Do VELUX INTEGRA windows need an electrician?

The word electric covers two different products, and the wiring question has a different answer for each.

The first is the mains powered window. It has a motor built into the frame, and it takes its power from a supply in the building. The second is the solar version, which has a small panel fitted to the window and a rechargeable battery inside it. It draws nothing from the house, so no cable has to be run to it.

A mains window is a little like a built in appliance that happens to sit in the roof. It has to be connected, and the connection has to be safe in a room where people sleep. A solar window is closer to a garden light: it works from what falls on it. Our page on solar powered roof windows explains how that version behaves, and the overview of electric roof windows lays out the whole family.

The choice between them usually comes down to the loft. A converted room with a good route for cable from a consumer unit handles a mains window easily. A window in an awkward roof, or one added late when the walls are already finished, may suit the solar model better, since no cable has to be hidden.

A fixed electrical connection in a home is skilled work with a safety purpose. It is done by a qualified electrician to the current wiring regulations, and the window fitter does not stand in for that.

In practice the electrician's part is this:

• Planning the route of the cable from the supply point to the window frame.
• Choosing the cable, the protection and the connection method the installation instructions call for.
• Making the connection at the window and at the supply.
• Testing the circuit and recording the result.

Building Regulations Part P deals with electrical safety in dwellings, and the work has to meet it. The electrician advises on whether the job is notifiable and how it is recorded. Where any of the work we do is notifiable, we handle the Building Control notification for our own part, and the electrical side follows its own rules.

Coordination matters more than anything else. A cable is easy to run before the loft is plasterboarded and awkward afterwards. The window fitter and the electrician agree the route at survey so the cable is in the right place when the lining goes up, and a switch or control pad is set where it will be used.

The route is worth planning as carefully as the window position, because it decides how tidy the room looks at the end.

A mains window is connected through the frame, and the cable runs from there to its supply. In a loft conversion the cable normally passes through the rafter zone, behind the plasterboard, and on to a spur or a fused connection, depending on what the instructions and the electrician's plan call for. In an unfinished loft it can run openly to a junction point, but that is a rougher result.

There is a control as well. An electric window is opened from a wall mounted pad, a remote, or an app through a connected hub. Some models also carry a rain sensor that closes the window when it detects water, which our page on what the VELUX rain sensor does explains. The sensor and the control both have their own place in the wiring plan.

The window position also affects reach. A window set high in a steep slope is hard to open by hand, and that is one reason people choose electric in the first place. Our page on converting a manual VELUX to electric looks at the case where the window is already in place, and the wiring question is the same one.

For a window over a bed, the noise of the motor also matters a little. The motor is quiet in use, and the opening noise is brief, so this is a point about the pane more than the motor. Choosing a laminated acoustic pane for the room is covered by the quiet spec.

Where running a cable is hard or expensive, the solar window removes the problem. It is not a compromise so much as a different answer.

The solar panel sits on the outside of the window and charges a battery that lives in the sash. The control works by remote, and the window opens, closes and, on some models, reacts to rain in the same way as the mains version. There is no wall switch to place and no cable to hide, so the ceiling and walls of a finished room stay as they are.

The trade is in daylight dependence. A panel that faces away from the sun, or is shaded by a chimney or a tree, charges more slowly, so the position of the window matters. The installation instructions and current VELUX data describe what the panel needs and how the battery behaves, and they are worth reading before you commit. A north facing slope under heavy shade is the case where the mains window is safer.

A solar window also suits a retrofit. If an existing manual window is being replaced and the plasterboard is finished, a solar replacement drops into the same opening with no work on the ceiling. That is an attractive answer where the lining has recently been decorated.

The earlier the electrical question is asked, the cheaper the answer. Waiting until the window is in and the plaster is dry is how a neat job turns into a messy one.

At survey we note where the supply could come from, the depth of the roof structure, and whether the room is finished or still bare. That tells us which version suits the loft. For a fully open roof, the electrician can fit the cable first and we fit the window second. For a finished room, the solar model is the quieter disruption.

The window is installed to current Building Regulations, and the electrician works to the current wiring regulations. The two trades each take their own part. A guarantee of 10 years on our workmanship covers the installation of the window, and the electrician's own work carries whatever terms they provide. The costs are set out in general terms on the costs page, where an electric window and its wiring are treated as a separate item from the glass and the frame.

If you are not sure which version you want, the quote form is the place to start, and the parent page on VELUX window installation in Crawley covers the rest of the range.

Can I wire the window myself?

A fixed connection in a home is work for a qualified electrician, to the current wiring regulations. The safer course is to leave the wiring to them and to read the installation instructions together.

Does the window need a dedicated circuit?

That depends on the model and on the electrician's assessment of the existing installation. The instructions list what the window draws and how it must be supplied, and the electrician decides how to meet that.

What happens in a power cut?

A mains window will not motor open without supply. Whether the sash can be moved by hand, and how it releases, is set out in the model data, so check it before you buy. The solar version keeps working from its battery.

Can the window be controlled from a phone?

Some models can be linked to a connected hub and an app. The VELUX ACTIVE and indoor climate sensors page covers the automatic side, which opens and closes the window to manage the air in the room.