Socket for vacuum cleaner from lighting circuit?!

[JohnW2]

You're assuming that a cable does not go through the wall into or out of the trunking.

Yes, I'm making that assumption. However, since the trunking was not very firmly attached to thee wall, I was more-or-less able to satisfy myself that such was not the case I would add that relatively little of the wiring in the building is 'buried in walls' - which may or may not be related to the fact that it is a listed building.

However, I'm reminded of that first thing I was taught in my further education (that "common things are common,and rare/obscure things are rare"), a variant of which is "the most likely/'obvious' explanations are more likely to be correct and more obscure ones". In this context, I still think it is most likely that things are 'just as they seem' - i.e. a socket fed from a lighting circuit (be it 6A, 10A or 16A) with flex from a ceiling rose - a (compliant) situation (provided the flex CSA is adequate) about which I would personally have few, if any, concerns.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

No vendetta.

Why just me, then?

Just don’t understand why you dismiss perfectly reasonable possible suggestions when WE BOTH know that unless somebody does a full visual and then dead / live tests everybody is simply speculating ... AND you don’t know if the socket has cable(s) entering the back box from within the wall ..

I have dismissed no possibilities - we have been discussing a range of them. As you say, we don't know for certain, and probably never will, what the situation actually is - but if we did have certain knowledge, there would be nothing to discuss. In fact, there is rarely, if very, and point in 'discussing' things which are already established certainties.

 

[Jurassicspark]

You're assuming that a cable does not go through the wall into or out of the trunking.


Are those two examples you quote compliant?

Wiring with flex is.

There is no rule against them, just like wiring with flex.
Who would wire it in flex? It's more expensive than t&e.
The only advantage of flex I can think right now is that R1 R2 readings should be better as the earth conductor is the same size as the other conductors in a flex.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

How come the ignore button, doesn't work now - despite the Ignore being set?

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

You have to refresh the page for it to work.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

You have to refresh the page for it to work.

Thanks, I never noticed that before..

 

[securespark]

There is no rule against them, just like wiring with flex.
Who would wire it in flex? It's more expensive than t&e.
The only advantage of flex I can think right now is that R1 R2 readings should be better as the earth conductor is the same size as the other conductors in a flex.

If it's compliant, you can do it, no matter how ridiculous you think it is!

 

[BlueLoo]

I remember my dad using shop bought bayonet adapters with a socket/lead to power drills etc.

Light socket extensions were a real thing.

 

[JohnW2]

You have to refresh the page for it to work.

Well discovered. Thanks!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I remember my dad using shop bought bayonet adapters with a socket/lead to power drills etc. .... Light socket extensions were a real thing.

My grandparents used to connect everything under the sun via bayonet-(2 pin) socket adapters plugged into light sockets. I'm not sure that anyone understood anything about 'Class I items' or the need for 'earthing' them in those days

Kind Regards, John

 

[ebee]

I remember my dad using shop bought bayonet adapters with a socket/lead to power drills etc.

Light socket extensions were a real thing.

Ironing shirts using a bayonet type plug and perhaps a bayonet type Y splitter so you could still light the room.

Back in the 60s all sorts of things were common that we might baulk at today.
Why would an iron need an earth? It`s only for shirts, it still works! was a common attitude.
I don`t remember piles of bodies littering the streets either.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Ironing shirts using a bayonet type plug and perhaps a bayonet type Y splitter so you could still light the room.

It was actually quite a sensible idea, to have the power source hanging above you, when ironing. It kept the flex well out of the way - handy in workshops too.

 

[pcaouolte]

Is it possible that a cable for the double socket is fed from the ceiling above (I can make out a hole in the ceiling at the top of the trunking) and a separate cable from the ceiling rose happens to drop into the same piece of trunking and is then passed out of the back of the trunking into the room next door where a light and a fan can be seen?

 

[JohnW2]

Ironing shirts using a bayonet type plug and perhaps a bayonet type Y splitter so you could still light the room.

Yep, exactly per my grandparents. I still have a few of those Y-type bayonet splitters, and the bayonet to 2-pin socket that was plugged into one of the branches (nd 'worse'!) !

Back in the 60s all sorts of things were common that we might baulk at today. .... Why would an iron need an earth? It`s only for shirts, it still works! was a common attitude. ... I don`t remember piles of bodies littering the streets either.

Quite so. I think we tend to overlook the fact that earthing such things is only 'important' in the event of an L-case fault, which in reality is a very rare event. In the case of an iron (and some other things), there's probably a much greater risk of electric shock due to fraying of the flex - and no amount of earthing will protect against that, unless both L and E conductors loose their insulation and come into contact (the same happening to L & N conductors ought to 'blow a fuse').

In fact (maybe 'ironcally'), in the event of fraying leaving (just) an L conductor exposed, the risk of electric shock will be greater if the iron actually IS earthed!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Is it possible that a cable for the double socket is fed from the ceiling above (I can make out a hole in the ceiling at the top of the trunking) ...

Thanks for your thoughts. All of the hole appears to be visible, and nothing seems to be coming through it.

and a separate cable from the ceiling rose happens to drop into the same piece of trunking and is then passed out of the back of the trunking into the room next door where a light and a fan can be seen?

It's not a different room. In fact, as I explained, what we're talking about is in a 'mini-'bay', such that that what you're looking at is effectively an 'outside wall', the other side of which is 'the great outdoors' (and I don't think that anything appears on the outside of that wall - but I'll check next time I'm there!).

However, I would repeat yet again that my main point was to remind people that, even if it's simply a case of the socket being fed from a lighting circuit, that would be compliant with BS7671, provided only that the flex had an adequate CSA.

Kind Regards, John