Put right electric cable to outside door light

This electric cable that feeds an outside door light has been like this since we moved in and never really bother me until now.

Always baffled me why the cable was short and not in trunking going along the ceiling

Anyway properly breaks every legal requirement going so how best could this be put right

Looking at it the main feed comes from the 13amp socket just in the picture to the bottom left, the socket gets its feed coming down form the ceiling in trucking, a cable comes out of the socket to feed the light switch to the middle, the cable feed comes out of the switch in trunking goes back up the wall then takes a left outside of the trunking towards the door (hence cable dangling.

1. Should this be taken off the 13amp socket wiring and put onto the 5 amp wiring

2. Can I just simply chase these wires into the brickwork and put behind metal shielding.

3. If I can chase into wall what are the rules, the wire is short going out towards door will not go up and run along ceiling unless its replaced. Replacing is not so straight forward as it goes in one part of the door frame and comes out in the opposite corner.

Basically in a nutshell can the exposed wire not in trunking be chased into wall horizontal about 12in down from ceiling.

Install a spur (fused connection unit) next to socket to fuse down the cable.

Your cable chase would need to be within 150mm of the ceiling to meet regs.

What about trunking across tight to ceiling and extending cable as necessary down to switch

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Mark_The_Yid said:

Install a spur (fused connection unit) next to socket to fuse down the cable.

Your cable chase would need to be within 150mm of the ceiling to meet regs.

What about trunking across tight to ceiling and extending cable as necessary down to switch

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Mark, so I keep the wiring on 13 amp and put in a socket with 5 amp fuse. 13 amp Socket to Fuse Down to Light switch is that correct?

I rather chase in all wiring to tidy up, if I extend cable I would have to join then I'm guessing I'd have to put a junction box

COYS!

You can either replace the single socket for an unswitched fused spur or you can mount one next to it and feed it from the socket in 2.5mm twin and earth cable. The wiring to the light would then connect into the spur on the out (load) connections. When you buy the spur it will most likely have a 13amp fuse in it so it would be advisable to replace it with a 3 amp one.

Attached is a pic of a couple of spur units. You ideally want one without the switch on it

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I'm with Mark - there's regs and there's 'wise'. While 150mm from the ceiling is within regs most people wouldn't know a 'safe zone' from their ass! I'd trunk it tight to the ceiling so muppets know where it is and fuse it down - job done

Mark_The_Yid said:

You can either replace the single socket for an unswitched fused spur or you can mount one next to it and feed it from the socket in 2.5mm twin and earth cable. The wiring to the light would then connect into the spur on the out (load) connections. When you buy the spur it will most likely have a 13amp fuse in it so it would be advisable to replace it with a 3 amp one.

Attached is a pic of a couple of spur units. You ideally want one without the switch on it

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Is this an option (apologies for being a bit naive).

Keep the socket, remove light switch and replace with a fused switch with 3 amp fuse?
MK 13A DP Switched Fused Connection Unit with Flex Outlet White | Screwfix.com

Yep! Socket to switched fused spur in 2.5mm.

To get the wire to reach the ceiling it would have to be extended, simply thing to do is to actually replace it but my problem here is that it does not go straight through wall to outside. It goes to the top right of door frame but comes out on opposite side so must run along to of front door somewhere.

what about if you wired the 2.5mm cable up the trunking and then put the spur high level near ceiling. Then wire back to the light switch in 1.5mm cable and from there wire back to the spur (not connected to spur though) where you could put a joint in the back to go off to the light on the existing cable

Trying to keep it simple without talking about 3 plate system lol

Mark_The_Yid said:

what about if you wired the 2.5mm cable up the trunking and then put the spur high level near ceiling. Then wire back to the light switch in 1.5mm cable and from there wire back to the spur (not connected to spur though) where you could put a joint in the back to go off to the light on the existing cable

Trying to keep it simple without talking about 3 plate system lol

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ok, see were your coming from there, I can extend the wire by joining via the fused spur box.

Just need to be clear now on chasing, once wall is chased does the cable need to go in protective shielding

DiamondGeezer said:

ok, see were your coming from there, I can extend the wire by joining via the fused spur box.

