Removing a light switch.

[JFD7000]

A couple of years ago we had a problem with the lighting upstairs. We found the problem was an old light in the bathroom that didnt work. The only light that did work was a bedroom light which musnt be on the same ring.
Ok what my partners dad did was remove the light and attach the wires in the ceiling together and hey presto the lights now work but i am decorating the bathroom now and want to remove the old lightswitch. Would i be ok taping the wire up safetly at the ends or what would be the best option.?

Help would be appreciated.

John

 

[andy]

make the wires dead by disconnecting at the other end. you cannnot 'safely' tape up live wires

 

[JFD7000]

What exactly has he done to make the other lights work ok then??? When i ask he just says it will be ok. I thought that the light is now totally redundant. He did say dont flick the swicth as it will blow the lights???

 

[andy]

What exactly has he done to make the other lights work ok then??? When i ask he just says it will be ok. I thought that the light is now totally redundant. He did say dont flick the swicth as it will blow the lights???

have a look. has he connected all reds together and all blacks together? if yes, this should be fixed immediatly. see for reference for how it should be wired

 

[JFD7000]

Thanks for that, i have a feeling this is how he did it. This sounds silly but i have been pointed to the 'For Reference' before but were is it??

 

[andy]

Thanks for that, i have a feeling this is how he did it. This sounds silly but i have been pointed to the 'For Reference' before but were is it??

top of electrical forum

 

[dingbat]

... problem with the lighting upstairs. ... an old light in the bathroom that didnt work. The only light that did work was a bedroom light...
Ok what my partners dad did was remove the light and attach the wires in the ceiling together and hey presto the lights now work but i am decorating the bathroom now and want to remove the old lightswitch.

John, it sounds to me that the bedroom light which worked was the first on the upstairs circuit, with the bathroom light being the second. As the lights are connected one after the other, the break in the circuit was at the bathroom light... once that break was remade the rest of the lights worked. (If he'd done what andy thinks then he had no business messing with it in the first place.)

Two things bother me though:
How was the reconnection made? I'm hoping you'll say the wires are now in a junction box in the loft, with no conductor exposed.
Do you have no light in the bathroom now? Or were both the original switch and light moved? In which case there should have been no live circuit cables in the old position.

Whatever was actually done i think it makes sense to have your lighting circuit checked out by an electrician. And you shouldn't be touching any electrics unless you at least have a method of testing whether a circuit is dead.

 

[JFD7000]

The way the house origianally, all those years ago was 2 seperate rooms with two seperate doors for the bath and toilet. Before i had the house the wall had been knocked down to make it into 1 room. There is a switch on the landing for the working light and a switch for the light that i am on about which is actually inside the bathroom. I want to get rid of this lightswitch fot the one that - come to think of it has never worked.

I live in a two bedroom house. When the power went funny on the lights the back bedroom was the only light that was working, leaving the front bedroom the 2 bathroom lights and the landing off. The light that has never worked apparently was the problem (god knows why) When my partners dad came round to have a look, he had a look at the light that had never worked and the actual light came away from the ceiling and the wires were just left hanging so they are now joined i persume to make the circuit. When you take the cover off the single switch i want to remove their is a red wire and a black wire with a red sheath on.