Kitchen Light - Dangerous

[danrich123]

I've just moved into a oldish house and have found one or two problems with the wiring which i've sorted. However I've a big/dangerous problem with the kitchen light. Its got a switch on two walls. One switch has a three core and earth connected to it, the other switch on a diff wall has just a two core and earth. The light is on when s1 is off switch two is on, its off in all other combinations, also the earth on the second switch is live abit, i.e. you get a small/medium shock from it. The light itself is one of these fancy modern 4 bulb things, and the wire going to the light is a two core and earth, however cant seem to find where the three core and earth is connected, also the live and earth doesnt seem to be shorting at the light.

Help Please

Daniel

 

[JohnD]

Lift the floor in the room above. You might find a junction box. You might find that there has previously been 2-way switching.

Older houses (1960s) often do not have earths on the lighting circuits; so you may have some earth wires that are not connected all the way back to the CU.

If you have got a meter (not a neon screwdriver) test the earths in the other light fittings as well to see if they are live.

It is worth getting a socket tester to see if the sockets appear to be earthed and connected correctly, a fault here is more dangerous than on a lighting circuit.

 

[danrich123]

wicked, thanks