On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 22:03:15 +0100, chris French
wrote:

In message , Aardvark
writes

I have replaced the wall lights in an upstairs room in my house. The
new wall lights need to be earthed. Fortunately the supply is via a
twin and earth cable where the earth was shortened and taped up.

I have enough leeway to use the earth in the supply cable, so my
question related to where to earth these lights to.

In the loft I have water tanks with copper pipe down as far as the
ground floor stop cock where the pipes go out of sight.

Should I get an earth strap and earth these lights to the incoming
water supply pipe,

No.

or do the regulations / best practice say I should
do something else.

You use the earth in the cable - that it what it is for.

Just connect them up to the earth in the cable. I am assuming here that
the earth in the lighting circuit is all connected up properly back to
the consumer unit.

When I bought my house some 20 years ago I noticed that two (metallic)
wall lights in the living(!) room were wired with 2-core flex buried
diagonally in the wall directly from the back of a pair of 13A sockets
as a spur from a 30A ring main...

Needless to say these lamps have long gone!
Frank Erskine
OETKBC