Red, green and yellow cable?

[SayraT]

Just a quick question if anyone can answer it.

My brother has just bought a flat and we were just moving a light switch (changing the bathroom so switch would end up inside once it's moved). Anyway, the wires inside the switch (and the others plus ceiling roses) are all red, green and yellow.

I thought old wires were red, black and green/yellow or new ones brown, blue and green/yellow.

What are the yellow ones and should ge get an electrician in to have a proper look.

We've also found an extention cable wired in to the main socket circuit! I assume that's not right?!

 

[SayraT]

Sorry, meant to post a picture but can't work out how to do it.

 

[SayraT]

Picture!

 

[333rocky333]

Can you post a pic of inside a ceiling rose, that might explain things, its hard to tell much from your picture

 

[sparkwright]

Send a better picture of the wires entering the box.

It was common in the 60s and 70s that purpose built blocks of flats were wired with buried conduit, containing single core wires.

Red singles were used as the permanent live, and sometimes yellow would be used as the switched live.

Introducing yellow as the switched live rather than red meant it was easier to identify which wire was which.

Before the late 70s, earth was green rather than green and yellow.

 

[plugwash]

I thought old wires were red, black and green/yellow or new ones brown, blue and green/yellow.

The old British colors were.

Red -> L1
Yellow -> L2
Blue -> L3
Black -> neutral
Green -> Earth

The European harmonized colors are.

Brown -> L1
Black -> L2
Grey -> L3 (Black in older versions of the color code)
Blue -> neutral
Green/yellow -> earth.

For some reason when the harmonized colors were introduced in the 1970s the UK only partially adopted them. Flexible cables switch over in the 1970s as did the Earth in fixed wiring, but the live/neutral conductors in fixed wiring kept the old UK colors until the early 2000s.

So the plain green Earth is an indication that the system is old.

What are the yellow ones

From the way it is connected the yellow wire is clearly a switched live.

It looks like you have a system wired with singles in conduit. Single phase systems normally use the L1 color for the live, but sometimes installers of wiring in conduit chose to use one of the other live colors for the switched live and it looks like your installer did. Since this is a switch there is no Neutral here.

We've also found an extention cable wired in to the main socket circuit! I assume that's not right?!

If it's protected by a FCU then it's ok (though most would not consider it best practice), but if it's just directly wired to the socket circuit then it needs sorting.

and should ge get an electrician in to have a proper look.

Yes, from the little information you have given us it sounds like you have an old installation that has been subject to DIY modifications over the years.

 

[SayraT]

Thanks for your replies.

I'll get some more pictures tomorrow but I'm not there anymore.

Brother will be getting an electrician out as soon as he can.

 

[AndyPRK]

looks brown to me,

 

[plugwash]

looks brown to me,

While in the absence of context I might call that color brown it looks much more like a yellow wire that has got dirty than it does like the brown typically used for wire insulation.

 

[fixitflav]

Just a quick question if anyone can answer it.

My brother has just bought a flat and we were just moving a light switch (changing the bathroom so switch would end up inside once it's moved). Anyway, the wires inside the switch (and the others plus ceiling roses) are all red, green and yellow.

I thought old wires were red, black and green/yellow or new ones brown, blue and green/yellow.

What are the yellow ones and should ge get an electrician in to have a proper look.

We've also found an extension cable wired in to the main socket circuit! I assume that's not right?!

I thought the only light switches allowed in bathrooms were ceiling-mounted types with pull cord.

Also there might be a ventilation fan, wired to start when the light is switched on, and to run on for a while after the light is switched off (so needing a permanent live). That would complicate things.

 

[sparkwright]

No and no.

See him off Ban.

 

[plugwash]

I thought the only light switches allowed in bathrooms were ceiling-mounted types with pull cord.

Normal lightswitches are allowed in bathrooms as long as the zoning rules are followed. In some bathrooms it may be that a pull cord is the only option that both satisfies the zoning rules and puts the lightswitch in a practical location but it really depends on the particular layout and size of the bathroom in question.

Also there might be a ventilation fan, wired to start when the light is switched on, and to run on for a while after the light is switched off (so needing a permanent live). That would complicate things.

Indeed if the permanent live is not taken to the ceiling rose (as looks like may be the case here) wiring up a fan for timer overrun would be tricker.

 

[fixitflav]

Normal lightswitches are allowed in bathrooms as long as the zoning rules are followed. In some bathrooms it may be that a pull cord is the only option that both satisfies the zoning rules and puts the lightswitch in a practical location but it really depends on the particular layout and size of the bathroom in question.

OK thanks. It's something the OP should check. It's not as simple as just moving a switch into the bathroom.

 

[Taylortwocities]

As mentioned above. It looks like your wiring is singles, run in steel conduit.
Moving/changing the location of the switch is going to be limited by the conduit thing. You might be able to extend the existing wires through the wall to the other side, and fit a blanking plate over the existing box.
Doing much else is going to be a real PITA.

 

[SayraT]

It's definitely not brown, it's dirty yellow

There are no switches in the bathroom, my brother is moving the bathroom door further out to make the bathroom bigger. If the switch remains in its current position it will then be inside the bathroom hence why he was going to move it out.

I think those who have suggested the single wires inside conduit are correct.

After I'd made the post I went up to the attic and it looked like all the lighting circuit was inside conduit.

I will try and get some better photos tomorrow. There are certain things I am comfortable doing but my brother will definitely get a qualified electrician in.

The picture I posted earlier was the living room light switch not the bathroom (wires are same colour throughout the house).

Thank you all very much for your replies. I'll get back to you tomorrow with better/more pictures.