Outside light visible wires

[danny30]

Hi Guys, please can you give me some advice. We are having a rewire and the electrician has installed an outside light with the wire sticking out as shown in the image below. He said that there is no way to have the wire inside as it comes from the floor which is below the fitting. Is that normal wiring for an outside light and should the wire be exposed like that?

 

[Strima]

The flex to the light will be fine outside like that. But he could have made a bit more effort to tidy up the cable run a bit.

It looks like he's put a joint box below to allow for easy access to swap the light over in a few years time which is good.

Without knowing the layout and construction of the building I can't really comment on how it should have been run internally but a bit of 20mm conduit would tidy that up.

 

[telectrix]

as above ^^^. alternative woud be chasing out plaster inside. even so, on the outside, cable should be clipped, or run up in white conduit to a box by the light. as it is it's RAF.

 

[danny30]

It just looks wrong for wire exposed outside like that when having a rewire. My wife is very upset so we've asked for it to be taken down. Any idea how much it would cost to get it done property without exposed wires?

 

[pc1966]

Are you ground floor only?

Putting the cable in to white conduit pipe would certainly make it look neater (as a while light might do as well!) but to fully hide the cable it would either have to enter on the floor above, or have a channel cut in the wall and then it covered over with matching harling and painted (which is outside of most sparks' area of work).

 

[sparksfly]

As above ..chasing out patching up = much more work + painting over the whole front to blend in or watch how Bob Ross blends it with happy oils on TV!!

White Light, white wiska box, conduit with stuffing gland at top would blend better. Probably had to put light high to get ground coverage...otherwise nothing wrong with it.

 

[buzzlightyear]

me I would put a nice gav box looks more professional .and a machine gun nest .lol.

 

[telectrix]

looking at that layout, i would have chased up inside within 150mm of the corner ( safe zone), then drilled through and fitted the floodlight close to the exit wound. (about 18"" - 24" to the right as you look at the building from outside) with the adaptable box covering the exit wound. if you didn't want chasing at the present, a short length od 16mm mini trunking up the corner until when and if you were redecorating.

 

[buzzlightyear]

me I would ask the spark that was putting the light up to put some paint on the machine gun nest why he was at it .lol.

 

[DefyG]

Many fittings come pre-terminated with a short length of flex, which invariably will always show (a bit)!
Perhaps a different type of light fitting?

 

[danny30]

Thanks for the answers. I asked him to tidy it up and put it in white conduit.

 

[Mark Wright]

Even Twin and Earth is waterproof but if it's not taut it's liable to hit the wall in high wind and damage and then just paint over it probably look nice than conduit.

 

[westward10]

Even Twin and Earth is waterproof but if it's not taut it's liable to hit the wall in high wind and damage and then just paint over it probably look nice than conduit.

The outer sheath of a pvc cable is not waterproof but water resistant. Water is a solvent and given the correct time and conditions will penetrate pvc.

 

[James]

If they had made the effort of clipping cable in a neat straight run it would not look so bad, just lazy running at angle as it is.

 

[Mark Wright]

The outer sheath of a pvc cable is not waterproof but water resistant. Water is a solvent and given the correct time and conditions will penetrate pvc.

Surprised because even SWA sheath is PVC isn't it, although T&E not recommended outside could make a interesting test just leave some in a bucket and take measurements now and then.

Had some old White T&E outside for ages although partly sheltered.

 

[telectrix]

Surprised because even SWA sheath is PVC isn't it, although T&E not recommended outside could make a interesting test just leave some in a bucket and take measurements now and then.

Had some old White T&E outside for ages although partly sheltered.

most SWA used these days is XLPE. (polyethylene) as well as having a higher heat rating, it's water resistance is better than PVC.

 

[westward10]

The sheath of most general swa cables is pvc it is the conductor insulation which is xlpe.

 

[telectrix]

The sheath of most general swa cables is pvc it is the conductor insulation which is xlpe.

I stand corrected.

 

[Dustydazzler]

My guess is the black flex came on the light and the grey box is a socket.
the sparks has possibly just whacked a 13a plugtop on the end of the flex and plugged it in.
not the worst idea in the world as the next guy can easily swap the light if it stops working.
as for flex outside I don’t have an issue with it, could have dressed it straight straight up with 2 clips thou..

 

[telectrix]

I stand corrected.

stiil the sheath must have good water ingress protection when buried in damp soil for years without any penetration. any time water gets in, it's usually at the glands ( or if a bodge job, where it's not even glanded).