routing cable for light switch

[Halo Jones]

I know people generally hate answering electrical questions but this is, hopefully, a small first fix question. We are doing up our ground floor a room at a time and I am currently working on the front hall. While we have plasterboard off the wall I was wanting to install some cable for what will be a future 3-way light switch in an adjacent room. I know that light switch cable normally goes up to the ceiling (for obvious reasons!) but it would be easier for me to take it straight down and route it to the next switching position under the suspended ground floor (ie we have the floor up at the moment and hope to keep the ceiling intact!). All the cable routing diagrams I have seen suggest this should be ok as long as the run is vertical but I haven't seen a specific example where a light switch cable has gone down the wall.

 

[sunnybob]

Its risky, because no one else does it.
Say you sell the house on, and someone wants to cut a hole for a socket just under the light switch. No one would dream of looking for a lighting cable there.

I dont know for sure but I suspect it contravenes the electrical codes for that reason.

 

[bussy]

Hi
Not against any regulations, after all with a two way switch from upstairs to downstairs the cable from the upstairs switch has to go downwards. as long as the cable is vertical or horizontal to the switch it's ok.

 

[sunnybob]

upstairs downstairs reminded me of the worst cable run I ever saw.
On a new build house in the 80's, a main earth cable run diagonally up the stairs at just about the height you would drill for a hand rail once the plasterboard had covered the cable.

I didnt buy one.

 

[Halo Jones]

Thanks both. Will be assessing it all again this weekend.

 

[LarryS.]

As bussy says no problem with doing that, the regs say that all sockets or switches have a "safe" zone running from them in 90 degrees in all four directions I.e up down left and right where cables can be run.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[Eric The Viking]

Don't forget that between the switches you probably need three cores + earth, not the normal twin + earth. This is probably adequate: https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p77892

It's embarrassing if one forgets one core. DAMHIKT.

Hope it goes well, E.