Electricity supply to mock-fire

[Brian Sharrock]

The 1937 house had a conventional fire-place installed within a chimney-breast. This had been replaced by a wall-hung (Robinson) gas fire mounted onto a bricked-in wall/plaster flush to the wall of the chimney best. The gas fire has been removed

I've had the sweep into clean the chimney which was 'passed' as OK by the sweep.

I now am contemplating installing a stone mantle/ hearth /fire surround with a 'display box' in lieu of a fire - I don't need an additional heat source neither electric or gas. The display box recess is intended to have flowers, ornaments, or some such.

I intend to construct a box from stone 'tiles' which I can source at 400mm x400mm (and cut as appropriate).

I'd like to have an illumination source in the 'roof' of the box;

Can the team suggest a; an appropriate illumination? GU10 downlighters? LED lamps?

b; an appropriate method of getting power to the lamps? I don't particularly want to have a power-cord trailing across the front of the hearth/fire surround. I've contemplated drilling a hole through the chimney breast (from the right-hand side ) and feeding a cable through. Such a hole would enable me to get power 'behind' the box)

Should these lights be fed off a lighting circuit or off a power circuit? I've noted that electric-fires (Dimplex come 'fitted with a

13A plug so seem intended to be plugged directly into a standard outlet; with the cord trailed across the hearth?

I can access, from below the suspended floor, either the power- ring-main _or_ a 1970 lighting loop which supplies two wall lamps This wall-light installation has been rewired in

1973 with pvc insulated 'modern' style T+E but is routed via (1937) three vertical floor to eye-level metal conduits One conduit to the single -gang switch on the right-hand chimney wall and the other two to the wall-lamps in recesses (either side of the chimney breast). The power in this set-up is distributed via a small bakelite junction box.

If I tap-off this set-up would I lose 'grandfather rights' ? I could intercept the below-floor cable before the existing wall-lights circuitry and introduce a new display box lighting spur - switched by a dpdt fused-spur? mounted on the right hand chimney wall (accessible but not directly visible)

Looking through the reg's doesn't seem to help me :( Any help would be appreciated. - I don't want trailing cords visible.

Thanks

[Owain]

"Brian Sharrock" wrote | I'd like to have an illumination source in the 'roof' of the box; | Can the team suggest | a; an appropriate illumination? | GU10 downlighters? | LED lamps?

For plain white light, one or two of the little 9W fluorescent lamps would probably do. Or you could use 4-6 lamps with coloured gels and a programmable dimmer to give you a gently changing coloured light.

| Should these lights be fed off a lighting circuit or off a | power circuit?

Either, but from a power circuit will need fusing down.

| I can access, from below the suspended floor, either the power- | ring-main _or_ a 1970 lighting loop which supplies two | wall lamps This wall-light installation has been rewired in | 1973 with pvc insulated 'modern' style T+E but is routed | via (1937) three vertical floor to eye-level metal conduits ... | If I tap-off this set-up would I lose 'grandfather rights' ?

If the circuit has been rewired and is suitably fused and earthed it should be fairly compliant with current regs. Those conduits must be earthed and have rubber bushes on any ends to prevent chafing, but the re-use of old conduit is acceptable (it's one of the reasons for using conduit in the first place).

Owain

[chris French]

In message , Brian Sharrock writes

Can you come up from below into the opening?

If it's like my '30's house, there is a brickbuilt,concrete topped hearth in front of the opening flush with the floor.

At some point someone had got a gas pipe up into the opening, and I reckon I could go down a bit inside the opening, and then gte out past the hearth area with a bit of luck