power up to loft

[John Dolan]

My loft is boarded but has no light or power. To avoid having to fit a permanent connection below floorboards etc, would it be ok to - a) run a plug-in extension using appropriate flex from a convenient socket in the bedroom below, via plastic trunking inside a fitted wardrobe, through the ceiling to the loft, where , b) a surface mounted socket would be available for power, which would c) also power a florescent light via a 5 amp fuse connection to this socket?

The length of extension from bedroom plug to loft socket would be 8 metres. The light flex would be 4 metres. The biggest draw on the circuit at any time would be the light and a model railway.

This arrangement would avoid having to add further wiring to a switch, since lights and power could be provided by simply plugging into and turning on the socket below. It would also mean I could remove the lot if I ever sell, and so not need one of these new fangled P certificates.

Comments and thoughts gratefully received.

[Doctor Evil]

Lift the boards where appropriate and break into the lighting ring and insert loft lights properly. Don't screw about with those sorts of things.

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[Stefek Zaba]

It's arguably not quite Regs compliant - being 'fixed' wiring it's kinda supposed to be done in cable not flex, etc. etc. But if you can 'guarantee' it's only ever going to carry the model railway and lights, none of us will tell the Part P Police ;-). Don't wire the light permanently to the back of that socket: if you can put the double socket itself close to the hatch, just use a rarely-unplugged 13A plug (with 3A fuse) to run the flourescent; if not, put a switch or an FCU (makes the double-pole connections easy) close to the hatch, but still have the light plugged in.

If you find yourself spending increasing time in the loft, that's the time to extend the power circuit 'properly' into the loft. (It's usually trivial to tap into the upstairs lighting circuit in the loft, as the ceiling roses for the rooms below are easy to find. In the previous house I preferred to have two lights on two separate circuits, so that a fusepop on one didn't leave me in darkness...)

HTH - Stefek

[John Rumm]

OK for lights, but better to not a general purpose power socket from the lighting circuit, because even if you know to only run a trainset from it, the next owners may not!

[Rob Morley]

So use one of those bayonet plugs that fit in a light socket :-)

[Peter Twydell]

In message , Stefek Zaba writes

I wish the bloke who sold his bungalow to my mother had done that. When it came to extending the ring main to put another socket in her spare bedroom, I discovered that he had connected the only light in the loft to the ring main and not to the lighting circuit. So when I turned the ring main off...

[bigcat]

switch,

If you use 2.5mm T&E cable to the socket, wired in the back, and dont bury it in thermal insulation, and fit only one double socket at the top, it should be reg compliant. The loft light should be run via an FCU from that, which is effectively switch plus fuse in one.

If you run 2x 2.5mm T&E up instead of one, you could connect your loft socket up as part of the ring, and put as many sockets up there as you want.

Note there are always ways to make the above non-compliant.

NT