Hi all, new here so please try to be nice 
My mum has recently separated from her partner and is now living on her own. She called me recently with some concerns about the wiring her ex did a couple of years ago in the bathroom. She never raised them at the time but now he's gone she isn't sure things have been done properly and neither am I.
I'll do my best to explain the setup.
The bathroom is in a flat roofed extension that we think was build in the 70s. When she moved in the bathroom had a conventional 1-way pullchord light switch and a single light in the centre of the room.
A couple of years ago the circuit was modified when mum's bf added an illuminated vanity mirror to it. The mirror is the conventional light up type with a pull chord switch.
Here is the fun part.
If you walk into the bathroom and pull the main light switch, the big light comes on. If you then pull the switch for the mirror, the mirror won't come on. The 2 won't come on together.
If you walk into the bathroom and pull the mirror light switch, the mirror light comes on. If you then pull the main light switch, the mirror light goes out and the main light comes on. Pulling the main light switch again does the reverse, the main light goes off and the mirror light comes back on.
You can never have both on together
I've asked her to remove the main light switch and the main light fitting and this is what she has found:
At the light switch
Normal pullchord light switch. Common/1 Way/2 Way and earth terminals.
I've drawn a sketch in paint to show how it is connected (excuse the lime green earths!)
At the ceiling rose
No point me drawing a diagram because it is a loop-in EXACTLY like this (except the colours are red and black instead of blue and brown owing to the age of the original install)
So from what she remembers and from what I can tell without being able to go round there and look, is that her fella took a feed from the lightswitch for the mirror.
Now I'm pretty sure that isn't the right way of doing it, even though it does work.
What she originally wanted at the time was the ability to have the big light on or off at any time controlled solely by the light switch, and the mirror to be on or off at any time (regardless of the big light being on or off) controlled solely by the pullchord. I guess this would mean needing a permanent live and a switched live at the mirror? House wiring is really my thing!
So,
A) Is what she's got now inherently dangerous (it's been like this for a good few years with no problems)
B) Is what she's proposing possible?
I know for sure this work was done without any sort of notification so my questions are purely to do with the mechanics of the wiring rather than the regs behind it all for now
I just want to give her a little bit of knowledge to work with before she starts ringing sparkies, because knowing her luck she'll wind up with a cowboy and get ripped off for a full rewire or something
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My mum has recently separated from her partner and is now living on her own. She called me recently with some concerns about the wiring her ex did a couple of years ago in the bathroom. She never raised them at the time but now he's gone she isn't sure things have been done properly and neither am I.
I'll do my best to explain the setup.
The bathroom is in a flat roofed extension that we think was build in the 70s. When she moved in the bathroom had a conventional 1-way pullchord light switch and a single light in the centre of the room.
A couple of years ago the circuit was modified when mum's bf added an illuminated vanity mirror to it. The mirror is the conventional light up type with a pull chord switch.
Here is the fun part.
If you walk into the bathroom and pull the main light switch, the big light comes on. If you then pull the switch for the mirror, the mirror won't come on. The 2 won't come on together.
If you walk into the bathroom and pull the mirror light switch, the mirror light comes on. If you then pull the main light switch, the mirror light goes out and the main light comes on. Pulling the main light switch again does the reverse, the main light goes off and the mirror light comes back on.
You can never have both on together
I've asked her to remove the main light switch and the main light fitting and this is what she has found:
At the light switch
Normal pullchord light switch. Common/1 Way/2 Way and earth terminals.
I've drawn a sketch in paint to show how it is connected (excuse the lime green earths!)
At the ceiling rose
No point me drawing a diagram because it is a loop-in EXACTLY like this (except the colours are red and black instead of blue and brown owing to the age of the original install)
So from what she remembers and from what I can tell without being able to go round there and look, is that her fella took a feed from the lightswitch for the mirror.
Now I'm pretty sure that isn't the right way of doing it, even though it does work.
What she originally wanted at the time was the ability to have the big light on or off at any time controlled solely by the light switch, and the mirror to be on or off at any time (regardless of the big light being on or off) controlled solely by the pullchord. I guess this would mean needing a permanent live and a switched live at the mirror? House wiring is really my thing!
So,
A) Is what she's got now inherently dangerous (it's been like this for a good few years with no problems)
B) Is what she's proposing possible?
I know for sure this work was done without any sort of notification so my questions are purely to do with the mechanics of the wiring rather than the regs behind it all for now
I just want to give her a little bit of knowledge to work with before she starts ringing sparkies, because knowing her luck she'll wind up with a cowboy and get ripped off for a full rewire or something
[/b]
