Kitchen cieling - can I fit a pendannt light?

[NewOrder]

The kitchen ceiling has collapsed due to a leak in the bathroom. I have taken down the old heavy fitting and going to bodge the ceiling for now until we can afford to get a plasterer in to replace the entire lot.

Can I install a standard pendant fitting in a kitchen under 17th edition? I am not sure what the regulations are, also I am not replacing any of the wiring, so am I right in thinking part P is not an issue?

I simply want to replace a heavy 4 bar spot light strip with a pendant.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The kitchen ceiling has collapsed due to a leak in the bathroom. I have taken down the old heavy fitting and going to bodge the ceiling for now until we can afford to get a plasterer in to replace the entire lot.

No insurance to cover it?

Can I install a standard pendant fitting in a kitchen under 17th edition? I am not sure what the regulations are, also I am not replacing any of the wiring, so am I right in thinking part P is not an issue?

I simply want to replace a heavy 4 bar spot light strip with a pendant.

"17th Edition" refers to the Wiring Regulations, and they don't say what you can or can't do, only how to do it.

In terms of Building Regulations, replacing a light is not notifiable (see Schedule 4) but Part P does apply, i.e. you do have to do the work safely.

 

[NewOrder]

I will do it properly, make sure its all insulated, sleeved earth, make sure connections are tight etc.... But I am keen to it as properly as I can meeting any building reg requirements etc. Please don't have a go, most DIYers don't give a stuff about regs as you probably know .

The fault is a bath which has a hole in it, and has been pathced up with fibre glass epoxy, it failed today, sending 40 odd litres of bath water into the kitchen so I doubt the insurance will cover it. There has been other leaks too in the bathroom over the years and as a result the ceiling was in very poor condition anyway, so I doubt the insurance will cover it.

We've known about the bath for a while, but just not had the money to fix it.

 

[bernardgreen]

Yes you can replace the fitting with a pendant lamp. Get a ceiling rose and the pendant

Make a very careful note of how the wires are connected to the existing fitting ( assuming it is still connected ).

The cables from the ceiling will have one wire, possibly black or blue with a red or brown sleeve connected to the brown wire of the fitting.. That is the switched live and you need to make sure that you can identify it for when you fit the cables into the ceiling rose. If it hasn't got a sleeve then mark it indelibly so the mark isn't lost when the ceiling is re-plastered.

Then look at the Wiki at the top of this forum for how to wire a ceiling rose.

 

[NewOrder]

There is a junction box in the joist, so the only currently there are earth, live and neutral which goes into a terminal block, my idea is to remove the terminal block and just wire those three wires into the pendant.

My plan is to screw a piece of cardboard into the joists, to cover up the big hole in the ceiling, and then fit a pendant into that (with the joist holding it up). Not ideal but it will look far better than a big hole.

 

[Taylortwocities]

There should not be a junction box there unless it is accessible. As it is above the ceiling/under the bath you will not be able to access it.

Wiring regulations state that any screwed terminations must be accessible.

You are obviously keen to do things "properly". So remove the junction box and bring the cables through the ceiling and terminate them on the pendant. Taht is what all the termination blocks inside the pendant are for!..

Follow Bernard's advice re the WIKI. Its all explained there under 'lighting'.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

My plan is to screw a piece of cardboard into the joists.

At least use hardboard.

 

[NewOrder]

I meant hardboard.

By junction box, it is actually a terminal block just above the joist, but access not sure how easy access is. From there there is the usual LNE connections these then go into another terminal block which hangs down from the ceiling.

My idea was to simply remove that terminal block which is hanging down from the ceiling, and wire into a pedant.

I might however just wire in some of those cheap 3 way spot lights (don't mean downlights!) B&Q have some light weight plastic ones for £5.00

I removed the insulation tape from that block in order to unscr the old light fitting.

Edit I may have wired that block in, I cannot remember it was ten years ago but I replaced an old 1950's stip light, but I remember checking that all the wiring to the terminal block was PVC, so it was rewired, they just used the old fitting.