earthing of switched fcu

[soloheadbeg]

Hi

I removed the front of the switched fcu which controls my central heating and have discovered that the earth 'in' and earth 'out' wires are directly connected with a connection block. Is this ok or do the earth wires have to be connected separately to the two earth terminals provided on the switch.

Thanks in advance.

 

[chivers67]

They should be terminated on the FCU and also the back box should be for good practice if it's metal?

Is it obvous why they haven't been terminted and a choc used instead? If the cable is too short you could terminate a link from the choc to the FCU termination.

 

[soloheadbeg]

Thanks a lot. So there is actually no necessity to have them connected separately to the fcu? To clarify then I can bring a sleeved earth wire from the choc to one of the earth terminals on the fcu and I'll be ok?

Cheers

 

[chivers67]

It will be ok, it's then earthed. Some people use a choc to join wires inside a back box particularly for lighting.

It's accessible so I can't see a problem though if the wires are long enough may as well terminate them on the FCU

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If the FCU has a metal faceplate you should take the circuit earths directly to it.

 

[soloheadbeg]

The FCU has neither a metal faceplate or metal backplate so can I leave the earth in and out connected the way they are currently i.e. in a connection block?

Cheers

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yup.

 

[sparkwright]

You need to connect earth wires to at least one of the earth terminals IMO as you will have this big lump of metal and the two fixing screws unearthed, and if a wire should get nicked by it it may become live.

Having said that, the metal screws on a standard plastic light switch with a plastic back box never get earthed.