No earth in metal light switches

[DaveLea]

I recently had a look behind my light switches for the first time and have found that all of them have no earth. This includes some metal switches that were there when we moved in. We've had a couple changed to metal previously and it looks like the electricians have put in a metal back box and then run an earth to that (and no further).

Am I going to need a full rewire if I want to swap out all of the switches to metal (which was my intent in the first place)?

 

[DPG]

You certainly don't want those metal switches in place with no earth. Was it a proper electrician that fitted them?

 

[DaveLea]

No idea. They were in place when I moved in.

 

[DPG]

No idea. They were in place when I moved in.

Well it's a good spot. Make sure you get them removed, or the wiring sorted ASAP.

Out of interest do you have RCD protection on your lighting circuits?

 

[DaveLea]

Yes, we've got a brand new fuse box and RCD protection on everything.

 

[brianmoooore]

That pic looks very odd. There doesn't appear to be a back box at all, although the fixing screws are threaded, rather than being wood screws.
You say "an electrician has put in a metal back box and then run an earth to that " for another switch. Do you mean there is an earth wire coming into the box from elsewhere, and connected just to the earth terminal on the metal box, OR, he has put in a metal box and just fitted a short cable from the earth terminal in the box to the earth terminal on the switch?

 

[DaveLea]

There doesn't appear to be a back box at all

That's right. It's really weird.

For the one that was recently fitted it looks to me like he's put in a metal box and ran the cable from the switch to the box and nowhere else.

 

[littlespark]

So that switch isn’t earthed either.

You must remove all metal switches as soon as possible, and replace with plastic. Get ones with the small pop in screw covers.
What you have is an accident waiting to happen.

You may be able to find decorative plastic switches if you don’t want plain white