Earthing arrangement in lighting.

[acowx]

WHi all,


I work for a well know gas company that now does electrical work also.
Previously worked as an electrician for 5 years.
Anyways not relavent.

Went to complete a job today that someone else quoted, it was to change a CU and upgrade bonding.
So I do the bonding and then make a start on the CU, I then notice that the earthing in the lights is none exsistent. I have a look around and see that all fittings are plastic, including switched apart from 3 lights in lounge and kitchen, BUT, when these lights were installed (class 1 fittings) they have run a 4mm single earth from a socket to the lights.
So yes the lights are earthed but not by a dedicated cable, trying to find a reg but couldn't find anything conclusive and make a phone call and the lets call him safety engineer agreed and said that they need to have a seperate earth cable as lighting is a dedicated circuit.

Waffle over if you have read all that just wondering on your thoughts??
Cheers
Ash

 

[Guest55]

i'd say that a brief inspection beforehand would have stopped you from being up sh** creek mid-job.
i'd also say it was a C3 fault and would benefit from improvement , but its not life or death issue so dont insist on it being fixed.
dont BG have proper guidlines for this job ? sooner or later you'll get in a right mess with this approach.

 

[acowx]

Hey,

Well im new to said company and I made a call and when I spoke to someone I did say don't we carry out EICR before a board change but apparently not, just a risk assesment.
Im going to EICR in future, its just I didn't quote and when I read the job no notes were on it about problems apart from bonding, ah well, I should have checked shouldn't I.

Whats your thoughts on CPC from the sockets.?

 

[Guest55]

not ideal but they are earthed in a manner which is the important thing.
the customer may prefer to switch to insulated fittings rather than the upheaval and cost of partial rewiring.
give them the all the options.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

WHi all,


I work for a well know gas company that now does electrical work also.
Previously worked as an electrician for 5 years.
Anyways not relavent.

Went to complete a job today that someone else quoted, it was to change a CU and upgrade bonding.
So I do the bonding and then make a start on the CU, I then notice that the earthing in the lights is none exsistent. I have a look around and see that all fittings are plastic, including switched apart from 3 lights in lounge and kitchen, BUT, when these lights were installed (class 1 fittings) they have run a 4mm single earth from a socket to the lights.
So yes the lights are earthed but not by a dedicated cable, trying to find a reg but couldn't find anything conclusive and make a phone call and the lets call him safety engineer agreed and said that they need to have a seperate earth cable as lighting is a dedicated circuit.

Waffle over if you have read all that just wondering on your thoughts??
Cheers
Ash

theres nothing wrong with it....and they`v had the sense to use the correct CSA cable (unprotected)=4.00mm CSA
it says in BS7671 that there has to be a means of earthing at every point on a circuit....not that the cable needs to have a CPC incorporated into it...such as modern flat twins...

 

[Brightspark2]

theres nothing wrong with it....and they`v had the sense to use the correct CSA cable (unprotected)=4.00mm CSA
it says in BS7671 that there has to be a means of earthing at every point on a circuit....not that the cable needs to have a CPC incorporated into it...such as modern flat twins...

This.

A common CPC can be used between circuits as long as it meets the requirements of all circuits, which it does. As glenn rightly says 4mm is also the correct size as this is the minimum you can run without mechanical protection.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

This.

A common CPC can be used between circuits as long as it meets the requirements of all circuits, which it does. As glenn rightly says 4mm is also the correct size as this is the minimum you can run without mechanical protection.

aye and the adiabatic would see to that....

 

[stuartcourt]

also do the switch back boxes have plastic lugs or screws