Assorted wiring work - what's notifiable?

[RickDastardly]

I have a number of projects I want to do in our new (old!) house. I think I understand what's notifiable but would appreciate confirmation/input to make sure I don't run into trouble.

1. External sockets in garden. Spur taken off kitchen ring circuit to an RCD/13A-fused faceplate inside, then from that to an external IP67 junction box, socket, and an armoured cable to another socket further down the garden. As far as I can determine, this is not notifiable since 2013 in England.

2. External socket, at front of house. The least messy way here (the room's decorated) is to simply wire the external socket to an internal RCD/13A-fused plug with 13A flex, and plug it into a nearby socket when required. There's a perfect, existing hole though the wall I can use (old aerial cable route).

3. Fireplace lighting. In a non-functional flu! Fit a spur socket inside the flu above the fireplace 'hole', from the ring-circuit socket on the other side of the chimney breast. Into that would be plugged some red 'fairy' lights in a mock fireplace.

4. Loft power for TV amp and a network switch. Spur off upper floor ring circuit and take the cable up through the airing cupboard in the bathroom, to a socket in the loft. Optionally put in a FCU in the loft to feed two sockets at either end of the loft. From reading here, I can do that in the airing cupboard because that's not considered to be in a special zone.

5. Socket and LED lighting in dressing room - to make the misses happy. Take a spur from the ring circuit (which is on the other side of the room) to give her a socket under the dressing table. From that, either just plug in the PSU for the LEDs, or use a FCU and hard-wire the PSU (and mains socket next to it) at the end of the spur. The LEDs are fixed into a cupboard (the over-the-stairs cupboard) next to the dressing table, with an inline switch on the mains wire to the PSU.

I don't think any of that is notifiable from what I've read... can anyone tell me different?

 

[flameport]

None of it is notifiable.

 

[RickDastardly]

Great, thank you Flameport!

 

[winston1]

Note, if there is already RCD protection of the ring finals at the CU you should not use additional RCDs on your spurs.

 

[JohnW2]

3. Fireplace lighting. In a non-functional flu! Fit a spur socket inside the flu above the fireplace 'hole' ....

Just a common sense comment, really. I wonder what you mean by "non-functional flue"? Do you just mean that you don't use it, or would it be impossible for a future occupier to use it as a flue (maybe after removing capping). If the former (i.e. if there is any risk of someone using the flue in the future, then I think that you ought to make sure that the presence of the socket is well documented and brought to the attention of any future owner/occupier!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Note, if there is already RCD protection of the ring finals at the CU you should not use additional RCDs on your spurs.

I would say that your "should not use" should probably be changed to "do not need to use". However, there are at least three reasons why someone might want to consider including these 'unnecessary' RCDs:

1...RCD FCUs and plugs/adapters are usually active RCDs. This could be considered desirable if the sockets in question (both outdoor sockets) may be used for garden equipment or power tools - to eliminate the risk of those items 'springing back to life' after a power cut.
2...Unlike most other RCDs, the test button of RCD FCUs and plugs/sockets usually introduces a fault current to earth. The test therefore 'fails' if there is not a satisfactory earth connection to the socket in question as well as if the RCD is faulty. Some might consider that an advantage.
3...A second RCD obviously provides redundancy.

To balance those considerations, I think the only downside of having two RCDs is the minor inconvenience of possibly having to reset two RCDs in the event of a fault. With or without the second RCD, all circuits protected by the RCD which protects the ring final in question will (either definitely or probably) be lost in the event of a fault, so there really are no regulatory considerations.

Kind Regards, John

 

[RickDastardly]

Thanks for the comments folks.

The flue could only be used by rebuilding the fireplace, relining (or piping) the flue and uncapping it. It would be impossible not to notice the socket doing that. Point well taken though.

There are no RCDs in the CU - it's old (black/red wiring old and then some). Good points to bear in mind though for the future, and some things I didn't know about the differences in the RCDs.

Oh, and thinks for not ripping me for misspelling 'flu' My only defence: it's winter and we got our letters for a free flu jab the other day. Don't really want to get the two confused.

 

[JohnW2]

The flue could only be used by rebuilding the fireplace, relining (or piping) the flue and uncapping it. It would be impossible not to notice the socket doing that. Point well taken though.

Fair enough.

There are no RCDs in the CU - it's old (black/red wiring old and then some). Good points to bear in mind though for the future, and some things I didn't know about the differences in the RCDs.

That raises some new issues. In general terms ( a few exceptions) the regs require any new sockets to be RCD protected - that therefore includes the sockets in your fireplace, loft and dressing room, as well as the two external ones. The regs also effectively require any new buried cables in walls to be RCD protected.

Kind Regards, John

 

[RickDastardly]

Ahh... I've just found and read the 2015 update. Good heads-up, thank you! I had come across the requirement for buried cables but not just for the sockets regardless of the cabling.

I'm thinking that, if I use RCD FCUs to spur off, it's still not notifiable since I'm not changing anything in the CU...

 

[JohnW2]

Ahh... I've just found and read the 2015 update. Good heads-up, thank you! I had come across the requirement for buried cables but not just for the sockets regardless of the cabling.

You're welcome.

I'm thinking that, if I use RCD FCUs to spur off, it's still not notifiable since I'm not changing anything in the CU...

That's correct. Provided you only 'extend existing circuits' (i.e. do not create 'new circuits') none of it is notifiable.

I should warn you that just a few people (I would say 'silly', at least in terms of common sense) will argue, on the basis of the BS7671 definition of 'a circuit', that connecting anything via an FCU is 'creating a new circuit' downstream of the FCU. I feel sure that the authors of the notification rules did not intend that!

Kind Regards, John

 

[RickDastardly]

I should warn you that just a few people (I would say 'silly', at least in terms of common sense) will argue, on the basis of the BS7671 definition of 'a circuit', that connecting anything via an FCU is 'creating a new circuit' downstream of the FCU. I feel sure that the authors of the notification rules did not intend that!

Actually that was what confused me at first when I started researching this; figuring out exactly what was meant by a 'new circuit'. Reading a lot here helped though and it didn't take long to understand that it basically meant 'from the CU'.

 

[JohnW2]

Actually that was what confused me at first when I started researching this; figuring out exactly what was meant by a 'new circuit'. Reading a lot here helped though and it didn't take long to understand that it basically meant 'from the CU'.

That's the interpretation that virtually all of us use. The 'few' I mentioned note that the BS7671 definition of 'a circuit' refers to circuitry/loads which is protected by a common over-current protection device, and they would regard the fuse in a FCU as being such a device!

However, as I've said, IMO that's just plain silly. Even before the extensive relaxation of notification rules which occurred in 2013 (in England), connecting things via an FCU to an existing circuit was one of the few things which, explicitly, was not notifiable - so it's virtually inconceivable that the post-2013 rules (in England) intended that installation of an FCU (feeding something) was notifiable.

Kind Regards, John