Bad practice or fine ?

[stevie h]

Got a rewire on at the mo and there is metal conduit for all of the original s/w drops , buried in the wall , the customer is happy with the original s/w positions so i was going to use the conduit to save chasing and mess , the conduit is not earthed , can i run my s/w drops in it ...? will be rewired to 17th..

cheers

Ste

 

[Bane]

Ooooh.

Going to stick my neck out and say...

Fine?

 

[tony.towa]

Use the existing conduit purely as a cable route, with your switch wires make sure you run in a cpc.

 

[Bane]

Use the existing conduit purely as a cable route, with your switch wires make sure you run in a cpc.

It's like your reading my mind Tony!

(Night all!)

 

[jibspark]

im confused, why would you think it would be bad practice? unless ive missed something? (i usually do!)

 

[stevie h]

im confused, why would you think it would be bad practice? unless ive missed something? (i usually do!)

conduit not being earthed , and as i,v never used old conduit drops on a rewire before, so i thought i ask you knowlagable gents

 

[rumrunner]

you might have to change the boxes ,the face plate screws might be a different size,and the knockout in the new box might not line up,and on some boxes theres no earth terminal,also if its half inch conduit you will find it a bit tight for more than onec tae,but apart from all that using it should be ok

 

[jibspark]

conduit not being earthed , and as i,v never used old conduit drops on a rewire before, so i thought i ask you knowlagable gents

sorry i thought you meant you were gonna bond them, if you bond them all i shouldnt think it would be a problem,

i would be supprised if the screws wernt the same size, usually all 3.5mm i thought, you can always drill a new hole if the KO didnt line up, and if for some odd reason they didnt have earth piller in the back you could put some in couldnt you?

 

[mpfisher@hotmai]

Use the conduit mate and dont worry about bonding it 30mA protection takes away the need to bond IMO......

oh and by the way CUT THEM SEALS !!

 

[heathelect]

Ref faceplate screws the very old ones used to be 4ba but they will tap out with a 3.5mm tap no problem, go ahead reuse the old conduits is not a problem ive done it for years, we dont earth metal capping do we ?
Regards dave

 

[wayne]

new regs new world (been watching some politician on the news)
earthed covering or rcbos in short

 

[stevie h]

The original sw heights are not all exactly the same , so the plans is to drop them all a bit , so there spot on , so its down the conduit , out , short run of capping into new sw box .... so the conduit will not be getting an earth off the box , that is why i thought i,d double check .

As for the original sw boxes , there aint none , the switches are screwed via a sort of " u " shaped bracket mounted on the brick work and bit of wood , its very old , .... skts are single mk very old type mounted on the skirting , round pin inserts

 

[wayne]

rum could be right about the screws

 

[jibspark]

i reckon, i never seen anything like that! but then i havnt got around much yet! lol

 

[wayne]

wait till you got a 50 year old rewire ....

 

[weyboy]

If the conduits are in the walls as drops only and not grounded in any way and are not in contact with any extraneous conductive parts or exposed conductive parts then should be fine and no need to earth conduits.

 

[heathelect]

stevieh, ive seen them all, wooden pattresses with surface switches, wooden flush boxes with flush switches, we used to re use these boxes and fix plate switch with chrome 6s woodsrews, of course not advisable now (FLAMMABLE BACK BOX), ive also seen wooden trunking underfloors slotted for single v.i.r. cables in them, with a flat lid, must have been a joiners job to install the trunking it was a work of art. So re-use those metal conduits and extend with capping, its not a problem, but dont forget your zoning.
regards dave

 

[Shakey]

I presume the reason you have mentioned the 17th in the post is because of the rcd requirements.

So can you run in the conduit. Yes of course you can.

Does it absolve you from puting the lights on a 30mA? No

so, just run the cables in as if it was a chase and put on an RCD, or earth the conduit and dont protect with RCD - both ways would meet the regs.

 

[stevie h]

Thanks for all the input .

Ste