Just need to be clear now on chasing, once wall is chased does the cable need to go in protective shielding

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No chasing! Joint in the trunk

Him Her said:

No chasing! Joint in the trunk

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Was hoping to get rid of the plastic trunking and chase into the wall

DiamondGeezer said:

Just need to be clear now on chasing, once wall is chased does the cable need to go in protective shielding

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Hi @DiamondGeezer if you want to follow regs lol you should have a competent person install it , I like the fact you want yo do it properly mate, most just cowboy it yeeee haaaa... But it will be fine I have faith in you pal

Your question I quoted opens a can of worms lol, and depends on the consumer unit, rcds, and fault protection to mention a few.

If you have an install to the latest 17th edition you can just bury the cables in the wall . In the correct zones of course. If you do protect the cables you should also earth the protection but again depends on your installation mate.

Trunking will solve all that though as @Him Her has said

Mick




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DiamondGeezer said:

Was hoping to get rid of the plastic trunking and chase into the wall

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Okay, then I'd put in a metal back-box near the door and run the existing cable to it. Then run a 1.5mm from there to the fused spur. Joint the cables in the back-box and cover-plate it. Chase everything else in

Without being pedantic and basing my observation on the "do it right" feel of this thread lol, we should be asking him about rcd protection at the very least then you can tell him chase depth


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Mick said:

Without being pedantic and basing my observation on the "do it right" feel of this thread lol, we should be asking him about rcd protection at the very least then you can tell him chase depth


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True, I was diverted by the thought that 3-plate could simplify matters lol

[Oops - 12 hours on a bathroom fit last night, drove back this morning, coughed up for a new combi drill this afternoon, a wall to rip out tomorrow morning and off to sort Mum's finances out tomorrow afternoon - my 'sarcasm knob' got nudged lol]

@Him Her @Mick

So with trunking it is there for all to see so I move on and someone new moves in they will not drill through.

Trunking is the easy option for me but I don't mind spending a bit of time on this hence would like to sink it into the wall.

So far in the thread I can gather its ok that this outside light is coming off the 13 amp socket wiring hence as long as it is down fused to 3 amp (which it is currently not)

If I do bury in walls what rules do I need to go by and still a bit unclear on protecting the wiring once in the wall apart from that if it is shielded this would then need to be earthed

this is the RCD box that I've got

DiamondGeezer said:

@Him Her @Mick

So with trunking it is there for all to see so I move on and someone new moves in they will not drill through.

Trunking is the easy option for me but I don't mind spending a bit of time on this hence would like to sink it into the wall.

So far in the thread I can gather its ok that this outside light is coming off the 13 amp socket wiring hence as long as it is down fused to 3 amp (which it is currently not)

If I do bury in walls what rules do I need to go by and still a bit unclear on protecting the wiring once in the wall apart from that if it is shielded this would then need to be earthed

this is the RCD box that I've got
View attachment 76331

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Whoa! That board is about 20 (ish) years old so it's deffo not 17th edition! Let's not make it too complicated. Trunking is simplest, chasing is okay but, personally, I don't like the 150mm from ceiling safe zone because the average householder has no idea it's there.

If you want to comply with regs then you'd change the board (and likely the earthing too). Personal opinion? You could easily end up with a dodgy mess or you could just put in a short length of 15mm trunk at ceiling height and a fused spur to protect the circuit from over-current.

Thoughts Mick?

Basically if you do not have 30ma rcd protection on the circuit you will need to put the cable deeper than 50mm which is massive lol.

The regs book is in my van which is with one of the lads so this is loosely suggested because I hate cable capping lol because of the extra work involved and would not even read that part lol...

I think you could cap the cable and fly lead from a back box an earth to the capping then it would have a level of fault protection.

I cannot see the rating of your rcd, this will have an effect on the chase

I told you lol, you opened a can of worms lol, and that board is not 17th edition lol





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Mick said:

Basically if you do not have 30ma rcd protection on the circuit you will need to put the cable deeper than 50mm which is massive lol.

The regs book is in my van which is with one of the lads so this is loosely suggested because I hate cable capping lol because of the extra work involved and would not even read that part lol...

I think you could cap the cable and fly lead from a back box an earth to the capping then it would have a level of fault protection.

I cannot see the rating of your rcd, this will have an effect on the chase

I told you lol, you opened a can of worms lol, and that board is not 17th edition lol





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Simply, surface trunk it M8 and avoid the pain