Terminating Light switch Earth

[ian_bates]

Hi

We have had a bedroom stripped out replastered, new stud wall etc and I installed new lighting and power cables - all is OK. Only one minor problem - I used dry lining boxes in the stud wall - when wiring up the light switches I notice that there is no earth terminal on the dry lining box, and therefore nowhere to terminate the earth. I have just visited the electrical supplier and they swear that dry lining boxes don't have them! What do I do - leave the earth wire unconnected but isn't this against regs?

thanks in advance

 

[Qedelec]

Your supplier is correct, dryline boxes do not have earth terminations.
It is not allowed to leave the wire loose.
Terminate it in a terminal block.

 

[ian_bates]

Thanks Qedelec

You would have thought they would put the required terminal in the dry lining box though! Now I will go back to the supplier and buy a 5amp termal block.

 

[bothyhead]

Terminate it in a terminal block.

Qedelec - do you mean a choc block, and just leave it loose in inside the dry lining box?

 

[Qedelec]

Regs require all conductors to be terminated and enclosed.
Terminating the cpc in a 5amp terminal block inside the dry line pattress satisfies these requirements.

 

[bothyhead]

I didn't know that - ta!

 

[Qedelec]

That's what these forums are for.
NICEIC do two very usefull ring bound A5 books entitled "Snags and Solutions" on on Earthing and one on wiring systems.

They clarify many misconceptions.

Wasn't it Disralli who said that he who has the most information is the victor. Or was that the SAS

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Your supplier is correct, dryline boxes do not have earth terminations.

I've never understood why this is. Plenty of patresses do, so why not dryline boxes?

 

[Qedelec]

Ban
They don't have a termination because they are not an exposed conductive part as metal back boxes are but I agree that it would make perfect sense to include a termination block but its all down cost.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I always take patress to mean surface mount boxes - they are plastic, and they often have earth terminals...

 

[Adam_151]

I always take patress to mean surface mount boxes - they are plastic, and they often have earth terminals...

I'm sure i've read about some person, think it was someone from the iee site that knew them, that insisted upon wiring a socket, to run a earth lead from the earth termianal on the socket, to the one on the plastic backbox, no doubt beacuse thats considered good practice on metal boxes, and didn't think of what he was doing and why he was doing it...

 

[Qedelec]

Ban you are right the term pattress should only be used to describe a surface mount box.
I also cannot see why these should be fitted with terminations and not their sunk cousins.
Perhaps is to do with the thickness of the plastic and the strength of screwdriver equiped sparkies.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

As good a theory as any....