Wiring regs question

[newshound]

I have two five amp lighting circuits, notionally upstairs and downstairs but because of a funny house layout they overlap a bit.

I just put in a new stair light circuit and, for convenience, changed a single gang light switch for a two gang one to cover the new circuit. It was only afterwards that I realised that left me with one switch on the "upstairs" circuit and one on the "downstairs", so you need to throw two breakers to ensure that unit is dead.

While I am not going to lose any sleep over this, I guess it might not be compliant with current regs, can anyone confirm? I have a relatively ancient CU with all circuits protected by one RCD so it is fairly safe against isolation failure.

[John Rumm]

You have exactly the same situation as any place with two way switching of the hall and/or the landing light. So it's a common situation to have two separate circuits at one switch position. So perfectly acceptable from a regs point of view.

[SH]

I have 4 lighting circuits here:

loft

1st floor ground floor outside lighting.

I have a double gang back box in the hall way with 5 switches on it. one is for hall light, one is for landing light and these two switches are on 2 different RCBOs. These two two watch switches are in the left half of the double gang back box.

The right hand half of the back box has 3 switches for 3 outside lights which is on a 3rd RCBO.

I have a mental partition in the middle of the double gang back box to at least mechanically separate the outside lighting wiring from the two indoor lighting circuits.

[newshound]

I'm reassured. I've just realised I had the same situation in a previous three floor house, where the middle landing had two way switches for both the stairs going up and the stairs going down. It just seemed counter to a "common sense" view that it's best to have a single isolator for any wiring enclosure.

[charles]

if they are both on the same phase?

[Owain Lastname]

That's fine. I would put a label inside the switch box warning that 2 circuits are present.

Owain

[John Walliker]

I have seen three phases in one lighting switch box. It was a mechanical workshop with fluorescent lighting and rotating machines. There was a permanent warning label on the outside. John

[ARW]

If you have not "borrowed a neutral" this perfectly normal.