Stupid customer your opinions please

[jase17uk]

I know there's nothing says it is illegal to fit an socket to lighting circuit but it is not good practice for many reasons! You shouldn't be relaying on an over current device protect you from the poor practice.

And I would take photographs my work then customer wouldn't be able to deny any modifications was of his doing

 

[GarethW]

I would never interfere with the smoke alarm circuit.
The smoke alarms are there to save lives.
I know it might be a pain to get a live and neutral from the existing light switches,
but it my opinion, this would be the only option.
You should not have put a non-essential item on this circuit.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

A socket on lighting circuit? You'll have to assume that other appliances can be used with this DIY socket then it can overload the wiring on the lighting circuit regardless if it is protected by a over current device! I would insist this is to be put right before I even test and certificate!

Would you?

What reason would you give for insisting? (Hint - the reason should be groups of digits separated by dots.)

 

[viewer]

Suggest ignore all rights and wrongs; just write and state that you noted that there had been changes made to the circuit you installed originally and that you have not examined or tested any new work not carried out by yourself. State the date when you saw the alterations.

This avoids any argument about safety or other factors, but, should there be a problem, you will have proof via the dates on the letter that the 'modified' circuit was in existence before the problem arose. Whilst it is unlikely that there will be any problem, in the event of a fire all evidence would be destroyed and it would be his word against yours and he has the certificate.

A side thought - there are many photographs on this site uploaded by professional sparks and maybe carrying a camera phone to record work done/problems seen might be a good idea for independent operators working on their own.

 

[bhm1712]

I know there's nothing says it is illegal to fit an socket to lighting circuit but it is not good practice for many reasons! You shouldn't be relaying on an over current device protect you from the poor practice.

And I would take photographs my work then customer wouldn't be able to deny any modifications was of his doing

Thats what over current protection is for though.... not specifically for protecting from poor practice, but if the circuit is overloaded, then the protective device is there to be relied on. What you are saying is that an MCB is a waste of time because we shouldnt rely on them....So what, we may as well not bother fitting an MCB?

There is nothing wrong with fitting a socket on a lighting circuit, in fact it is common practice among burglar alarm fitters when there is no available socket circuit in the loft for wiring the bell box to etc etc. What is good practice is to mark the socket up stating max load 5 amps. Even better is to fit a FCU before the socket, fused down to 5 amps.

Its not as if somebody is going to lift a washing machine or use the iron in the loft anyway is it..

 

[SaladFingers]

Just leave it. It's not dangerous. The work you did was fine and they chose to change it. That's up to them. Kicking up a fuss is going to achieve nothing apart from losing you a customer.

Agreed.

Receipt/certificate should show what work is done, so if someone else comes in and modifies anything, then if for whatever reason it were needed to, the documentation would clearly show that what's there now isn't what were there before and relating to the documents.

Same thing could happen two years down the line.....

 

[Gaz the Sparky]

I would never interfere with the smoke alarm circuit.
The smoke alarms are there to save lives.
I know it might be a pain to get a live and neutral from the existing light switches,
but it my opinion, this would be the only option.
You should not have put a non-essential item on this circuit.

I know it's not good practice to install additional items onto a circuit supplying a fire alarm system.

Yes I did connect into the smoke detector circuit due to all the lighting loops being at the switches but the feed for the smoke detector comes from the lighting circuit and the closest switch so in actual fact it's the same circuit and cable.

It's recommended that mains powered smoke detectors are powered from another circuit ie a lighting circuit so that you know and it's more obvious if they loose mains power.

Thanks all for the suggestions I will leave it as is. As suggested I have provided a certificate for my work I carried out on which it states I fitted a fused spur. There's no point rocking the boat and upsetting the customer and loosing out on further work.

 

[ericmark]

I would agree with RF. Don't do anything.

However it does point out the problems where some one alters your work. I note many tradesmen now come armed with a camera taking pictures before and after.

Even if there are no batteries in the camera when a customer sees you have a record he is unlikely to try and claim for work they have altered. So taking pictures even if not kept is an insurance and you want to let them see they are taken.

don't use a phone even though its likely better than cheap camera use a camera that they can see is a camera. Does not need to be expensive.