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Coding muddled circuits

This isn't quite what happened ...


You are doing a PIR on a property which has had about three phases of alterations. The householder wants to retain power so that she may use Wifi for her work, so each circuit is locked off individually. Whilst inspecting the downstairs lights, you undo a switch which controls an outdoor luminaire beside a door leading from the dining room to the garden. You get a shock (both literally and figuratively). ?


FI reveals that the lamp was fed from the upstairs lighting circuit.


I think that such a situation is rather dangerous. One might argue that safe isolation should be applied to every accessory, but I think that it would be reasonable for an ordinary person to change a broken switch. It isn't so much a matter of one fault to danger, but one repair to danger.


It also means that if the CU is marked "downstairs lights" and "upstairs lights", the markings are inappropriate.


C2 seems rather extreme - a lot of effort might be required to separate the circuits.

C3 gets my vote.

no code seems reasonable subject to the installation being sound in all other respects.


Interested to hear your views!
Parents
  • Perhaps a useful tip which I gained from Western Power recently. Their jointers seem to wear normal blue neoprene gloves for all work. These provide 230V insulation (avoiding your snag Chris) without any trouble as long as not mechanically stressed too much and save many tingles which might otherwise occur. Much work is live, and proper insulating gloves are far to cumbersome for many jobs, and insulated tools are not always 100% ideal but the gloves provide a second layer of safety. No guarantee from me, but it does help! I have tried the slightly thicker orange ones (Motor factors supplied)  and these are pretty good too.


    No code please Chris, where does BS7671 say that unscrewing a switch plate is safe, it often is not!
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  • Perhaps a useful tip which I gained from Western Power recently. Their jointers seem to wear normal blue neoprene gloves for all work. These provide 230V insulation (avoiding your snag Chris) without any trouble as long as not mechanically stressed too much and save many tingles which might otherwise occur. Much work is live, and proper insulating gloves are far to cumbersome for many jobs, and insulated tools are not always 100% ideal but the gloves provide a second layer of safety. No guarantee from me, but it does help! I have tried the slightly thicker orange ones (Motor factors supplied)  and these are pretty good too.


    No code please Chris, where does BS7671 say that unscrewing a switch plate is safe, it often is not!
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