If I were to ask an electrician to add a plug socket onto an electrical wire that currently just has a wall light coming off it, would he do it?
(Iβm pretty sure itβs technically possible, Iβm thinking building regulations and so on.)
@sj_zero Oh, cool. Thank you!
It would just be to run a small freezer, the light rarely gets used.
@FeartnTired Embarrassed to admit I didnβt even think of googling for it because I assumed it would be a βnoβ!
@sj_zero Of course, whether the light itself is up to code is a whole nother matterβ¦. Someone who fancied himself as a DIY expert lived here at one point.
Sparkies aren't cheap but good ones are really good.
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@sj_zero I donβt know the guy, but my kitchen fitter presumably rates him.
our very Glasgow leccy pronounced conduit as conjit
@sj_zero @Flick I've replied separately to Flick, but UK wiring is entirely different - power ring mains and lighting ring mains run on different amp ratings, so you can't safely wire a power socket into a lighting ring over here. (And we have a third rating for really heavy power items like cookers - they have dedicated 32 Amp rings).
Also everything should be signed off and certified by a qualified electrician who sends copies of the certificates to the local authority building department. You can do it without, of course, but you'll be up shit creek without a paddle if you later want to sell the house without the paperwork to demonstrate the work has been done safely.
@Flick No.
Power sockets and lighting outlets run off different amp ring circuits. It is very dangerous to add a plug socket to a lighting ring.
@FeartnTired I had one when I bought the house. There were a few advisory things but nothing major.
@FeartnTired @Flick That is indeed completely contradictory.
If you plug anything that draws 13 Amps (so kettle, convector fire, microwave, your hoover) into the socket, you'll immediately trip the circuit breakers if your circuit board has been installed correctly. So it's a bit pointless installing a socket that's 5 Amp only.
And if your circuit breakers don't trip immediately, then you need a proper circuit board installing (at risk of the whole fucking house burning down).
Also, people (aka men who self-identify as "good at DIY") don't half spout a lot of shit on Reddit.
I suspect your better option would be to identify a single socket and ask an electrician to replace it with a double socket.
TL:DR - find a good electrician (recommended by people you trust, preferrably who've been using his/her services for a decade or so) and get them to tell you what should be done.
Sorry, I know I'm banging on about this lots on this thread, but getting this stuff wrong can (a) be dangerous and (b) leave you with a house you can't sell because of bodged, undocumented work.
@EmmyNoether If I had a single socket in that room, I would just use itβ¦.
@sj_zero @Flick Don't worry. I suspect it's the UK that's weird on this one.
All the standards have kind of grown up by accident historically and there are probably better ways of organising one's electricals code. (I was tickled pink when I went to SW China, though, and discovered that they used British 3-pin plugs there. π )