In The "Zone" Query

[securespark]

I had a last minute request from Mrs S to put a socket in the dining room. The dining room has a laminate floor, so I had to take a spur from the hall socket then run the cable through the hall wall back to back with the site of the new socket.

So, I put a single box in the hall wall where the cable went through to the dining room to make a zone for it.

Then there is the question of whether the cable(s) associated with the box should be attached to an accessory, rather than say, running through the box and a blank plate attached.

 

[pete01]

No I think running through the box is good enough as it's the same circuit.

 

[pete01]

Maybe you could have drilled at an angle and came out where the socket needs to be, no blank plate needed?

 

[securespark]

The actual socket the power is coming from is 900mm away.

 

[JohnW2]

No I think running through the box is good enough as it's the same circuit.

I don't think the regs would be strictly satisfied' with 'just' that - they seem to require that the cable be 'broken' and connected to something at that point. That makes some sense, since it means that someone (hopefully) then would not take the blank plate off and plaster in/over the box, leaving the 'zone' undefined (something they could do if an intact cable merely 'ran through' the box).

However, I think that all that would be needed to address that would be to cut the cable within the box and re-join it with a connector block, Wagos or whatever within that box. In that way, one hopes no-one would 'plaster in' those connections Whether anyone whose surname was not Jobsworth would bother about that is perhaps a different matter

 

[pete01]

I don't think the regs would be strictly satisfied' with 'just' that - they seem to require that the cable be 'broken' and connected to something at that point. That makes some sense, since it means that someone (hopefully) then would not take the blank plate off and plaster in/over the box, leaving the 'zone' undefined (something they could do if an intact cable merely 'ran through' the box).

However, I think that all that would be needed to address that would be to cut the cable within the box and re-join it with a connector block, Wagos or whatever within that box. In that way, one hopes no-one would 'plaster in' those connections Whether anyone whose surname was not Jobsworth would bother about that is perhaps a different matter

I don't think he will plaster over it in his own house.....dont tell anyone I said that.

 

[JohnW2]

I don't think he will plaster over it in his own house.....dont tell anyone I said that.

I don't suppose he would - but Mr Jobsworth appears to be concerned about what unknown people might do in the future! As I wrote ....

Whether anyone whose surname was not Jobsworth would bother about that is perhaps a different matter

 

[pete01]

I don't suppose he would - but Mr Jobsworth appears to be concerned about what unknown people might do in the future! As I wrote ....

He might aswell have another socket then instead of a blank plate....

Or...The zones carry on to the opposite side of the wall....depending on wall thickness

 

[securespark]

Except it's a spur...

 

[pete01]

Except it's a spur...

4mm?

 

[JohnW2]

He might aswell have another socket then instead of a blank plate....

Indeed - and, for those who are 'concerned' there rarely will be much of a reason for not doing that, even aesthetically.

Or...The zones carry on to the opposite side of the wall....depending on wall thickness

Yes, I almost mentioned that, but I've personally never been particularly comfortable about that - not the least because if I am the man who has a drill or hammer/nails in my hand, I would rarely (probably never) even think about looking at what was happening on the other side of the wall!

 

[pete01]

Indeed - and, for those who are 'concerned' there rarely will be much of a reason for not doing that, even aesthetically.

Yes, I almost mentioned that, but I've personally never been particularly comfortable about that - not the least because if I am the man who has a drill or hammer/nails in my hand, I would rarely (probably never) even think about looking at what was happening on the other side of the wall!

Or bury it 55mm deep?

 

[JohnW2]

Except it's a spur...

Ah - good point (unless, as Pete has suggested, you used 4mm² cable)! If you're bothered, that would leave you with a chockblock/Wagos/whatever.

... or, of course, if Mrs S were happy with just 13A total to her new dining room socket, you could put an FCU where the cable comes through the wall.

 

[pete01]

Hang on....you can drill through and go across to the new socket as the new socket will create the zone....wont it?

 

[JohnW2]

Or bury it 55mm deep?

Theoretically - but if it were a stud wall I'm not sure how one could do that (without a lot of destructive work), whereas if it's a (single brick/block) solid wall, then a horizontal chase 55mm deep might well be a no-no