Earthing Outside lights

I have bought new light fittings to replace damaged outside lights. The old lights are plastic and being eaten by insects. The new ones are galvanised steel. The instructions on the new lights says that they are to be earthed but there is no earth wire in the old lights. Is the earth necessary? How can I earth them, presumably the earth from the house was not brought out. The outside lights are all on the kitchen socket circuit.

Thanks

I would say an earth is really necessary on metal light fittings outdoor as for getting an earth can you take a link from an inside earth and bring it out.If you cannot get an earth from inside you could sink an earth rod

ramble said:

... The outside lights are all on the kitchen socket circuit. ...

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Not a great idea.

You will need a proper weather-proof exterior socket wired back to the fuse-board, complete with earthing, etc. You can buy an extension lead in DIY stores for use with electric garden tools that has a breaker on the garden end. I would suggest that this is minimum you use and its only a temporary measure.

The fact that the old lights had no earth wire does not mean there is no earth in the socket they were plugged into.

You need an electrician.

dinjoecurry said:

I would say an earth is really necessary on metal light fittings outdoor as for getting an earth can you take a link from an inside earth and bring it out.If you cannot get an earth from inside you could sink an earth rod

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sinking an earth rod would not be a solution due to the complexity of earth faults and earth fault paths.Have a look at the cable supplying the light fitting as there might be an earth core(or a spare core that could be used as an earth) that was cut back because there was no place to connect it in the old light.If this isn't the case then its simply a case of having to run a new cable to the lights that includes an earth core.

total rewire,consult a sparks.

hurry up if you do decide to use an electrician as they will all be on strike shortly!!

Thanks for all the replies, I ended up asking a handy neighbour who looked more carefully and found and earth wire. There did seem to be a separate circuit for the outside lights, but for some reason the kitchen fridge socket was also on it. This may have been for convenience when the kitchen was refitted. I had an electrician do some wiring in the house recently so I might ask him about it, have to say my experience with electricians over the years has been pretty bad, hence the question.