James Salisbury wrote:

"Ade" wrote in message
...

andrewpreece wrote:

snip
then you can use the
earth connection as the neutral; best to sleeve it with something to show
it's not an actual earth anymore. I assume the other end of the earth wire
emerges at or near your boiler/timer, and can be patched in to your boiler's
neutral connection ( if it has one ).

Nooooooo!!!! Most definitely not acceptable. Either use a 'stat which
doesn't need a neutral, or replace the cable with triple + earth.

I was given the advice to reuse the earth by H____________l !!!!!!

Jeez, that's bad (and probably highly negligent on their part)! Apart
from it being likely to confuse anyone else who works on it, I'm pretty
sure that the Regs require all cables carrying mains voltage to contain
an earth conductor. I'm sure I've even seen an insulated & sheathed red
'single' which contained an ECC used in a lighting circuit on a new
build a few years back...