Lighting circuit with no earth wire?

[meow2222]

50/50 chance of creating a dead short, since N is not disconnected by pulling the fuse..

NT

[Andy Wade]

Yes, there wasn't any, really.

When there's a step-change in the regs it always seems to take a few years for everybody to catch up. Doubtless the same is going to happen with people still installing T&E cables in walls without 30 mA RCD protection (or impact protection) despite the 17th edition now banning it.

[Ed Sirett]

IME it would be installations from about the early 70s where earth wires are on the lights. This is probably due to 'the lag' in taking up the new regs.

[Roger]

The message from Ed Sirett contains these words:

Some must have been quicker than others.

My parents retirement bungalow was built in 1968 and that had earths on on the lighting wiring. The way it was wired up is a pain though. All the lights bar those in the loft were wired back to a central unit under the loft floor where the circuit wires were connected with ceramic screw-its (or similar) and the multitude of earths twisted round each other and then round the central unit, which, IIRC, was a box about 6 or

8" square and a couple of inches deep.

[ARWadworth]

There is a new build house not far from me that is wired in red and black. I still have not tested the system properly as there is still no electricity on at the house.

Adam

[Andrew Gabriel]

Council housing was generally built to higher standards than private housing, because they were spending someone else's money, and made up lots of extra regulations for it such as the Parker Morris standard, etc. Of course, with subsequent lack of care and maintenance, they may not look so good now.

[Andrew Gabriel]

There's never been any enforcement for new builds. Even today when there is supposed to be, it's non-existant.

[Andrew Gabriel]

My parents house, still original 1955 or 1956 PVC wiring, has earths in the lighting circuit. They don't go into the junction boxes, but are brought around the outside and twisted together very tightly (with something mechanical which has done it very neatly, not by hand). As I've come across them over the years, I've pushed them into a chocolate block connector to make sure contact resistance stays low.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That might have been the case sometimes - but certainly not always.

They also tended to have someone with a bee in his bonnet about trying new things or just being different for difference's sake. Things like D&S 13 amp sockets...

[Ed Sirett]

In theory the completion certificate will be dependant on there being a certificate of compliance from one of the electricians' guilds. The 'chain of responsibility' is however stretched out long and so effectively there is little or no enforcement.