Is wire for new pendant lights recessed enough?

[ydrol]

Hi my dining room is two rooms knocked into one. About 20ft by 10ft.

I recently had an electrician replace 6 rather ugly down-lights (R80 spots) with two pendants at each end, as I plan to rent the house at some point in the future, and this would be more practical and economical arrangement.

Anyway, The electricianshad to run new cables (spurs?) to the pendant locations, I was happy with the work but by mate said that he thinks the cable is too flush to the ceiling.

All access was from the celing in the dining room. They ran the cable under about wood struts (at right angles). At each point the cable bends down  and then back up again.

At these points the gap between the bottom of the wire and the bottom of the ceiling is about 2mm , and in one case I think it is almost flush with the current ceiling.

Note that I am getting a plasterer to skim the ceiling flat in the near future, because it is currently a dated 'Artex' look, and I want to give it a modern look. The electrician was aware of this.

What do you think , should the cables have been recessed more? 

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

Firstly, Artex very very often contains asbestos and yu need to have it checked.

The wood  sounds like the joists holding the floor / ceiling up. There is no regulation broken here but its a bit rough. I use a  100mm hole saw  to cut out the plasterboard and a long  flatbit to drill the centre of each joist.

I then screw the 100mm  bit of plasterboard back in the hole using a batten

 

[ydrol]

Thanks for that, the Artex thing has got me a little worried. I'm hoping the previous owner put it up just before I bough it in 2005. I'll check history with neighbour. 

I have pictures - I'll put them up when allowed...

 

[Essex1]

All though a little rough as mentioned it is within regs as long as the lighting circuit has RCD protection.  Any cable buried at a depth of less than 50mm from the surface requires RCD protection unless installed within an earthed metallic conduit (which clearly is not the case here).

 

[ydrol]

Hi yup fuse box was upgraded too - metal case etc - and it has two RCDs inside. The lighting circuit itself is not earthed - I was given the choice of re-wiring (recommended) or making sure all fittings and switches were plastic. I went for the budget option, Hopefully not a false economy. The electrician insisted in that case, either I have nylon screws too or change the back plates behind all the switches.

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

Sounds like he knows his stuff, all that is basically correct .  However i personally would not recommend what you have chosen  but finance is a big factor.

I may be wrong here, is Rcd protection needed for  cables in a ceiling  less than 50mm ?

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

One thing i hate & will comment on it if seen when carrying out an inspection is, your guy has 99.99%  certain used a cable with an 'earth  wire'  in it, but has had nowhere to connect it to so its now floating and could become live in a fault condition.

 

[Essex1]

Sounds like he knows his stuff, all that is basically correct .  However i personally would not recommend what you have chosen  but finance is a big factor.

I may be wrong here, is Rcd protection needed for  cables in a ceiling  less than 50mm ?

Yes mate. The regs do not discriminate between a wall or a ceiling. Just states 50mm from the surface. 

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Yes mate. The regs do not discriminate between a wall or a ceiling. Just states 50mm from the surface. 

Don't think ceilings do actually need RCD protection....

BUT do need 50mm clearance top & bottom passing through joists.

Guinness

 

[ydrol]

Electrician came back today and sorted it FOC. One of the new holes slightly impinges on the Joist. but tapers away from it.
I think I can live with that.
Many thanks for your responses

 

[Nebakineza]

Don't think ceilings do actually need RCD protection....

BUT do need 50mm clearance top & bottom passing through joists.

Guinness

Definitely needs RCD protection according to Ammend 3.

 

[Andy™]

and what reg would that be?

you seem to be doing a lot of jumping in with 'amd3 says its must be RCD'd' even though it does not say that

 

[Murdoch]

Definitely needs RCD protection according to Amend 3.

Are you just a spammer?

 

[Andy™]

Are you just a spammer?

probably just passed his 5 day course where he was told 'all cables must be protected by an RCD - NIC said so'

 

[bluetobits]

Are you just a spammer?

Did you mean spanner?

 

[Essex1]

To be fair, in this thread the cables would need RCD protection. 

 

[Rob_the_rich]

Don't think ceilings do actually need RCD protection....

BUT do need 50mm clearance top & bottom passing through joists.

Guinness

That's how I read the regs, 522.6.201 and 522.6.204

It sounds like the sparky has cut the plasterboard under the joists and run the cable under them within the plasterboard. I would suggest that the cable should have mechanical protection, such as steel plates, as in 522.6.204 (iv). There are occasions where a new skin of plasterboard is applied to ceilings, especially artexed ones. Since there is no requirement for rcd protection in ceilings, it would be prudent to add mechanical protection where a cable ducks under a joist. Also, xmas decorations are sometimes pinned to ceilings with drawing pins.

 

[Essex1]

Having just checked the regs I should say I am wrong.  :facepalm:

 

[Davethsparky]

Having just checked the regs I should say I am wrong.  :facepalm:

No need, I can do that for you, you're wrong!

 

[Andy™]

That's how I read the regs, 522.6.201 and 522.6.204

It sounds like the sparky has cut the plasterboard under the joists and run the cable under them within the plasterboard. I would suggest that the cable should have mechanical protection, such as steel plates, as in 522.6.204 (iv). There are occasions where a new skin of plasterboard is applied to ceilings, especially artexed ones. Since there is no requirement for rcd protection in ceilings, it would be prudent to add mechanical protection where a cable ducks under a joist. Also, xmas decorations are sometimes pinned to ceilings with drawing pins.

depends how you read 522.6.201. to make it clearly states it must be 50mm if its within the joist, but makes no reference to depth if its within the plaster