A question about electrics.

-BA- · 4 May 2013 at 16:17

I am no electrician and not really confident messing with anything other than basic jobs but I do have a question about a room that has a single point socket on the wall.

Can this just be doubled up to a double socket or does a double socket needs two electrical feeds to it? If I could just get a double socket, shut down my electrics, replace the socket and turn back on, I would be very happy.

I search on the internet seems to suggest I can but always nice to get a bit of info from here.

Mr Men · 4 May 2013 at 16:21

Yeah you can just replace it with a double socket, will only need the one feed.

Nightglow · 4 May 2013 at 16:28

Yes, should be ok.

Remember to switch off the electric before doing any work.

One · 4 May 2013 at 16:33

Nightglow said:
Yes, should be ok.

Remember to switch off the electric before doing any work.

It's only 240V, just use correctly rated screw drivers and be careful. No need to switch the power off.

Nightglow · 4 May 2013 at 16:39

desires said:
It's only 240V, just use correctly rated screw drivers and be careful. No need to switch the power off.

Only 240v it can still kill, ALWAYS switch off the electric at the consumer unit, before doing any electric work.

It's very easy to forget & grab a live wire, you might get away with a shock or you could unlucky.

Can't find up todate figures for uk, but these for Ireland gives you a idea.

http://www.etci.ie/fatalfacts/

Hyburnate · 4 May 2013 at 16:40

desires said:
It's only 240V, just use correctly rated screw drivers and be careful. No need to switch the power off.

Wouldn't you agree 'better safe than sorry' comes in here? Turning off the power would barely be an inconvenience...

d_brennen · 4 May 2013 at 16:52

desires said:
It's only 240V, just use correctly rated screw drivers and be careful. No need to switch the power off.

Better lick your fingers too, otherwise it's just too easy :rolleyes:

One · 4 May 2013 at 17:14

I suppose he's addmitted he's not confident, so I suppose in this case he should turn off the power. It's not something I would do though. Being AC if you were to graze a live wire all it would do is hurt and make you shout an obscenity.

One · 4 May 2013 at 17:18

Nightglow said:
It's very easy to forget & grab a live wire, you might get away with a shock or you could unlucky.

I simply disagree with this. If any wires are being 'grabbed' then I think the job is being rushed. If you have to rush a job then you should turn off the electricity anyway because you're then free to grab any wire you want, but then imo that would end up giving you bad practices.

-BA- · 4 May 2013 at 18:16

Appreciate the replies guys. Certainly will be tripping the power before I got near it.

Nightglow · 4 May 2013 at 19:18

desires said:
I simply disagree with this. If any wires are being 'grabbed' then I think the job is being rushed. If you have to rush a job then you should turn off the electricity anyway because you're then free to grab any wire you want, but then imo that would end up giving you bad practices.

Grabbed, touched, contact, any word I use may be considered wrong, but it is wrong to suggest working on electric while it's still live,as accidents can happen.

Lopéz · 4 May 2013 at 19:30

desires said:
I suppose he's addmitted he's not confident, so I suppose in this case he should turn off the power. It's not something I would do though. Being AC if you were to graze a live wire all it would do is hurt and make you shout an obscenity.

AC can easily give you a reasonable kick - I certainly don't think it's good practice to be advising people to work on live electricity.

bitslice · 4 May 2013 at 20:10

desires said:
Being AC if you were to graze a live wire all it would do is hurt and make you shout an obscenity.

Sometimes, but then sometimes dependant on your stance, you end up standing there frozen until you fall over or die.
Maybe not a good idea to suggest a way of doing something that has a slight chance of death

arknor · 4 May 2013 at 20:51

d_brennen said:
Better lick your fingers too, otherwise it's just too easy

and stand in a bucket of water

paintguy · 4 May 2013 at 21:03

My missus would flip her lid at the suggestion of DIY on live electrics :eek:

(She's in the commercial electrical safety & testing game)

Sure you might well be fine most of the time, but then the same could be said for Russian roulette...

C.R.A.Z.Y · 4 May 2013 at 21:16

Provided the the CSA of the supply cable is 2.5mm then replacing it with a double is fine, anything smaller it then becomes a potential fire hazard!

As for not safely isolating it first! :rolleyes:

/16th Ed.

HardwareGeek · 4 May 2013 at 23:05

Depending on what you have there atm, you can get single to double socket conversion socket fronts, so you can screw a double socket onto the pattress for a single, the screws are closer together.

You can get these as socket fronts (for flush fit) or as a pattress (for surface mount) and then put a normal double socket on the conversion pattress etc

Downside is the socket fronts look a bit different to normal sockets, tend to give a cheap feeling.

paintguy · 5 May 2013 at 07:34

As above, the pattress conversions are a simple way of doing it:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Ele...+Box+Conversion+1G+2G+32mm/d190/sd2634/p80152

I used to have one behind my PC desk but last week I went for an upgrade

Schizo · 5 May 2013 at 07:42

If you replacing a single with a double,you will have to make the hole bigger to fit the new double socket or you could go with what's been said above me.

lewism · 5 May 2013 at 14:21

desires said:
It's only 240V, just use correctly rated screw drivers and be careful. No need to switch the power off.

Please tell me what qualifications you have to give such wonderful advice to anyone working with electricity.

To the OP. Phone a local electrician. You'll be lucky if they charge you more than £20 for it. Electricity is something you should not be touching if you are unsure what you are doing.