Sockets & Lightingin Worcester

Spurs, downlights and the dimmer that flickers

An extra socket normally comes from an existing circuit, and there are two ways to do it. The good way is to extend the ring, so the new socket sits in the circuit properly with a cable in and a cable out. The quick way is a spur: one cable from an existing socket, feeding one new point. A spur is legitimate, but only one unfused spur per socket, and not from a socket that is already spurred. Daisy-chained spurs are one of the commonest things found on an inspection and they are usually somebody's weekend work.

Downlights have two separate ratings and people buy on the wrong one. Fire rating matters where the ceiling is a fire barrier, which includes most first-floor ceilings in a house and every ceiling in a flat: cutting dozens of holes in it without fire-rated fittings turns a thirty-minute barrier into a colander. Separately, if there is insulation in the loft above, the fitting has to be rated for contact with it or be kept clear, because covering an unrated fitting is how the loft gets hot. Both are a few pounds a fitting at the buying stage and a ceiling out at the fixing stage.

Dimmers are the most common complaint and almost always the same cause. Old dimmers were built for filament lamps and expect a load an LED does not draw, so you get flicker, a buzz, a narrow usable range, or lamps that glow faintly when off. The answer is a trailing-edge dimmer rated for LED, and a check that the lamps themselves are dimmable, which not all are. Mixing brands on one circuit is the other sure way to get a flicker.

Paperwork, briefly. Adding a socket or a light to an existing circuit, outside a room containing a bath or shower, is not notifiable work in England. A new circuit is, wherever it goes, and so is anything in a bathroom. That does not mean small work goes uncertified: you still get the test results for what was altered, which is what proves the spur was done properly and not daisy-chained.

What this work includes

Small jobs quoted at a fixed price, with the cable run agreed before anyone lifts a carpet.

• Extra sockets, doubled up or moved, ring extended where practical
• Spurs only where appropriate, never from an already spurred point
• Downlights with the right fire and insulation ratings for the ceiling
• Trailing-edge dimmers matched to the lamps actually being used
• USB sockets, outdoor-rated points and media wall provision
• Cable routes agreed before work starts, chased rather than surface run
• Testing and certification for everything altered

How a small job runs

Agree positions

Marked on the wall with you, because a socket behind a sofa helps nobody.

Fixed price

Written before we start, including whether the cable is chased in or surface run.

Fit

Usually the same visit for small work. Dust sheets down and the mess taken with us.

Test

The altered circuit tested, with a certificate, however small the alteration.

Sockets and lighting across Worcester and Worcestershire

Day-to-day work across Worcester, Droitwich Spa, Malvern, Pershore, Evesham and Stratford-upon-Avon. A point that has stopped working rather than one you want adding is socket repair; anything on an outside wall is an outside socket, which has its own weatherproofing rules. If the board has no spare way, adding circuits means a board upgrade first.

Spurs, rings and why it matters where the socket comes from

Most British houses are wired with ring final circuits, where the cable leaves the board, visits every socket and comes back. A ring can take one unfused spur from each socket on it, feeding one single or one double outlet. That sounds simple and it is where most DIY socket work goes wrong: a spur taken off a socket that is already a spur, or two spurs off the same point, leaves part of the circuit fed by a single 2.5mm cable carrying current meant for a ring. It does not trip anything and it can sit there for years. When we add a socket we establish first whether the point we are taking it from is on the ring or already spurred, which takes a couple of minutes with a meter and decides whether the new point comes off there, off a fused connection unit, or off its own way in the board.

Downlights: fire rating, insulation and the flicker

Downlights are the most common lighting job we are asked for and the one with the most ways to get it wrong. Every downlight cut into a ceiling that has a room above it has to be fire rated, because the hole you have just made is a hole in a fire barrier. If there is loft insulation above, the fitting has to be rated to be covered or it needs a hood, otherwise it cooks itself and fails early. And the flicker people ring about is almost always the dimmer: a trailing-edge dimmer matched to the load fixes what swapping lamps never will.