lighting earth wire

[jelly]

I know this has been talked about a lot but this is my situation.
I live in a house built in the 60's.Now for some reason the light switches don,t have an earth connection but all the light fittings do apart from the Kitchen.Therefore in other parts of the house i have metal lights but plastics switches for obvious reasons.The point i am trying to make is i want to fit a metal light to my kitchen.Can i connect (spur off) to the earth of another light fitting in the house.I don't think a earth wire has been cut back in the kitchen as when taking the floorboards up i could not see one.

Any suggestions

Thanks

 

[plugwash]

hmm
make sure those earths actually connect back to the CU with a multimeter before you do anything

borrowing earths is generally frowned upon but could be done as a temp mesure until you rewire the cuircuit

 

[breezer]

if it was built in the 60's its over due a rewire.

the red and blacks are they single solid core or multi strand?

 

[securespark]

Apologies to George Orwell.....


Solid strand good, multi strand bad............

 

[plugwash]

as long as it passes an insulationj resistance test there is nothing wrong with multistrand

in fact imo it was better its just the eceonomy drives have made all the smaller sizes solid core at least in twin and earth

 

[jelly]

The wires are multi-strand.
An electrician who i know just told me you could solve the problem by getting a double insulated light fitting.What do you all think.Has anybody used these.

 

[securespark]

Yes, that's right. Any lighting circuit without earth MUST use double insulated light fittings. They are denoted by a square within a square and do not require an earth connection. Indeed fitting one may make the installation dangerous, as will fitting Class I fittings to a circuit without earth.

As the name implies, the live parts are double insulated. Often these fittings do not have metal parts or cases, but some do.

 

[jelly]

For now i am borrow a earth from the Ring main.
What i want to know is .

1) Is it a case of just wiring one end of the earth wire into the connector of a plug socket or junction box and the other into the ceiling rose.

2) What thickness wire should be used.

3) How do you check to see if the earths are going back to the CU using a multimeter (sorry for being thick)

 

[breezer]

my late father used to say "there is nothing as pemanent as a tempory job" so i decline to tell you what to do, apart from get a re wire

 

[supersparks]

i agree, a temp job, or a 'that will do for now' attitude is NOT one to be taken with electrics

 

[jelly]

I know it's not good practice but what could be wrong in connecting the earth wire to a plug socket.
I know there could be the possibility of the ring main being disconnected and someone touching faulty wiring on the light.But what are the chances of that

 

[breezer]

see, what i said would appear to be true, you are going to leave it permanent, otherwise you would not have asked

put it this way, would you drive a car with no brakes? of course you would you will stop..........eventually when its TOO LATE

 

[jelly]

Also i read in a readers digest complete DIY book that you can earth (supplementary bonding) radators,baths etc to a socket so what is the difference to earthing the light circuits this way

 

[breezer]

i would throw that diy book away

 

[jelly]

That book has helped me out a lot.Can't just throw it away.
At least it explains things properly unlike Haynes manuals on cars.
serously is it safe what i am doing as the book suggests.