Any electricians out there? AIBU to think this shouldn't be "live"?

[carbriana]

We've recently had a room re-plastered and painted. The plasterers had loosened the ceiling rose, so now that the painting is finished we have screwed it back into the ceiling. Obviously the original holes had been plastered over, but we drilled some more in what must have been the same place. The problem is, after fixing the rose to the ceiling we've tested it with a Voltage Detector and the whole thing seems to be "live", including the plastic rose and the glass bulb (see photo). We didn't test it beforehand, so don't know if it was live before we screwed it to the ceiling, but we've tested some of the other pendant installations in the house and they're not giving the same reading. Are there any electricians out there who could tell me how worried I should be and what to do about it? (I'd contact a Real Life electrician, but it's Saturday night).

If it was actually live you'd have noticed (by being tossed across the room) when screwing it to the ceiling or by putting the bulb in.

There's no way the glass can be live, and the same for the plastic rose. Your voltage detecter may be bust. Mine failed like this on Tuesday, was registering mains at a cooker socket despite the fuse being out. No idea how. It also wasn't registering mains on other places. I've binned it.

Thanks SpoonBlender. That's what I'm banking on, because I agree it doesn't make much sense for the bulb to be live. But I'd like to get an electrician's opinion if possible.

I'm not an electrician but sounds like the switch could by wired into the neutral instead of live.

My hubby is a electrician, he says it can’t be live. You need to buy a new voltage protector.