Can I wire all the electrical sockets in my living room to one switch beside light switch for convenience?

Question

I would also like to repeat this formula with the two phones,e.g. through a light switch at the door. Can this be done with light switches?

Answer 1

I would prefer more info to answer this, but...
What I would really like to know is if this is new construction and what room are you applying this to? If this is a living room that will operate mostly lights and maybe one small appliance, you're cool to do it.

You can wire many outlets to one master switch without any problems or fire hazards provided you are not using those outlets for more than the single breaker can handle. Generally, when someone wants to do this, it is a living room and it is operating lights.
If this is new construction, start with the power coming from the breaker to the switch. Attach the white wire to the bottom of the switch and wire nut the black wire to the cable (Romex wire) that will be used to go to the outlets. Now, attach the white wire that will be going to the outlets to the top of the switch. Just wire all the outlets using the wire from the switch to the first one, and then continuously so on. Remember that when you get to the last outlet you want the switch to operate, terminate it there. Anything connected to this line of wiring will be affected by the switch!.

As far as phones go, I don't know what you mean??? What do you want the switch to do for the phones?

I wish I had more info.
Good Luck!

Answer 2

It sound like a wire has not been connected properly, but as a brown wire in the UK (and this is the UK section) is the live wire keep away. There is no reason for a single wire to be coming from any electrical switch or socket. My advise is if you don't know much about light or ring main circuits get a professional in to sort it out. If you are eclectically competent than turn off the mains and open up the switch or socket and see what this wire is doing.

Answer 3

You can do it but a better alternative might be to ( split wire ) the
outlets, modern outlets can be "split", which means you can make half the outlet be on a switch, for lighting and the other half be live all the time. If you go to the home store and look at an outlet you'll see 2 screws on each side of the outlet and between the screws is a small tab of metal with a slot, this can be broken off which turns the outlet into two seperate outlets. This requires a 3 wire conductor from the switch and the outlets rather than a 2 wire, one wire goes to one side of the now split outlet and that can be the switched wire and than use the other wire to feed the other side of the outlet with the wire that will be live all the time. If you're not comfortable with any of this please call a "qualified" electrician.

Answer 4

Anything can be done, but is it safe? The dangers involved in overloading a wall circuit can easily lead to a house fire. You need to have a certified electrician look at what you want to do with your wiring desires. Every wall circuit is wired with its own house fuse or circuit breaker. Each circuit breaker is designed to "break" when the load ampere exceeds the ampere requirements of the type of wire gauge used (an overload), thus preventing the wire from getting hot and starting a fire. It's possible, but the real hassle is in rewiring all the plug-ins independent of the light fixtures and other rooms on the same circuit. In most cases, a new leg from the breaker box will be needed. As far as wiring the telephone into a light switch, I don't recommend it. Might want to check Radio Shack or the phone company for a cut off switch for your telephonic needs.

Answer 5

If they're all on the same circuit, you could, but your local laws might require it be done by a licensed electrician. If they're on multiple circuits, then no - because it would exceed the load for any given circuit.

As for phones - I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but yes - if you're using a one-line phone you can route it through light switches. The voltage is very low, the amperage nearly non-existent. Is it that you want to disable the phones with a light switch? Yes, you could, although I'm not sure what sort of signal loss you'd see. If it's a two-line phone, you'd have to get a pair of switches unless you can scare up a four-pole lightswitch from somewhere.

Answer 6

DONT.

The power handling for all the power outlets in a single room is quite high so you will need a fairly heavy switch for that.

Thats assuming the outlets in your room are on a 'ring' circuit in which case its possible you will take out other outlets as well.

If they are individually spured from the distibutor then you may be able to.

Answer 7

Not a good idea. Switch and wires would have to be rated for total load of all. Not practical. There are remote modules that can be plugged into each duplex outlet & a wireless switch is used. Perhaps that idea may be do-able.

Answer 8

A light switch is rated at 5 amp
13 amp power is 30 amp
Don't even think about it unless you use a double pole 32 amp or greater switchgear.

Answer 9

It is possible - but can be quite difficut - I suggest you get a professional to do it - electricity can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing - and the law recnetly changed, so you will actually be breaking the law unless you are a fully qualified electrician

But yeah, it can be done.

Answer 10

Makes little sense, but yes if you have the appropriate circuit and circuit breaker on the line.