No Earth

[russp79]

Hi guys,
Just a quick question, an i know some topics have sort of covered it before, but i thought i would ask anyway.
Replacing some light fixtures in a newly renovated room. mains wires are hanging from the roof, but when i went to connect it up i realised there was no earth, only two pairs or red and black wires. First of all the there being two pairs confused the situation a little bit, but there being no Earth really confused me. The house is around 30-40 years old. don't think the lighting fixture is double insulated either. Does this mean getting in the roof and running another bloody earth wire? And why would there be no earth in the first place.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Guys, Cheers

 

[Qedelec]

Up to the late 60's there was no requirement to have an earth on lighting circuits.
The two cable you have are feed (Live and Neutral), and Switch cable.
You can install class II fittings only to this circuit,
As this is the case I suspect there are other short comings in the installation.

Best get a Periodic Inspection Report done, as it will highlight what needs urgent attention and what can wait.

 

[pdcelec]

Are the Australian regs exactly the same as ours then?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

No - particularly not in the respect of unqualified people working on electrics, AFAIK.

Wiring practices are probably similar, given the colonial past. Put it this way, if that scenario was described here, nobody would be puzzled or confused.

russp79 - irrespective of the laws regarding you doing this work, your question indicates that you don't know enough about how lighting circuits are wired.

You should

(a) find out more

(b) post this question in Electrics outside the UK, or on an Australian DIY forum.

Running a separate earth wire may well not be allowed - a proper rewire might be in order.

 

[Qedelec]

Didn't see he was a 'Bruce'

Now where did I put those spectacles......