Crossed electrical cables; safety issue?

R

rebeller

Registered User
Messages
42
Hi, Am in the process of finalising purchase of a new build house but have discovered an issue with the electrics in the upstairs bathroom. The bathroom light and extractor will only work when the next door bedroom light is switched on. The bathroom has its own light switch outside the door but this does not work unless the bedroom light is also turned on. Someone has suggested that this could be caused by cables twisted around each other and that it's not anything to worry about in the short term. Developer's foreman will be sorting this out. Is it a major issue and is there any safety concern until the problem is fixed? Could there be any other cause apart from crossed wires? I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks
 
It's a wiring error, nothing to do with cables twisted in any way.
 
Thanks for the reply. Would rewiring of the whole house be needed or just that related to the problem area? I appreciate that it's not possible to accurately diagnose electrical issues on an online forum but would like to know what I might be facing. If this is a wiring problem it could be more serious.
 
Almost certainly a simple error of wrong connections being made, which should be fairly trivial to fix. True, it should have been spotted by the original electrician, but on the other hand it may have been tested when the other circuit was on and hence not seen.

Unless it's symtomatic of careless work, it's extremely unlikely you'd be looking at anything like as extensive as complete re-wiring.

Get the builder to fix it. To put your mind at rest, you could always get an independent inspection done to rule out general shoddy workmanship.
As I said though, it's more likely to be a simple one-off error that was missed on testing.
 
I would give odds that this is a simple error.
Instead of the electrician looping on an unswitched feed to the bathroom
circuit he unwittingly looped on a "switched feed" from the bedroom switch.
Five minutes at the bedroom switch changing over the feed to the unswitched side should cure it.
Any takers?
 
Thanks for the replies. Hopefully it can be solved by simply swopping the connections. Now all I have to do is get the builder to get up off his ass and start actually doing the (admittedly) small snag list. Thanks again.
 
rebeller said:
Thanks for the replies. Hopefully it can be solved by simply swopping the connections. Now all I have to do is get the builder to get up off his ass and start actually doing the (admittedly) small snag list. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

If he is akward about it pm me and we'll get it sorted (where ya based)
 
IS3218 said:
If he is akward about it pm me and we'll get it sorted (where ya based)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer but maintenance manager has now contacted me and arranged to take a look. Problem should be sorted soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register