Problem with switches!

[aibo210]

Hi

we have recently knocked the wall between the kitchen and the living room and I have wired up some new lights. The only problem is now that the two new switchescarry a live on there face plate but only small enough to light a tester and not give us a shock. what have i done wrong?

I added them by using one 3 core cable 2 cables to each switch I then toke a main from the rose and use a juntion box so that the neutral is connected to the neeutal on the light and the live goes through the switch cable and back to the live feed to the light. but for some strange reason its now made the face plates live on 2 of the switches! the old kitchen light was just switch was just a replacement were as the new one I started out with a new spur off the cealin rose.

and also I did notice up there no lights are earthed and all switches inthe house have 2 red wires and a black

Please help!

 

[Lectrician]

Im guessing you have used metal fronts? With no earth? YOU MUST NOT DO THIS - VERY DANGEROUS. If there is a fault your switch fronts will sit live in the wall.

 

[electronicsuk]

Im guessing you have used metal fronts? With no earth? YOU MUST NOT DO THIS - VERY DANGEROUS. If there is a fault your switch fronts will sit live in the wall.

Yup. If there's no earth and you've used metal faceplate switches then get rid of them straight away until such a time as you can get an electrician in to sort out the earthing in your property. It may well be that your main bonding isn't up to scratch, either.

Also worthy of mention is that a friend of mine had a similar problem just recently. The house is a new build (not much more than 3 years old) and they asked me to replace all their existing plastic-fronted switches with new metal ones. Turns out that (despite the use of T+E cable) absolutely none of the earths had been connected in the lighting circuit at the switches OR ceiling roses.

The electrician who wired the house was quite blatantly a cowboy. It looked as if he'd attempted to connect some of the CPCs but had cut them too short to reach the earth terminals and just not bothered, others were long enough but had just been left hanging around (unsleeved) in the backbox. This resulted in the same problem you're experiencing, a small difference in potential between true earth and the switch faceplate. Presumably this is due to leakage and/or current induced into the CPC.

 

[aibo210]

Ok well the earth on the switches are connected and not in the junction boxes in the attic. when I take the earth of the switch the face plate goes ok no current. so could I not use an earth wire up the the attic and pipe clip this to a central heating pipe for thease two faulty switches? And hopefully that will eath both of them!


Sorry bein tight but well short of cash!

 

[electronicsuk]

Ok well the earth on the switches are connected and not in the junction boxes in the attic. when I take the earth of the switch the face plate goes ok no current. so could I not use an earth wire up the the attic and pipe clip this to a central heating pipe for thease two faulty switches? And hopefully that will eath both of them!

No, you need a dedicated CPC for this circuit, simply bonding the CPC for the lighting circuit onto metal pipework in the house is NOT acceptable.

Sorry bein tight but well short of cash!

That's no excuse, you're playing with peoples lives here and it's clear you don't know how to do the job properly. Please, for your safety and that of others, bring in an electrician before someone gets seriously hurt!

 

[bernardgreen]

No

Because if the cowboy "electrician" has not earthed those pipes properly then you could be making the light switches even MORE likely to be a hazard to your life or the life of other people in the house.

The risk is small but with human life even a small risk is un-acceptable.

A reel of earth cable doesn't cost a great deal of money.