Like everyone else on this planet, after years and years of having the same old light fitting and same light colour you came to the conclusion that something needs changing.
Changing your light fitting its not purely for aesthetic reasons. Old light fixture can withdraw a lot of electricity over the years and they get extremely hot and dangerous .
A 60watt bulb if its left on all year around 24/7 it will raise the electricity bill with around £63- £86 a year, all depending on your provider. Luckily, these days is less likely to find a 100watt bulb but you will find the equivalent of a 100watt that is using at least 5 times less electricity.
Do you have to change the light fixture for low energy bulbs ?
The answer is no, if you go to your local diy shop you might be able to find 9.5 watt bulb to replace the old 60 watt bulb. Bare in mind when choosing your new bulb that they come in different colours.
- Warm white – The most common and chosen by people as it gives a cosy felling to the room. It is usually used in bedroom, living room or dining room.
- Cool white – It is used in Bathrooms where you would want to see as much as possible when shaving, doing your hair, etc.
- Daylight- The daylight bulbs are designed to imitate the natural sun light so its a good option for the Kitchen and not only.
Do you need a qualified electrician when changing the light fitting ?
The building regulation states that if the wiring have been altered you will have to have to test the new wiring and have to have a certificate issued after. Changing the light fitting is classed as maintenance and therefore no certificate is needed.
Calling a handyman electrician
You can anytime call an electrician or a local handyman to have the new light fitting installed. Although the electrician will come at a higher cost its always best to get a handyman to do the job as it will be cheaper and the respond time faster.
You can do this type of job yourself without calling a handyman electrician or an electrician. We will be showing you the steps that needs taken to complete this job.
Installing an electrical light fitting
Firstly you will have to locate the fuse board a flick the main fuse in off position. Check if the light goes off and check the wires for live wire. If you live in a house with someone else around make sure to let them know about your intention as failing to do so might lead to accidents. Please make sure to tell everyone in the house not to touch the electrical fuse bard.
When doing this you should always use a good electrical/voltage tester
After checking all cables for live wire and none found remove the old light fitting.
Now, you have 1 of these 2 wiring situations
Typical light circuits
- Standard light circuit
or
2. Loop circuit
In older house with old wiring the colours are different:
- The black – blue, is neutral
- The red – brown , is live cable
- The green – yellow and green, earth cable
If the blue wire has a brown sleeve than that means the wire will be live when the switch is in ON position.
Now, in the first wiring situation, after installing the light fitting bracket or whatever fixing it will come with, all you have to do is to connect the brown wire to brown/red (live), the blue with blue/black ( neutral) and the yellow and green wire to the yellow and green/ green ( earth).
The same installing scenario is on the second picture (loop circuit). The only difference is that in some cases you might have to replace the junction box connection with block connectors.
When connecting the cables, you can use a block connector,
making sure all cables are properly and securely screwed inside the block connector. Next, wrap the block connectors in insulation tape for extra safety
Book a Handyman Electrician
If you need a handyman electrician to help you with installing a light fitting please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. We assume no responsibility for errors or omissions in the blog/website content.
Please check our other handyman post :
How to install a hinged fly screen door
How to reseal bathtub
how to put a tv on the wall
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