Advice Please, replacing a double wall socket, can I just switch off the mains power

muirbabe

Hi,
Sorry for taking a few days to reply, but have been very busy with other stuff.

(And does the boiler still work? Is the time on the controls still right?)

I think the boiler is ok, the time needs reseting but am going to ask brother to do it as boilers are foreign to me.

Thanks again for the advice.

regards,

muirbabe

JimmyTheWig

muirbabe wrote: »

I think the boiler is ok, the time needs reseting but am going to ask brother to do it as boilers are foreign to me.

I wouldn't have thought that it was any harder than resetting, say, the clock on your video player.

Avoriaz

bazster wrote: »

. Make no assumptions! I replaced a downstairs socket recently after turning off the downstairs main. It was only when my screwdriver and I flew across the room that I knew this particular socket had been wired into the upstairs main (by a qualified electrician...)

Fifer wrote: »

Given that removing the fuse merely disconnects the live connection and not the neutral, it's not an entirely safe method of working (especially bearing in mind that the installation could be wired incorrectly). Always switch off the mains supply to be safe.

Even that isn't guaranteed is it? Does it depend on whether you have a single pole or a double pole switch.

In about 1985 I switched off the mains to do some work. I got a shock similar to Bazster that threw me across the kitchen. :eek:

It transpired that the electricity board sparky had wired up the meter tails the wrong way round. Live to neutral and neutral to live. I imagine I must have switched off a single pole switch on the circuit marked live but carrying neutral. It was a while ago so I can't remember precisely the details.

Amazingly I had installed a new lighting circuit for a bedroom the previous week without getting a shock.

I now check very carefully for live electricity.

fwor

You're right to be cautious on older consumer units, but anything vaguely recent should be OK, as the main switch must disconnect both live and neutral, and should be marked as double pole. This has been in the regs for a long time now, but I confess I don't know when it was first made mandatory.

dave461_2

If you are working on a plug i recommend plugging a lamp in and then turn the circuit breaker off - if the lamp goes off you've got the correct one, same if changing a light fitting - turn the light on, switch off circuit breaker and only start when you know the power is off.

John_Pierpoint

bazster wrote: »

I do, but it doesn't alter the fact that Screwfix is vastly cheaper than B & Q.

Similarly Toolstation is much cheaper than Wickes, despite both being owned by Travis Perkins.

And, of course, Toolstation is generally significantly cheaper than Screwfix.

Wickes seems to be fighting back with its latest catalogue.
If you cannot beat them join them?

Who created Toolstation? - The guys who sold Screwfix to B&Q

[Deleted User]

Be warned on the screwfix cheap sockets/plugs. I replaced all the lights/dimmers/sockets in my house when I moved in (to nice brushed chrome ones). This was only 10 months ago - I've already had to replace on of the dimmers as it broke.

One day I dream of 'internet enanbling' all the light switches in the house. That'd be fun It's not even that expensive now

To do the replacements, i just switched off the circuit the sockets/lights were on (e.g. downstairs power - it's marked on our breaker). I also used an 'electricians screwdriver'