Earthing of light switch plates

[Gary C]

Excuse me if this is a dumb question but if i have earthed metal back boxes for all my light switches and i replace the front plates for all metal ones, do i need to also earth these or are they naturally earthed through the metal screws that hold them to the back box?

 

[Pete999]

Excuse me if this is a dumb question but if i have earthed metal back boxes for all my light switches and i replace the front plates for all metal ones, do i need to also earth these or are they naturally earthed through the metal screws that hold them to the back box?

Some say if one of the lugs are fixed then there is no need, but I wo9uld always use a lead to the back box if a terminal is provided.

 

[Dannyg8810]

What Pete said ,for the sake of a few minutes just put a lead from the box

 

[telectrix]

it's essential to earth the metal faceplate. earthing the box is optional.

 

[sparksburnout]

That's cleared things up then.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Yes you need to Earth the faceplate.
Whether you use a fly lead from the earthed backbox, or just rely on the face plate screw(s) is up to you.

 

[telectrix]

What Pete said ,for the sake of a few minutes just put a lead from the box

i do it the other way. divert the cpc's from box to faceplate, then if i can be arsed, fly lead to box.

catch22 though is if you omit the lead to the back box, which was previously earthed, are you leaving it less safe than before?

 

[westward10]

Definitely needs a cpc to the plate you cannot rely on the screws to earth an accessory.

 

[Risteard]

It's not permitted to Earth a Class I accessory with screws through a fixed lug. It's only permissible to rely on this to Earth the backbox (although many won't).

 

[sparksburnout]

I must admit I used to take a lead to the box but one day I thought "Why am I doing this?" After all the socket will never be energised unless the back box is inaccessible, will it?

 

[telectrix]

I must admit I used to take a lead to the box but one day I thought "Why am I doing this?" After all the socket will never be energised unless the back box is inaccessible, will it?

not untill percy painter ot wally wallpaperer lifts them of for decorating purposes.

 

[NDG Elecs]

not untill percy painter ot wally wallpaperer lifts them of for decorating purposes.

I find most decorators just paint round them in situ, and badly at that! Really winds me up it does. I would hope that Wally W would loosen any plates though.

 

[sparksburnout]

I was round at a job the other month and there were some plasterers skimming a couple of rooms, including 2 walls which they were also undercoating. The face-plates were all well off the wall and one of the ones where they were undercoating had loads of wet plaster squeezed into it. I knew the power was still on as I had just been looking at the CU so I asked them if they always did it like that "Yeah been doing it years mate never had a problem"............

 

[cprfenom]

not untill percy painter ot wally wallpaperer lifts them of for decorating purposes.

That is exactly what my assessor says!