Un earthed lighting

[SteveEmartin]

I would take the professional approach - Give your customer a written estimate and detail the work that is necessary to comply with the minimum standards of BS7671. If the customer is always correct then he/she will obtain additional estimates and compare.

 

[micknew]

Just makes me think how fittings could be like that for years having no earth in the first place.. Why would they have wired up bulidings like that from the start?

It was probably wired in the 1960's when cheapskate electrical contractors would cut costs to win contracts.
It was permitted to wire without cpc's in those days.

 

[chalky06]

Thanks all, sorry cant give a thumbs up (on phone) but thanks to all

 

[varilite]

Yes I think the excuse was its on the ceiling no one is going to touch it

 

[telectrix]

was all class II fittings and switches in them days. even the K/O boxes had nylon lugs so a fault could not make the faceplate pins live.

 

[Adam W]

Years ago your choice of lighting was limited to what kind of lampshade you could put on your pendant; very few light fittings were class 1 anyway so you could 'get away with' wiring a lighting circuit without a cpc.
You can't install a class 1 light without an earth, and if it was like that before, then it shouldn't have been.

It might be worth pointing out to the customer that the wiring will be nearing it's end of life and may need replacing before long anyway.

 

[leep82]

Had somthing similar recently. Custer had a 5ft fluorescent fitting in there kitchen, which they were refurbishing. I already knew there was no c.p.c in the lighting circuit as i had done previous work on the property. I had advised them about it but they weren't overly concerned. The NIC have a guide out on this issue, where you have RCD protection and you can not simultaneously touch the fitting and any extraneous conductive part, and you make a note at the consumer unit it's acceptable. These criteria were met on the property until they lowered there kitchen ceiling! Told them that they now need a class 2 fitting so out they went and brought 3 x class 2 spot lights.I then had to tell them I wouldnt be fitting them unless the circuit was rewired or a seperate c.p.c pulled in. They didnt fancy the work involved in doing this so eventually settled for a single class 2 fitting to replace the fluorescent.