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Electric sockets - no switch

Horizon81
Posts: 1,594 Forumite


I've been to view a house and several of the electric sockets were just single sockets with no on/off switch. Is this normal for houses built in the 80's?? Apart from in industrial settings I've never seen a socket without a switch before. Is it a safety risk?
And if I wanted to get them swapped to double scokets with switches I take it the existing wiring would cope?
And if I wanted to get them swapped to double scokets with switches I take it the existing wiring would cope?
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Comments
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It's not a safety risk. You just have to pull the plug out to "switch" the appliance off at the wall. I suppose one could argue that this is safer than switching it off and leaving the cable plugged in - no potential trip hazard, etc.
Obviously, you would need to make a bigger hole in the wall but, electrically, a double switched socket would be a straight swap.The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in my life.0 -
The switches are nothing special and you can buy sockets without them if you wish (example). There should be no reason why you can't swap them if you want - either yourself or an electrician if you're not up to the job.
In the past there weren't as many electrical appliances, so there weren't as many sockets. When my mum and dad moved into their house in the 70's, there was just one single on the landing for use by all three bedrooms! You may want to get an electrical inspection however to put your mind at rest - especially if you're going to move in and run a lot of power hungry devices.
As above, if you want to change from single to doubles, then there will be the work of chiselling the hole to widen to a double box in the wall. These converters are available too which fit in place of a single: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electrical/White+Wiring+Accessories/Socket+Converter+1G+to+2G/d190/sd2633/p88126.0 -
So the unswitched socket isn't as rare as I'd thought. Good to know. Each bedroom appears to have 2 x single sockets so if I can swap them to 2 x double sockets then that'll be enough for my needs.0
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So the unswitched socket isn't as rare as I'd thought. Good to know. Each bedroom appears to have 2 x single sockets so if I can swap them to 2 x double sockets then that'll be enough for my needs.
You can buy single socket to double socket converters that don't require a bigger hole in tghe wall, but they stick out a little further from the wall."You were only supposed to blow the bl**dy doors off!!"0 -
They're not rare at all, in fact I'm still pleasantly surprised at sockets that have switches.0
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I was brought up in a house built in 1982 and that certainly didn't have any sockets with switches.0
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