Fitting an outdoor socket.

[amfisted]

I'm looking to install a new outside socket for use with garden power tools.

There's a single power point behind our washing machine. It's just below the worktop, about 750mm above the floor and on the inner face of an external cavity wall, and I want to use this socket to provide the outdoor supply.

The washing machine is plugged into this power point, and the socket is supplied via an isolation switch on the wall above the same worktop; the type which is illuminated when on. We switch it on when the washing machine is in use, and off when it isn't.

Am I correct in believing that there would be no extra protection to be gained by fitting an RCD protected socket on a main which is already RCD protected?

Given that the socket which will supply the outdoor power point is already isolated, would I need to fit an additional isolation switch on the inside wall for the outdoor socket?

Is it OK to use ordinary PVC sheathed cable as long as it isn't exposed to the weather?

Thanks in advance.

 

[winston1]

Definitely no need for another RCD. You don't actually need an isolation switch for an outdoor socket though it is recommended by some as an outdoor socket can get water in it is not properly sealed.

But your washing machine socket is most probably a spur off a ring, the spur starts as it leaves the isolation switch. So your outdoor socket is a spur off a spur which is not recommended.

 

[amfisted]

Thanks for your response. It did occur to me after writing my post that I might be spurring off a spur, which is as you say not recommended. Would it, however, actually break any regs?

The outdoor socket would be for only occasional use--perhaps mowing the lawn once a week in summer and little if anything in winter. And I most certainly wouldn't be spurring any further.

 

[davelx]

Does the isolation switch "the type which is illuminated when on." also have a fuse in it? Something like this?
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MKK1060.html
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MKK1060.html

 

[Taylortwocities]

the socket is supplied via an isolation switch on the wall above the same worktop

Is this a fused switch (aka FCU)?
If so then you only need to be aware that the total load available will be the value of the fuse in the fused switch. Probably 13A.
If so then carry on.



If it is not fused then you will be creating a spur from a spur.
You ask

Would it, however, actually break any regs?

Yes it would!
and also re

I most certainly wouldn't be spurring any further.

It doesnt matter. Electrical installations can be there for many decades. The next householder may not be aware of your bodge and may connect his hot tub up to your little project, and that may not have happy consequences.

 

[amfisted]

Its a fused switch, so I'll go for it. But I'll have a look at the rating of the fuse first.

Thanks again.

 

[amfisted]

Does the isolation switch "the type which is illuminated when on." also have a fuse in it? Something like this?
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MKK1060.html

Yes, it does. Its clearly an FCU as above. So it appears that my plans have wings. ;0)

 

[EFLImpudence]

The next householder may not be aware of your bodge and may connect his hot tub up to your little project, and that may not have happy consequences.

Then that would be the next householder's responsibility and totally irrelevant.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Then that would be the next householder's responsibility and totally irrelevant.

OK fine, so shall I advise DIYers to install cables diagonally across walls because it's the next householder's responsibility then, should I?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Do you really think that is an comparable situation?

 

[winston1]

Its a fused switch, so I'll go for it. But I'll have a look at the rating of the fuse first.

Thanks again.

Well it that case it shouldn't be, (though does not break any regs). The washing machine plug has a fuse and two similar fuses in line are as stupid as two RCDs in line.

 

[amfisted]

The FCU was there when we moved in, and if the fact that it has a fuse allows me to complete my "little project" rather than indulging in a "bodge", then all well and good. ;0)

 

[winston1]

The FCU was there when we moved in, and if the fact that it has a fuse allows me to complete my "little project" rather than indulging in a "bodge", then all well and good. ;0)

Personally I would call an outdoor socket on the same fcu as a washing machine a bodge even if compliant. If I found it on a house I moved into I would be changing it asap.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Personally I would call an outdoor socket on the same fcu as a washing machine a bodge even if compliant.

Why?

If I found it on a house I moved into I would be changing it asap.

Yes, but you are desperately irrational about some things.

 

[amfisted]

The FCU was there when we moved in, and if the fact that it has a fuse allows me to complete my "little project" rather than indulging in a "bodge", then all well and good. ;0)

Personally I would call an outdoor socket on the same fcu as a washing machine a bodge even if compliant. If I found it on a house I moved into I would be changing it asap.

My dictionary defines "bodge" as "to make a mess of or botch", and to "botch" as "to spoil through clumsiness or ineptitude".

If it works and complies, do those definitions really apply?