Light switches as isolators

[The Cavalry]

Doing a load of work in a ground floor flat (will post some pics as cannot believe what people will do) lady upstairs asks me to have a look at her built in fridge as it had stopped working. The house was converted just over 1 year ago. I could not find any way of turning off the power anywhere near. I cannot remove the fridge without pulling off the skirting to look behind. I eventually found behind the microwave a double socket and right next to it what I thought was a 4 light switch. On turning the first one off I turned the washing machine off, second one does the hob, third extractor and I guess 4 is for the fridge. Has anyone come across this before and what would you recommend. The fridge is just over 2m from switch as well. The owner of the flat I,m working in is already taking the builder to court.

 

[white armour]

Is this what is known as a supergrid switch? Where a supply is run in the box and then separate radials to each appliance via a 20amp switch.

As long as supply & switch cabling is correctly protected and switches are man enough for the job cannot see a problem.

Regards wa

 

[madmac]

Don't jump to rash conclusions there, this is very common nowadays with double pole switches being used as isolators and is completely fine. Only if they are single pole would I have a problem. All I would recommend is that the switches are clearly identified as to their purpose as required by the regs.

 

[The Cavalry]

they are single pole the lady had no idea what they were for !!

 

[The Cavalry]

The other thing is where are the fuses? Do I wreck her skirting and pull the fridge out to see if there is a socket behind? what about the cooker hood is that the same as the one downstairs (broken socket hanging off wall above unit) how much do I get involved as it looks like I,m going to have to stand up in court for my bloke!

 

[Electricalserv]

Poor Job. Fused spurs for appliances all day. No questions!

 

[nickblake]

what we have done in the past is double pole switch and fuse on a grid , it was done by running a ring into a grid switch then each appliance was fused and switched through a DP switch on a radial worked quite well loadin g was covered by the ring and then each radial to each appliance worked quite well not a load of fuses spurs

 

[The Cavalry]

Poor Job. Fused spurs for appliances all day. No questions!

This is what I do, and the reason why I thought I would ask the learned gents on here what they thought.

 

[madmac]

You are correct to be flagging this up, take as many photos as you can get and use the regulations and coding to point out the faillings in the general safety of the install. Also find out who the mob were and report them to their regulatory body i.e. NICEIC/JIB etc. And just start from the beginning with a notebook and write down the problems as bullet points, don't get bogged down with big explanations when a simple fact of matter answer will do and ALWAYS quote what reg. each problem relates to. And good luck.

 

[The Cavalry]

Am running out of space for pics, must have several gigabytes for down stairs, will take more, might advise her to get another spark in to help with the fight against the bloke who built jacks new house!! two people saying the same might be better in the long run

 

[JUD]

Poor Job. Fused spurs for appliances all day. No questions!

A fused spur is pointless if feeding a socket as the appliance is fused in the plug top. Also, most appliances these days come with a sealed plug top and more often than not cutting it off to connect into a fused spur will void the warranty.

 

[The Cavalry]

This is why I like this site so much. Every day I am learning. Thank you JUD

 

[Electricalserv]

A fused spur is pointless if feeding a socket as the appliance is fused in the plug top. Also, most appliances these days come with a sealed plug top and more often than not cutting it off to connect into a fused spur will void the warranty.

I couldn't give a damn. Fuse spur feed all my appliances. Fuse spur to socket appliance plugged in. Fuse spur to boiler. Simple

 

[nickblake]

A fused spur is pointless if feeding a socket as the appliance is fused in the plug top. Also, most appliances these days come with a sealed plug top and more often than not cutting it off to connect into a fused spur will void the warranty.

sorry mate in going to correct you there 95% of appliance in the documantation state that the plug being cut off will not void the warrenty as long as the appliance has been connected by a suitabley qualified and competant person i have also spoken to trading standards regarding this and they have stated the same

 

[Electricalserv]

sorry mate in going to correct you there 95% of appliance in the documantation state that the plug being cut off will not void the warrenty as long as the appliance has been connected by a suitabley qualified and competant person i have also spoken to trading standards regarding this and they have stated the same

And that suitabley qualified electrician provides a fused spur!

 

[Des 56]

Shall we now progress this thread to the argument of whether a 20 amp double pole switch is suitable for connection to a 32 amp ring :sifone:



On second thoughts ,lets not go there

Just to add
I think its ok The contact ratings will be adequate

 

[JUD]

I couldn't give a damn. Fuse spur feed all my appliances. Fuse spur to socket appliance plugged in. Fuse spur to boiler. Simple

Having 2 fuses in series is a violation of Reg 536.1 unless the downstream fuse is of a lower rating than the upstream (discrimination). Let's say you have a fused spur feeding a socket which has a washing machine plugged in. Both the fused spur and the plug top would need 13A fuses installed, hence there is no discrimination between the two.

536.1 states that in the event of a fault, only the fuse that is intended to operate (the one in the plug top) must do so.

 

[nickblake]

We use 13 amp rated double sockets so i would say yes , and i agree with that electricalserve

 

[Amp David]

A row of fused spurs is looks bobbins! especially in a smaller kitchen which has a few appliances.

Grid switch then out to each appliance, ok i know there are factors limiting if this can be done, but if it can good job!

 

[telectrix]

till the grid switches fail and some numpty links them out because they're an obscure make and the only way to repair is to replace all 4 switches, grid plate and faceplate because all your wholesaler sells is MK.