Newbie - light switch not earthed

[yorkiebarr]

Hi, replacing a broken plastic pull switch with a similar new one.

On removing the old switch I found red and black L/N wires connected to the switch, but also a bare copper earth wire which has been cut short (see photo) and not connected to the earth terminal in the switch.

The question is do I need to pull some more earth wire through and connect to the earth terminal or might there be a good reason the person who installed this didn't connect the earth and is it dangerous to wire up the new switch same as the old one was?

 

[Taylortwocities]

If your new switch is plastic then its not dangerous to wire as before. If its metal then it must be earthed!
Best practise is to strip back some more of the earth conductor. Sleeve it with green/yellow sleeving and connect it to the earth connector (even plastic switches have one!)

 

[yorkiebarr]

Thanks both

 

[ebee]

Agreed, if plastic fitting then not a problem, really it should have been parked in the earth terminal though (assuming of course that it is actually connected to an earth at the other end). Cutting it off was a bit silly.

But I heard of something even sillier though.
Chap replaces the existing twin no earth cable of his wooden wall lights to move position so he bought some twin and earth, did he cut the earthwire off?
No, he pulled it right out in situ and damaged the insulation on the L whilst doing so . Therefore he bought some more cable and decided to pull the earthwire out before he fixed it on the wall.

I bet that between us all both trades and DIY we could write a very long book of the lists of strange/silly things that some folk actually do.

 

[EFLImpudence]

On removing the old switch I found red and black L/N wires connected to the switch,

Not L/N but Line/Switched Line.

 

[ebee]

Yes quite sensibly put.
We used to colour code the intended cables for Line and Neutral as Red and Black for AC mains ,( or + and - for DC circuits).
Then we changed to Brown and Blue along with Europe for AC mains.
We had already changed to those colours for flexes some years back.
Those colour changes were for European Harmonisation (Note I mean Europe as a geographical area, not as in the EU or the EEC alone ).
Note - I`m only speaking about single phase colours. Where we used to have Red/Yellow/Blue for the three Lines in three phase colours we now have Brown/Black/Grey. Personally I wish we had stayed with our old colours and the rest of Europe had changed to ours but it would have put us at a great advantage so for fairness we all changed.
We did something similar with our voltages too, Europe changed to 230v nominal whereas much of Europe was 220v nominal (as one voltage they used) and we were 240v nominal.
In practice neither the UK or other Europeans actually changed voltages and maybe never will do it will tend to put us all in harmony and help appliances be used throughout Europe as a whole.
So, overall, probably had good intentions and in reality for Europe as a continent.

Wow, what a ramble I just made!
Anyway we really should stick to our now decided colours but in real life the colours that should be sleeved or flagged or using say twin cables for proper colour coding are often not adhered to, so check first, do not rely on the actual colour being correct because it might not be.

Some wit coined a phrase "Red to Brown and Blew to bits" or "Red to Brown and Blue to bits" , helps us remember to take care and check.

A big thanks to anyone who is still awake after reading all of my post,

 

[ebee]

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

You are right though about the UK still on 240v.

and it rapidly burning out imported lamps, intended for the EU's 220/230v