i have a light on my upstairs landing that can be switched on and off from downstairs and upstairs.
In the upstairs switch (which is very old) the wires leading in to it from downstairs contain a white wire, whilst the wiring leading from the light bulb into the switch are the normal red, black etc. Can anyone tell me what the white wire is? I want to replace the old switch with a more modern one but am stumped am my electrician has gone AWOL for Christmas.

thanks

Karen

thanks. I live in Gloucester.

Unfortunately i removed the old switch and couldn't work out how the layout corresponded to a modern switch so reifitted the old one. However now, none of the lights in the house work or any of the plug sockets downstairs.

The sparky has just fitted a new consumer unit and is currently tanning on a beach somewhere and no one seems interested in coming to look at a small wiring job.

I know it was a stupid girly thing to do, but i just can't find any info in any of my books on this weird type of wiring.

[quote author=supersparky  link=1103150836/0#1 date=1103151166]as long as you note the terminals on the new switch to old your fine [/quote]

I beg to differ. My understanding of the BS7671 wiring regs suggests that if you make any changes to an existing circuit then you are supposed to bring that entire circuit up to BS7671 standards, and clearly this particular circuit is not up to the required standard.

Changing a switch on a circuit surely constitutes a change to that circuit?

HM

[quote author=HandyMac  link=1103150836/0#4 date=1103224213]

I beg to differ. My understanding of the BS7671 wiring regs suggests that if you make any changes to an existing circuit then you are supposed to bring that entire circuit up to BS7671 standards, and clearly this particular circuit is not up to the required standard.

Changing a switch on a circuit surely constitutes a change to that circuit?

HM
[/quote]

its diy hm

and

were trying to get her lights back on not advise her on rewiring her 2 way switching setup.

if your called out at 12am to somones house cos they have no lights your not going to stand there for the rest of the day rewiring it
it would be a note on the cert- if issued

and like i say, its diy

and yep lec, your right, found some of the stuff today, had an earth though, most dosn't, but ya cant tell, better to cover it than have "well i connected to bare wire to L1 like you told me to and when i turned the switch on...."

ss

[quote author=HandyMac  link=1103150836/0#4 date=1103224213]Changing a switch on a circuit surely constitutes a change to that circuit? [/quote]

Not in my view. The new Part P regs allow the change of a switch and considers it a minor change. So if it's minor its not a change big enough to require a total re-wire.

Now, if there was no earth an the new switch required it then a re-wire (or some other solution) would be necessary to supply it.