DIY house rewire

[Softus]

I would not put the IH on an RCD. The cooker only if there is a socket outlet incorporated in the plate.

Ah OK. So presumably the IH would go on an RCD if the circuit terminated in a socket outlet (and I realise that there are other reasons not to do that!)?

 

[securespark]

It's that age-old dilemma: "socket outlets likely to supply equipment for use outdoors" etc....

You could say that a CCU is unlikely to be used if there are other outlets nearer, but my rule of thumb generally is to put all G/F s/o's on RCD. Along with showers, not from a regs POV because there is no reqirement in the regs to RCD showers, but because most mfrs spec. it in the installation instructions. And also outdoor stuff with s/o's.

 

[Softus]

Er, CCU?

 

[securespark]

Yeah, fancy having two identical abb's for two separate items of electrical equipment...

CCU - Consumer Control Unit

CCU- Cooker Control Unit.

 

[Softus]

Er, abb?

 

[securespark]

OK so I'm not awake quite yet...
Abb was my abbreviation for "abbreviation", but that's not quite true.

 

[ColJack]

I take it that "Er?" is an abbreviation for " I'm sorry but I don't quite follow that, would you mind explaining it in more detail for me?"

 

[Softus]

I take it that "Er?" is an abbreviation for " I'm sorry but I don't quite follow that, would you mind explaining it in more detail for me?"

Not quite - "Er" is a textual representation of the noise the people commonly make when hesitating during otherwise fluent speech. The "?" following the "abb" is the bit that indicated (in shorthand) that I didn't understand, and securespark was cute enough to catch on and provide the explanation.

If you imagine someone speaking the words I wrote, the question mark would be intoned by an upwards trailing end to the sentence, pretty much in the same quizzical fashion used by antipodeans (and by some teenagers when annoyingly soliciting a grunt of acknowledgment to something not-very-interesting being said).

 

[ColJack]

ah, my bad...

it's Eh? that means that...

 

[dingbat]

It's that age-old dilemma: "socket outlets likely to supply equipment for use outdoors" etc...

Yeah, roll on the seventeenth, eh?

 

[Softus]

OK, so until the 17th Ed., a socket outlet incorporated into a cooker control unit in a flat not on the ground floor of a building, that doesn't have any kind of balcony, would not be a reason to put the cooker circuit on the RCD side.

N'est-ce pas?

 

[Adam_151]

OK, so until the 17th Ed., a socket outlet incorporated into a cooker control unit in a flat not on the ground floor of a building, that doesn't have any kind of balcony, would not be a reason to put the cooker circuit on the RCD side.

N'est-ce pas?

It could still be likely that an extension cord may be thrown from the window, for example if there is parking below and there is no where for people to plug in vacuum cleaners to hoover out cars, etc

But unless the cooker control unit is the closest socket to one of the windows, not likely this one would be chosen.

Now we have regs out the way, we have to consider it good practice, many people consider it good practice to RCD all sockets in a house which may be used to supply portable equipment, and especially in the kitchen where you have water about, etc.

The easiest answer by far is to fit a CCU without a socket, its a bit of a legacy thing reallly anyway... its there to supply a kettle the majority of the time, a heavy load which is reasonably static yet is still portable, leaving the house's single ring circuit availble for portable heating (and small appliances of course), these days with washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves, etc, etc the kitchen gets its own ring final circuit circuit and there is no need for CCU socket as there was when it was the second socket in the kitchen and the only one above the countertop (the other one a socket below on the ring for a fridge)

 

[Softus]

Good answer, and thoroughly informative. Thanks!

 

[JohnD]

John, would you tend to put the cooker and IH on the RCD protected side?

No, because they are both prone to nuisance tripping. I wouldn't have a socket on the cooker switch because it encourages people to trail the kettle lead over the hotplates.

If you were an RCBO enthusiast, you could put each of these on a 100mA RCBO, if you felt like it. That would resist slight nuisance leakage, but would trip when it reached a substantial amount.

 

[Softus]

If you were an RCBO enthusiast, you could put each of these on a 100mA RCBO, if you felt like it.

Yeah, but be realistic - where're ya gonna find an RCBO enthusiast?

More seriously, thanks to you also for such an informative answer.