Sleeving colours for harmonised wiring

[Lobster]

If you are working on a wiring system that has (or soon will have!) mixed old and new wiring colours, what should you do about colours of sleeving to indicate switched lives in junction boxes/switches? Are there rules about this?

My inclination is to fit brown sleeving where there are new cables, and red where there are old, which seems the best way of avoiding confusion to anybody looking at the wiring in the future. Or should it be brown sleeving throughout? (I'm not suggesting systematically changing red sleeving to brown all through the house, just for example when a new accessory is being wired in).

Thanks David

[Lurch]

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 20:16:59 GMT, Lobster strung together this:

Theoretically, brown and blue sleeving whether it's on old or new cables.

There is the thing of the old black sleeved cables being confused for L2 on a 3 phase system but ignore that. Just stick one of those "wires could be live or neuttral, depending on the weather" stickers on the CU.

[Lobster]

Thanks. I've never owned any 'neutral' (ie black or now blue) sleeving

- is there any situation in a normal domestic wiring system where I'd need it?

David

[Andrew Chesters]

I believe we should all be sleeving with text indication L1,(2&3) and N printed on the sleeve. RS have been plugging them in recent fliers.

[Andy Wade]

Yes, anywhere you need live, switched live and neutral in one cable. Examples:

- to parallel-up two lights on one switch, where the supply feed arrives at the first light (ceiling rose, etc.) but an unswitched 'live' is needed at the second rose for looping onwards to the rest of the circuit. Here it's convenient to run 3-core & earth between the two roses, using (in old colours) red for unswitched live, yellow (sleeved red) for switched live and blue (sleeved black) for neutral. The 'switch drop' can then connect in at either rose;

- wiring bimetallic thermostats where a neutral is needed for the accelerator heater;

- bathroom & loo fans with run-on timer.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

;-)