you people?

 

[danlightbulb]

Is there a problem in me not having a clue? Isn't that why I am asking?

Sorry but I didn't notice that you had to be a time served sparky to ask a question!

I asked a couple of questions on this forum a couple of years ago and got the same kind of answer. What's wrong with you people?

Here Here! Power to the DIY'er .

 

[MattChan]

She seems to think that I can chivvy a channel for the light flex and wire directly into the back of socket.

If you did that the under cabinet lighting would only be fused at what ever the protective device on your sockets is rated at! You would need to fuse this supply down to 3A or so with a fused spur in place of the socket or similar.

As the work is in the kitchen you would need to notify building control, pay their fee, carry out the work and have them inspect it to comply with Part P of the building regulations.

It would probably actually work out cheaper to get someone in to do it!

People are more worried about your safety than anything else!

 

[paul.stewart]

Cheers nusku!

 

[davy_owen_88]

Is there a problem in me not having a clue? Isn't that why I am asking?

Sorry but I didn't notice that you had to be a time served sparky to ask a question!

I asked a couple of questions on this forum a couple of years ago and got the same kind of answer. What's wrong with you people?

If you had shown even a basic grasp of electrical safety I would have answered your question fully. If you had been bothered to read through the many threads and WIKI entries that tell you what you are after before expecting to be spoon fed the information, I would have given you an answer.

With the limited information you gave and the clear display that you are not confident in your own abilities (or the intentions of your wife), made me think that the best advice I could give was to get someone in who knows what they are doing.

If you had answered the questions I asked in my first post, I would have also offered further advice, but instead you came back with the typical [annoyed] home-owner attitude that we are here just to answer your questions, and heaven forbid we make a judgement on your abilities and deem you a danger to yourself and others around you.

 

[tim west]

Does she keep offering to warm up the bathroom for you with an electric bar heater propped on the edge of your bath?

Does she keep telling you to eat up all your dinner as it's good for you?

Does she keep looking through insurance policies to "check the fine print"?

Has she taken up skateboarding recently and tends to leave the board lying around, especially at the top of the stairs?

Don't worry it's probably nothing.

 

[RF Lighting]

To OP, please take a photo of what you do.


I'm running out of candidates for Photo of the week!™

 

[GaryMo]

To OP, please take a photo of what you do.


I'm running out of candidates for Photo of the week!™

Lol
Wish I'd have taken a photo of something I came across this afternoon.
13A twin socket fed with one 2.5mm t&e feeding it. Live wire was too short so somebody had extended it with a 5A connector block and a piece of black 0.5mm flex

To the OP, don't be so aggressive. Electricity is not to be messed with unless you're competent as the consequences to you and your family could be terminal.

 

[dave.m]

Paul,

To get round the problems of cables why not consider battery powered lights.

Have a look at these:

http://www.ryness.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=6591

http://www.ryness.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=3694

http://www.ryness.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=10221

I have no idea how much light they throw out but you must have some other lighting in the kitchen already and this is simply to throw a bit on the relevant work top where she will be working.

Using 2500mAh rechargables they should last for ages and no real running costs when recharging.

dave

 

[paul.stewart]

Thanks for the couple of sensible replies.

Problem solved. For the record, I created a fixed fused spur from the socket and wired lighting directly into that.

__________________

Swearing Removed
__________________

 

[securespark]

So you think these guys are playground bullies, Paul?

But they're not the ones using foul language.

We have 100's of happy "customers" here. Once in a blue moon someone like you comes along.

Speaks volumes about you, doesn't it, Paul?

 

[rjb]

Please also remember that a lot of members are qualified electricians who pass on their information free of charge that's been earned through years of hard work and qualifications.

They are doing this so they can pass on their knowledge that is not readily available in books and perhaps at the same time avoid a potential disaster from happening. (I am not going into my to worst that can happen if plumbing goes wrong you get wet speach again!!)

I imagine from the flippant attitude of the author of the original question that he has not received a servere electric shock from cowboy work or been in a house fire cause by overcurrent protection failure.

 

[alpcon]

Paul We want you to be safe and happy in your own home so please don't get annoyed with the lads on this forum when they let off some steam!!

All us sparks have had a right hammering since the introduction of part P and we now all feel the government is saying they don't trust us unless we are members of some sort of rip off installers scheme.

All the lads on here are time served sparks with a lot of experience and are more than happy to give advice - BUT you should not have done this work yourself as you are carrying out an installation in a special location, as per part P of the regs, which should have been certificated which is what we all pay hundreds of pounds a year for the privilege!! This is maybe why some of the guys on this forum are a bit [annoyed].