REPLACING an existing bathroom shaver socket with no earth

tadrb · 18 Dec 2010

I have an existing bathroom shaver socket which is broken (no output voltage). The supply has two conductors (i.e. no earth). Ideally, I would like to replace the faceplate/transformer but I cannot find a replacement marked "doubly insulated". Do they exist? Am I now obliged to run an earth cable? The socket is beyond zone 2 but close to a washbasin. The house supply is protected by a 30mA RCD.

Any advice would be appreciated.

riveralt · 18 Dec 2010

I take it the power to the shaver socket is from the lighting circuit.

Does the lighting circuit have an earth?

Double insulated shaver sockets here:
http://www.warmsoles.co.uk/shaver_sockets-698.html

tadrb · 18 Dec 2010

riveralt said:
I take it the power to the shaver socket is from the lighting circuit.

Does the lighting circuit have an earth?

Double insulated shaver sockets here:
http://www.warmsoles.co.uk/shaver_sockets-698.html[/QUOTE]

Yes, it is powered from an unearthed lighting ring. Finding suitable appliances is getting increasing difficult. We gave up looking for ceiling light fittings and ran earth cables. That would be messy in this bathroom owing to tiling.

Many thanks for your help.

ban-all-sheds · 18 Dec 2010

If a lighting circuit has no earth then one of the following holds:

1) It's over 45 years old.

or

2) It's been installed/fiddled with/butchered by a dangerously incompetent idiot.

If (1) is the case then you should have everything properly inspected, as it could well be past it's best-before date.

If (2) is the case then you should have everything properly inspected, as who knows what other f***-ups he has left you.

tadrb · 18 Dec 2010

ban-all-sheds said:
If a lighting circuit has no earth then one of the following holds:

1) It's over 45 years old.

or

2) It's been installed/fiddled with/butchered by a dangerously incompetent idiot.

If (1) is the case then you should have everything properly inspected, as it could well be past it's best-before date.

If (2) is the case then you should have everything properly inspected, as who knows what other f***-ups he has left you.

The house was built in about 1965. Lighting rings are twin-core (apart from to two points to which we ran earthing). All other circuits are twin+earth. All insulation is plastic. I have not seen any evidence anywhere of insulation degradation.

A neighbour had his house (same age) inspected a couple of years ago. They tried to persuade him to replace the lightning circuits as "they don't do it like that anymore". They offered no safety specific reason.

I understood that any rubber and the very early (~1950) plastic must be replaced as it deteriorates badly. What would degrade in mid-1960s plastic?

ban-all-sheds · 18 Dec 2010

It's not the same PVC as is used today.

Also, the earth core in some of the early PVC cables was too small to be safe.

I advised having it checked, not automatically replaced.

riveralt · 18 Dec 2010

tadrb said:
The house was built in about 1965. Lighting rings are twin-core (apart from to two points to which we ran earthing). All other circuits are twin+earth. All insulation is plastic. I have not seen any evidence anywhere of insulation degradation.

A neighbour had his house (same age) inspected a couple of years ago. They tried to persuade him to replace the lightning circuits as "they don't do it like that anymore". They offered no safety specific reason.

I understood that any rubber and the very early (~1950) plastic must be replaced as it deteriorates badly. What would degrade in mid-1960s plastic?

There are a lot of houses around here that fall into your category - built up to 1969 - no cpc for lighting - Whenever I do a Periodic Inspection Report it goes down as code 2 - but apart from the issue of deterioration of the cable - if it was safe then why is it not safe now?

Well the one reason might be if you have any metallic switch plates, backplates or ceiling lights - without a cpc then you really need to be all plastic.

You have taken the right step to get additional protection from the RCD. If you feel comfortable with your current set up then leave it be.

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REPLACING an existing bathroom shaver socket with no earth

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