Hi,

Serious question, sorry about this !

Due to this wonderful heat wave I have now 3 ceiling fans........sitting in boxes on the floor

I have a basic understanding of wiring, understand the wiring diagram, know live is brown / red, neutral is blue / black, earth is green / yellow etc etc. I will be jumping feed off existing lighting circuit fed from the loft (using junction box of course and not sellotape). I understand lighting wire over here is 1mm twin of red / black.

The fans also have a light incorporated. They will be controlled from a control box on wall having 3 speed fan control and separate light switch. I'm getting to the point, bear with me.....

For the control box I need 3 connections:-

a) live supply in (which I will feed down from loft)
b) fan supply out (to be fed back upto loft)
c) light supply out (to be fed back upto loft)

So basically all 3 will potentially be carrying power. My question (phew I hear you say) is on the wiring standards over here, specifically what cabling you would use for feed in / out of control box.

I can think of 2 possible options:-

1) Lighting twin 1mm will feed live in (utilising red cable) and fan (or light) out (utilising black cable). Other fan / light will be done using separate single core cable. So 1 twin + 1 single core.

2) Similar to above for the first twin but instead of the 2nd being single core another twin will be used but only 1 of black / red of the pair. So 2 twins but 1 wire unused.

I know from getting the thing to work either would suffice but would obviously prefer to adhere to recognised standard.

If you as a sparky took the cover off the control box what cabling would you expect to see for the 3 connections, 1 twin + 1 single, 2 twins, other ? What colors would you use for the fan / light supply out, black or red ?

I know there will be some reluctance to answer incase I end up burning the house down, I also know you are supposed to use a qualified electrician and potential issues with house insurance. Oh and not forgetting of course the risk of being killed.

So all that already considered would anybody like to give an answer to lets call it a hypothetical question

All advice taken without any potential law suits, honest !!

Thanks

windys tip: get someone else to do it

I would not like to respond other than to advise you that buy what you have asked you really should get a tradesman in. If you want to save money mount the fans and the wall fittings and next time you see a sparky in your street tell him there's a couple of ice cold cartons if he joins it all up for you

and next week "how to build a thermo nuclear device"

ok all very valid points and some concerns over my abilities, fair enough

I don't have an issue with how to actually connect the thing up, I can work out from the diagram where the supply comes in to the control, supplies go out to both light and fan, fan motor takes an earth and neutral. However suggestion to bribe somebody with a few cold ones is a good one, I doubt you guys are that cheap though

Yes as you guessed I am trying to save some bucks. If you wanted to prepare as much as poss for the sparky to just do the connections what wires should I run down the wall, 2 twins, twin & single or something else ? There aint much room in the loft space so just want to minimise time spent crawling to feed cables around.

I'd noted the joist needs to take a 45kg fan weight and also be earthed but cheers for calling out anyway. I may well have to fit an additional cross support, never as easy as you'd like eh

If it was me I'd think that the sparky would run three single cores, red for active to the switch, white for fan and white for the light. To buy two rolls of (double insulated) wire from an electrical supply place and do it yourself will cost more than it will cost to get the sparky to come out and wire them up. Do you know the rating wire you will need? How much load is already on the breaker?

You're better off getting a sparky to come around.

If you're dead set on doing as much as possible, then run some draw wires up and down the wall to make it easier to run the correct wire.

I'm pretty sure that if you have a house fire (even if it's not electrical), DIY house wiring will void your house insurance The insurance people are sure to send mobs of inspectors over the house to avoid paying up.

I trained as a sparky, did my apprenticeship, and there's no way I'd do any house wiring myself now because I'm out of practice. It doesn't take much to let the smoke out of a human body

nebbian said...

If it was me I'd think that the sparky would run three single cores, red for active to the switch, white for fan and white for the light. To buy two rolls of (double insulated) wire from an electrical supply place and do it yourself will cost more than it will cost to get the sparky to come out and wire them up. Do you know the rating wire you will need? How much load is already on the breaker?

You're better off getting a sparky to come around.

If you're dead set on doing as much as possible, then run some draw wires up and down the wall to make it easier to run the correct wire.

I'm pretty sure that if you have a house fire (even if it's not electrical), DIY house wiring will void your house insurance The insurance people are sure to send mobs of inspectors over the house to avoid paying up.

I trained as a sparky, did my apprenticeship, and there's no way I'd do any house wiring myself now because I'm out of practice. It doesn't take much to let the smoke out of a human body

I never knew you were a sparks Nebs?

Id go with Nebs advise. Put in some draw wires.

Your getting warmer

thecat said...

ok all very valid points and some concerns over my abilities, fair enough

... I doubt you guys are that cheap though

You might be surprised