Lighting Spur

[Englishman]

My mum wants a light put in the cupboard under the stairs, which is where the CU is based, since the downstairs lights circuit only has kitchen, living room and a two way hall light on it so no issues with overloading the breaker, my question is this, can I (legally) bung another bit of t&e straight out of the breaker to feed one switch and ceiling rose or would I need to spur off one of the existing fittings?

 

[malcolmsanford]

Yes that is fine. As you say you need to ensure that your not overloading the circuit.

 

[Guitarist]

Although technically an addition to a circuit as you would be coming off an existing breaker, you would need to be competent to carry out the work, test it and produce a minor works certificate.
If you are, and can, then no problem

 

[Englishman]

Although technically an addition to a circuit as you would be coming off an existing breaker, you would need to be competent to carry out the work, test it and produce a minor works certificate.
If you are, and can, then no problem

Competence and certification aren't a problem, was just asking from a regulation point of view as I can't find anything in the BRB or OSG which specifically states that you can spur by coming out of the actual breaker rather than off a point on the circuit. Was fairly sure I could though so thank you to yourself and Malcolm.

Now for my next question, it's a council property, would they allow someone other than one of their contractors to carry out and test the work, or would they insist on doing either just the testing or the installing as well? Or would this depend on the individual council?

Or is it just a case of disconnecting the circuit addition from the breaker when the council are due?

 

[malcolmsanford]

Section 314 of the regulation covers the division of an installation and what your planing on doing.

There is nothing in that section that precludes what you want to do. Your basically using the protective device as an junction box and extending an already existing circuit. So the only reg you really need to look at is 136.16 concerning additions and alterations to an installation, as I remarked in my first post.

As for the council allowing you to work in their property, highly unlikely. There will be insurance issues at a minimum and liability if anything went wrong.

You could always contact them and ask, and you may get a positive response, but don't hold your breath, or you do as I'm sure the majority of us would do on here .............ahem

 

[Englishman]

I mean, obviously I wouldn't just go ahead and do the work without asking the council/in the event of them refusing if i did.... But i'm sure there are no rules against installing the equipment, just actually connecting it up to the CU, so in the event that they do decide to come out without being asked, if the instaled wiring isn't actually connected into the CU, i'm sure that there wouldn't be an issue with that.....:wink_smile:

 

[telectrix]

at the end of the day, if it's done and dusted, the council will probably not have a clue as to whether they have done it in the past.

 

[Guest55]

at the end of the day, if it's done and dusted, the council will probably not have a clue as to whether they have done it in the past.

Unless the council house is wired in red / black.
Makes add ons in br/bl easy to spot :-D

 

[telectrix]

soon find a bit of red/black. if you can get hold of the pikeys before it gets weighed in

 

[ipf]

soon find a bit of red/black. if you can get hold of the pikeys before it gets weighed in

In a factory the other day and one of the shop floor lads asked asked me if the colours had changed from br/bl to red/black. He'd found a bit of cable in his garage.:stuart: