Notifiable Work

[Sfrazi]

We have bought a fairly small 2 up 2 down terraced house and have noticed all the sockets are on one circuit with the lights having their own circuit and split between each of the 2 floors.

1) Is it ok(by law) that all the sockets are on one circuit or do these need to be split between each floor?
2) Is it notifiable if an extra socket is added as an additional ring in the ring circuit?
3) Is it notifiable to wire a bathroom extractor fan via a 3 pole isolator using the lighting circuit?
4) I am wiring a burglar alarm and would like it to have its own circuit at the CU, is this notifiable work?

Can 2) & 3) be completed by any competent person or does an electrician need to do these? I'm pretty sure for 4) an electrician will need to wire the final connection to the CU.

Thanks

 

[EFLImpudence]

1) Yes, it is alright - nothing to do with the law.
2) Not notifiable to add sockets to the ring or as spurs. You don't want another ring on the ring.
3) Not notifiable if the work is outside the zones of the bathroom.
//www.diynot.com/wiki/Electrics:bathroom_zones
4) It is notifiable if it is a new circuit.

Anyone can do the work. For the notifiable work the Building Control will have to deem you competent.

 

[flameport]

4 would be notifiable, but can still be done by anyone competent - the only requirement is that building control are notified which involves paying them a fee.
The fee often makes doing the work yourself completely uneconomic as it is typically £100s.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

1) Is it ok(by law) that all the sockets are on one circuit or do these need to be split between each floor?

Yes and no. But splitting them up/down or left/right or front/back might be desirable for practical reasons. It's up to you.

2) Is it notifiable if an extra socket is added as an additional ring in the ring circuit?

No. Is the socket circuit RCD protected?

3) Is it notifiable to wire a bathroom extractor fan via a 3 pole isolator using the lighting circuit?

Possibly - work within the Zones is notifiable, outside is not.

4) I am wiring a burglar alarm and would like it to have its own circuit at the CU, is this notifiable work?

Yes.

Can 2) & 3) be completed by any competent person or does an electrician need to do these? I'm pretty sure for 4) an electrician will need to wire the final connection to the CU.

None of it has to be done by an electrician (although that would be the best way to proceed with notifiable work if you want to notify). But all of it, including 2) and 3) need to be done safely, which inevitably leads to the question of testing....

 

[ericmark]

Part P England and for Wales this is the document there is some interpreting to be done best if you do it yourself.

As with all laws over time you get court cases which then become case law and define poor English used so since there have been court cases about people claiming to be scheme members where they were not you are certain that if you claim that and are not you will be fined.

However as to the rest it is open to argument, so if for example I rewire parts of a circuit in a room and move one socket at a time until whole room is rewired, then I fit a food preparation area then I have over time, this could be years, rewired the kitchen, but at the time it was not a kitchen as at the time of wiring there were no food preparation areas. In England kitchens now removed from special location list, you can see why.

So best is to read it yourself and you decide what you can and can't do. They are poorly written documents and unless you are renting then you are unlikely to be challenged on how you read them.

 

[JohnW2]

So best is to read it yourself and you decide what you can and can't do. They are poorly written documents and unless you are renting then you are unlikely to be challenged on how you read them.

Whilst that is sometimes true, in the OP's case I don't think there are any difficulties of interpretation of the notification rules (in either England or Wales). The OP's (1) (assuming new socket added to ring or as spur) is definitely not notifiable, and nor is his (2) if the work is outside of bathroom zones. However, in terms of (3), if the OP chooses to use a 'new circuit', then that would definitely be notifiable ... and all of that is true both in England and Wales.

The one issue (unrelated to notification) not yet mentioned is that the addition of a fan to the bathroom lighting circuit would probably require that circuit to be RCD-protected, that the new sockets would have to be RCD-protected (either the whole circuit or just the new circuits) and that any buried wiring involved in any of the work mentioned would probably require the circuit(s) in question to be RCD-protected. Hence, if any of teh circuits are notr already RCD-protected, the OP may need to address them.

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

Well. Lancashire is in England.

Rather than wade through Approved Document P which is NOT Part P, this is all the actual law regarding notification which states:

With the very short sentence that is Part P itself,

that's all there is.

It is very simple and did not need a book written about it.

 

[JohnW2]

that's all there is. ... It is very simple and did not need a book written about it.

Exactly my point.

There is sometimes some scope for debate/interpretation as regards notification rules (e.g. "what is a new circuit?") but, as I wrote to eric, this thread is not about such a situation (even were in in Wales, let alone Lancashire).

Kind Regards, John