Kitchen Ideas Faqs

Help with changing a kitchen light?

Just bought a new light fitting for my kitchen. It has an earth from the block to the light fitting however the wiring in my cieling rose doesnt contain an earth wire. Is it safe to wire this without the earth. the light has double brown / live, double blue / neutral and earth. The wirung in the cieling has double brown / live, double blue / neutral but no earth.

Public Comments

1. No, it isn't at all suitable. The only light fittings used should be double-insulated. The symbol for it looks like this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Double-insulated-symbol.png
2. It is 'fairly' safe,but it will be safer if you get a council electrician to have your ceiling rewired with a earth wire because if a electrical faul occurs and a fire starts...there will be questions of safety in homes.
3. If the ceiling junction box is metal, buy a 'grounding clip' and insert the end of the ground (earth) into it, then clip it onto the edge of the junction box.
4. Hiya. I had the same problem when I bought my bathroom fitment. I asked a few friends who were really handy, but they wouldn't touch it and I had to get an electrician. It's worth getting it done properly, because some of the new fitments have really awkward wiring, and you need to be sure it's safe. So, sorry, but the best thing is to get someone qualified to put it up for you. It's worth it in the long run. Good luck. x
5. Is the ceiling rose fixed to a metal box, flush in the ceiling, if so this box may-1) have earth wires connected to it , or 2) be part of a metallic system, i.e. steel conduit, which is in itself the earth conductor. If this is the case connect your earth lead to the box terminal. Don't connect without earthing the light fitting. if your wiring is only twin core sheathed cable, you can run a separate earth conductor, or consider a rewire.
6. If it is a metal fixture inside, the the metal fixture is the ground/earth. The coax tube running to the fixture is grounded (Or should be). Just screw the wire to the metal box. Jim
7. If the wiring doesn't contain an earth then there's a strong possibility that your wiring is over 40 years old. If that is the case then I would urge you to look at having your wiring inspected with a view to having it rewired. Apart from adding an earth wire to your lighting circuit the only other thing you can do is to have it RCD protected. Either way you you ought to seek professional advice from a qualified electrician.
8. You have to cut the wire insulation back to find the earth wire.
9. If your electrics definitely don't have an earth wire then it might be worth considering a lighting rewire to new cabling which includes a safety earth. But double check that the cable in the ceiling doesn't actually have an earth wire, strip back the surrounding grey PVC, sometimes people cut it off but the remaining is still there behind the grey insulation. Just strip back the grey insulation and remake the brown, blue wires to the correct length again and put a piece of yellow/green insulation on the bare earth wire. if your house was wired in conduit (black metal tubing) you get the circuit rewired to include an earth wire to that circuit.