phil d
Well-known member
I got a call from the brother of one of my friends, he had a faulty lights witch and had attempted to change it, he'd noticed something odd, and rang his brother (my mate) who'd suggested he ring me for advice. Anyhow, I ended up going to see him on Sunday to see what all the fuss was about and believe me it was worth seeing, an abject lesson in rank stupidity and laziness on the part of an 'electrician'.
In the lounge, just beside the kitchen door was a 3 gang switch, I controlled the lounge light, 1 controlled the kitchen ceiling light, and 1 controlled the under counter lights. He reckoned he'd had the kitchen modernised about 10 years ago, and a conservatory added, on removing the switch I found cable, a red and black, for the lounge light, there was also 4 other twins, brown and blue, all the blues went into a terminal block, 2 browns fed one switch, common and L1, and 2 fed the other, again Common and L1.
There were 2 consumer units under the stairs, the original one which looked about 40 years old, and a fairly new one, neither had RCD protection, now this is where it gets stupid, turn off the 5A MCB on the old board and the house lights go off, but the kitchen lights stay on, remember these are all controlled from the same 3 gang switch. Look on the other board and there are 2 circuits, kitchen sockets and cooker, turn off the sockets and the kitchen lights go out.
Looking around the kitchen and I find a switched fused spur, right next to a twin socket, the guy has no idea what it's for, he was just told not to turn it off! With the sockets breaker on, the lights come back, turn off the spur and out they go, sorted, the kitchen lights are fed from the ring main, but why? Surely it would have been easier to attach them to the house lights while they had the floorboards up upstairs, but no, apparently they didn't even go upstairs, let alone lift any boards. They've just buried cables in the walls anywhere, the cables that go into the switch are run down the kitchen wall, then drilled through partway up, nothing to indicate there are any cables in the wall in the kitchen, and as for safe zones, well, lets not go there.
I swapped the broken switch for him and he asked my advice, don't drill any holes anywhere, is the best I can offer, since he doesn't want the place ripping apart to sort the mess out, oh and stick a note on the consumer unit, so anyone else knows that you need to isolate more than one circuit to work on the lights.
What a stupid lazy and dangerous way to do a job!
In the lounge, just beside the kitchen door was a 3 gang switch, I controlled the lounge light, 1 controlled the kitchen ceiling light, and 1 controlled the under counter lights. He reckoned he'd had the kitchen modernised about 10 years ago, and a conservatory added, on removing the switch I found cable, a red and black, for the lounge light, there was also 4 other twins, brown and blue, all the blues went into a terminal block, 2 browns fed one switch, common and L1, and 2 fed the other, again Common and L1.
There were 2 consumer units under the stairs, the original one which looked about 40 years old, and a fairly new one, neither had RCD protection, now this is where it gets stupid, turn off the 5A MCB on the old board and the house lights go off, but the kitchen lights stay on, remember these are all controlled from the same 3 gang switch. Look on the other board and there are 2 circuits, kitchen sockets and cooker, turn off the sockets and the kitchen lights go out.
Looking around the kitchen and I find a switched fused spur, right next to a twin socket, the guy has no idea what it's for, he was just told not to turn it off! With the sockets breaker on, the lights come back, turn off the spur and out they go, sorted, the kitchen lights are fed from the ring main, but why? Surely it would have been easier to attach them to the house lights while they had the floorboards up upstairs, but no, apparently they didn't even go upstairs, let alone lift any boards. They've just buried cables in the walls anywhere, the cables that go into the switch are run down the kitchen wall, then drilled through partway up, nothing to indicate there are any cables in the wall in the kitchen, and as for safe zones, well, lets not go there.
I swapped the broken switch for him and he asked my advice, don't drill any holes anywhere, is the best I can offer, since he doesn't want the place ripping apart to sort the mess out, oh and stick a note on the consumer unit, so anyone else knows that you need to isolate more than one circuit to work on the lights.
What a stupid lazy and dangerous way to do a job!
