Twist earth wire through spare screw hole in back box with no earth lug?

[eveares]

My Aunty is moving from her council flat in Croydon to a council flat in Kent to be nearer to the family, and so have been doing some simple electrical jobs for her.

Whilst I was replacing the 4 brushed chrome light switches (That I fitted about 4 years ago) in the flat for cheap plastic ones, I noticed that none of the back boxes had earth lugs.

Being that the switches are now plastic and I did not have any eyelet crimp terminals on me, all I could think to do was to put the earth wire through the top middle screw lug and twist it back around.

What should I have done? I presume the correct answer is to use eyelet crimps and screw them to the top middle lug.

Also noticed that the permanent line feed and the CPC from the hallway switch went through to the bedroom switch using single insulated 1.0mm² cores. Hallway and Bedroom light switch each had one further single insulated 1.0mm² core respectively for the switched line conductor.

Was this normal practice for the 60'-70's when the flat was built?

Regards: Elliott.

 

[ericmark]

With plastic back box and switch common to just fold the earth wire and slip some earth sleeving on it, needs to be there but does not need to be connected with plastic boxes, with metal boxes there should be earth terminals, but as long as earthed no real problem.

Your very lucky if the council allows you to do the work, I know my local one if they find any evidence of DIY every single socket and light switch is removed and refitted will make approved by the council and the bill sent to tenant. I have seen beautiful light fittings ripped out and put in skip, and standard pendent lamps replace them.

 

[EFLImpudence]

I know of one case where the Council ripped out a very nice kitchen "so that they were all the same" when the tenant left.

I thought, though, that very little maintenance was today done by the Council and it was the tenant's responsibility.

 

[securespark]

Didn't you notice the lack of cpc parking 4 years ago?

How were the cpc's attached when you first swapped out the switches?

It was not to regulation to use singles in the 14th Ed.

They should have used sheathed single or sheathed single & earth.

 

[eveares]

Didn't you notice the lack of cpc parking 4 years ago?

To be honest it was at least 4 years ago, and likley was more and can't remember how the CPC in the back boxes were configured. Back boxes looked very old and original from when the flat was built. Don't even remember fitting the metal hallway and bedroom light switch's originally and the original configuration of the singles had nothing to do with me.

Your very lucky if the council allows you to do the work

As mentioned in the past, I knew nothing of "council rules" when I originally fitted them for my Aunty and would have thought they would have noticed they were not standard issue when the flat was rewired a couple of years ago. Was today putting everything back to stock condition.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

If you have metallic back boxes, they need be suitably terminated to the CPC. Plastic or non-class 1 switches do not require a direct contact to earth and rarely have an earth terminal, but if one is present, use it.
If the house was recently rewired there should be CPCs at all fixed wiring outlet backboxes and a means to terminate them.
It is possible to manufacture an earth terminal on a backbox.
Could you take pictures of these backboxes, as I am surprised they have no earth terminal, unless it was originally run in a metal conduit system and those boxes have been reused.

 

[eveares]

If the house was recently rewired

I do not know the extent that the flat was rewired to, only that the kitchen was revamped and the DB was updated. From what my aunty told me.

If the house was recently rewired there should be CPCs at all fixed wiring outlet backboxes and a means to terminate them.

As said, it was far from a full up-to-date rewire as all the wiring I was working on was all using the old non-harmonized colours and the back boxes looked to be original from when the flat was originally built and were the imperial type.