Making wires safe

[grob]

Hi guys

Here's the deal. I'm retiling my kitchen, and on the wall is and old light switch, that no longer serves any purpose. I want to bury it in the wall and tile over it, rather than leave the switch on the wall. I have got so far as switching off the power and removing the wires from the switch, how do I then make it safe so I can tile over and forget about it, without worrying every time I turn on the lights?

Help much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What's at the other end of the switch cable? You say that this one "no longer serves any purpose" - why/how not? What else have you removed/disconnected?

Why can't you remove the cable?

 

[andy]

he might not be usin the switch in the position anymore, and instead of removing it and having to plaster where it was, leave it in, not connected.

if you are doin this, disconnect it at the other end (i.e the light)

 

[grob]

The switch is actually for a fan between the bathroom and kitchen which someone in the past has wired into the lighting circuit. However, it's a bit bizarre since the switch doesn't actually control the fan (the bathroom light did this), but disconnecting it has made it not work anymore. I dont actually need the fan to work, it is a pointless contraption, but i can't get into the wall to remove it, rather I don't want to since it will make a mess of the wall, so I'd rather just leave the fan in position but not have it operational. I believe the wires from the fan come down to this switch in the kitchen, I want to lose the switch and bury the wires. Any thoughts, can I just leave the wires in place and tape them up?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

the switch doesn't actually control the fan (the bathroom light did this), but disconnecting it has made it not work anymore.

Is it a fan isolation switch? Can you remember - if the fan was running, could you switch it off from this switch?

I believe the wires from the fan come down to this switch in the kitchen

Sounds like the supply to the fan goes via the switch - i.e. from the light to the switch to the fan.

I want to lose the switch and bury the wires. Any thoughts, can I just leave the wires in place and tape them up?

If you can't remove them then you should disconnect at both ends - if you don't then you'll have a live cable buried in the wall but you'll no longer have a switch to give people a hint of the cable's presence. At the switch end you should not tape them up - you can't be sure that someone won't at some point reconnect them. In the switch box put the cable into choc-block, put that in a choc-box, and fill it with epoxy (e.g. Araldite). When it's gone off plaster or tile over the back-box.

 

[grob]

ban-all-sheds: Is it a fan isolation switch? Can you remember - if the fan was running, could you switch it off from this switch?

Pass. It certainly didn't turn the fan on, and I only realised it had anything to do with the fan until I disconnected it. Perhaps I should just wire a switch back into it. Possibly the other option is to just connect the wires together and complete the circuit, but without having a switch involved at all. Though I suspect that raises the below issue again...


ban-all-sheds: If you can't remove them then you should disconnect at both ends - if you don't then you'll have a live cable buried in the wall

Good point...

 

[mapj1]

A cable chopped off at both ends buried in the wall is perfectly safe to nail into , and is probably the thing to aspire to in this case if removing the evidence (i.e the switch). The wire should follow a line of least surprise, either up, down or sideways to its next port of call. Best to intercept it there if you can.
(I have been known to put blanking plates where cables pass through and change direction, even if no joint behind, just direction of unbroken cable visible, to neatly avoid violating the approved route requirement such a blanking plate at least warns future drillers of the risk of drilling a cable, and can be up near the ceiling if that helps.)