For TTC

[securespark]

You recently advised a max. 2m distance for a DP switch for cooking purposes. I agree with you, as this distance was specified in the 15th Ed., 476-20 refers.

For that matter, it was in previous Ed's of the regs, too. Eg, A29 of the 14th, where the distance ws 6 feet, not 2m.

But where do you find it in today's regs? I ask because I was shot down a while back for stating 2m (it may have been by Ban...) and could not find a specific reg giving distances, only:

from the 16th, 476-03-04, which seems to have replaced 476-20

from the 17th: having had a quick flick through 537, I can't see anything that springs to the eye.

 

[ericmark]

I also remember something saying the isolator could not be directly behind the cooker and also a distance for a socket in relation to a sink but seems now all gone.

There is a 3 meter limit between reduction in cross sectional area well current carrying capacity really and the current limiting device 433.2.2 of 3 meters which I don't remember in 16th and not in changes page of 17th which limits length of a spur to 3 meters.

I am told the distance is still in some plumbing regulations? However much was transferred from the regulations into the guide when it moved from 15th to 16th so in may be in guide but since I took 17th exam before the guide was printed I never bought the 17th guide.

522.2 does detail protection against heat and uses words like "sufficiently" the same with 522.3 and water. I suppose with items like waste disposal units it is likely you need a socket closer than before.

There are some health and safety rules about isolator should be visible from operators position and lockable which don't appear in wiring regs and you may find rule still exists but general safety not electric. So easy to get caught out. I fitted emergency stops and forgot to include a pneumatic isolation and dump valve. I had to retro-fit them. Plus include two air lines as some rams could cause danger if air was lost so they were not supplied through dump valve. How this became an electricians job I never worked out?

However socket heights are Part M, and energy saving Part L, and the last thing we think of when fitting a bathroom fan is the depression caused could suck in fumes from fires but that's covered in Part J I think.

So you may find it under health and safety rules or building control rules quite a lot to wade through. Closest I could find is below.

132.9 Emergency control
Where in case of danger there is the necessity for immediate interruption of supply, an interrupting device shall be installed in such a way that it can be easily recognised and effectively and rapidly operated.

Plus 537.4 Emergency switching. As you said.

 

[Taylortwocities]

The 2 metre reference is in the OSG and the Electricians Guyide to the Building Regs.

As this is a DIY forum I err on the side of caution when dispensing advice. I tend to give it on that basis rather than be on the "right" side of people who wear hats, claim to live in Zaire, etc

For cookers/hobs etc I would contend that an accessible isolator switch is necessary for emergency switching. Especially when hot water is running all over the hob controls...

Strictly and purely you're right. The 2 metre reference is not in the 17th.

 

[JBPElectrics]

Just to add to the above also in the building regs guide it states min 300mm from edge of sink/draining board for sockets. Cooker switch no nearer than 300mm or further than 2000mm than hob

 

[securespark]

The 2 metre reference is in the OSG and the Electricians Guide to the Building Regs.

Strictly and purely you're right. The 2 metre reference is not in the 17th.

Thanks, TTC.

Yeah, I can't find it in the regs, but have found it in the EGBR. I've had this argument with NIC sparks before. Some of them do not recognise any publication other than BS7671:2008 itself. The guides, they say, are just that. So if I quote anything out of the guides their reply is, "that's not the regulations though, is it?"......

 

[JBPElectrics]

7671 is a NON statutory document, not sure which would be the worst to breach, Part P or 7671 ?

 

[Taylortwocities]

The location of the cooker switch isn't in Part P.Part p refers to BS7671(2001) - 16th Edition, but the cooker switch location is not in there either

 

[JBPElectrics]

But it is in the IEE electricians guide to the building regs......Typical nightmare!4.4 and 4.5 page 55 and then pictures on fig 5.2 page 61

CBW

 

[Taylortwocities]

Yes, typical. but the documents they are in are called "guides". Not regulations.

Its maybe a bit like the highway code. It is in the highway code that vehicles going down hill should give way to vehicles coming up hill. But there is no traffic law that says you must. (note the should and the must).

But - if the case came to court where you (coming down hill) collided with me coming up the hill in a narrow lane - I might cite the Highway Code to give weight to my claim against you.