upstairs / downstairs

[double 22]

Planning to strip out and redo upstairs lighting / switches, etc.

Existing is wired, lamps connected to neutral / switches live / switchwire.

When preparing today saw it had been wired a bit shoddily, and discovered a socket spured off the lighting circuit. (using the single and earth as a phase and neutral)

Obviously disconnected socket, but worried i am opening a can of worms.

How can i confirm that the "upstairs" and "downstairs" (as label up at CU)lighting circuits are not inter connected?

If i can confirm they are seperate can take one one circuit at a time and not get out of my depth.

 

[industryspark]

good lad for removing the socket spur

why are you working on the lighting circuit may i ask? problems?

can you lift floorbaoards/get in loft and visually trace cables? you could with some time and effort use a multimeter to work it all out if you feel competent enough to use one.

if your worried about the state of your electrics it may be worth getting a spark to do a PIR on your home. this will tell you what state your installation is in and recommend any work that needs doing. its not that expensive and imho well worth the money.......especially if your turning things up such as sockets on lighting circuits!

interconnections between circuits (especially lighting) are not unheard of and the dreaded 'borrowed' nuetral often appears this way.

 

[double 22]

want a couple of extra lights upstairs. dont want to just keep adding, as this seems to have been done by the last few occupants.

would rather take supply to lamp fitting then down to switch, rather than system in use. can imagine 2 circuits interconnected. nothing seems to be done to standard here!

 

[kevnurse]

How can i confirm that the "upstairs" and "downstairs" (as label up at CU)lighting circuits are not inter connected?

If i can confirm they are seperate can take one one circuit at a time and not get out of my depth.

During daylight hours, trip all the MCBs, except the one labelled as the upstairs lights, then switch on all the lights in the house to confirm that only the upstairs lights (poss the stairs as well) work. I would check all the power outlets upstairs are dead. The shaver socket and any high up wall heater in the bathroom have been known to be wired into the lights circuit.

Then do a similar check for all the other MCBs.

Doing this will only check for separate live wires. As mentioned elsewhere, any crossed neutrals will not be discovered. However, all the neutrals in all circuits are connected together in the consumer unit anyway. The only slight worry with crossed neutrals is that you might have double pole isolation switches bypassed by a neutral wire from another circuit.