Discuss When was it "compulsory" to fit and connect a CPC to the lighting circuit?? in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Today I turned up at a job today, to install some downlights and a mirror feed in a bathroom. A nice relatively easy job ..... or so I thought. The owner had been warned that the circuit would need to be RCBO protected and had his "usual" sparky in to do this....

So I took the "futhest" downlight off and connected the MFT - and immediately noticed there was no earth. Hum I thought - so moved back to the JB where the switch and loop are connected and found .... no earths within the JB - in fact I could see all the CPC's had been cut off.

Hum..... so back to basics..... disconnected feed to said JB and checked for Zs .... no earth

Hum..... down to CU - yup all 3 cores connected.... disconnected 3 cores from the CU and tried for R1 + R2 - nothing.....followed feed cable back towards CU and unearthed another JB .... so I opened it up and yup CPC's cut off and not connected.

The client was in the house so I called him and showed/explained what I had found and then it got interesting....

His normal sparky had been in and fitted the RCBO the previous week and as soon as it was turned on, it had tripped and he had spent some time fault finding ..... and then "blamed" the TV aerial amp which he had disconnect - which made me think surely he should have spotted the absense of the CPC's, especially as he should have retested the circuit when he changed the MCB to the RCBO.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the client and original sparky have a conversation....

And I should point out that said sparky, had rewired the house just 6 years ago - and in the loft there was a combination of mainly grey and some white sheathed cable.
 
i would say that no lighing circuit has been installed compliant with regs. without cpc, since 1980's. and then the circuits would have been wired in twin, no cpc in cable. to install T/E and snip cpc's off is the work of an arsehole and a bodger.
 
If the house owner had a usual sparky why did he contract you to install lighting? By the sound of it the other guy would have come in at half the price and had the job done and been in the pub and on his third babycham by 11 o'clock.
 
If the house owner had a usual sparky why did he contract you to install lighting? By the sound of it the other guy would have come in at half the price and had the job done and been in the pub and on his third babycham by 11 o'clock.

I was there as part of the "bathroom" team - I was simply the one that suggested a RCBO would be required.
 
Dangerous and lazy. Sort out that tripping RCBO by? ....... getting rid of the earth. That's like saying "The brakes on my car are jamming on and i can't go very fast. Why don't I just get rid of the brakes? Brilliant idea!"
 
Dangerous and lazy. Sort out that tripping RCBO by? ....... getting rid of the earth. That's like saying "The brakes on my car are jamming on and i can't go very fast. Why don't I just get rid of the brakes? Brilliant idea!"


I don't think the cpc was ever connected so the RCBO tripping on the N-E issue seems far fetched
 
Sounds like an old timer, not up to speed with his regs and trying to earn a buck, cash in hand job

definitely not an old-timer. us old farts may have installed lighting with no cpc when it was compliant to do so. nylon lugs in back boxes, no cpc i twin cable, etc., but we would never, never, install T/E cable and cut the cpc's off. that's like a car mechanic crimping off a brake pipe if it was leaking fluid.
 
He's obviously just slack and more interested in home time than the job he's doing. The RCD may have been tripping to an low IR fault down parallel paths even with the CPC disconnected.
 
no excuses. he's just a bodger, time served or Electrical Trainee, the end result is the same. an arsehole will always be an arsehole, no matter how many paper quals. he's got.
 
In response to Murdoch's title question, I didn't realise it ever became compulsory to fit a CPC to a lighting circuit?

What if you don't want to utilise ADS as your protective measure?
 
Perhaps the "guys" other electrician is actually the "guys" Alter ego..............just a thought
 
definitely not an old-timer. us old farts may have installed lighting with no cpc when it was compliant to do so. nylon lugs in back boxes, no cpc i twin cable, etc., but we would never, never, install T/E cable and cut the cpc's off. that's like a car mechanic crimping off a brake pipe if it was leaking fluid.
we`v seen pics before though Tel of this phenomenon.....T&E with `snipped back` CPCs....caus there was a `fault`...lol....
 
I have just spent a week doing PIR fault finding on a 17th where every CPC has been chopped off in the jb's and the light switches...as well as the armoured cables being clamped with BS 951's....hey ho...7 weeks or 17 ..as long as they have QS to sign it off ....another scam provider
 

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