Shaver Socket

I have a first floor bathroom with a combined light/shaver socket over a big rectangular mirror. This runs off the lighting circuit, has an integral isolation transformer and is earthed (ie is supplied by a 3 core L/N/E cable).

The shaver socket on the light is too high to use (particularly as me and the wife get older and less able to stretch up on tiptoe!). I am planning to redecorate this room and am thinking about having a shaver socket installed in addition to the existing wall-light fitting. Ideally this would be connected by a spur from the existing light fitting, with the wiring chased around the mirror. If it could be done that way it would be a very simple little job.

Some years after the place was re-wired, a loft conversion was carried out in the floor above, so the lighting circuit is pretty inaccessible. If a separate wiring run to the new shaver socket were necessary, it's probably too much trouble to have this work done.

I can see from researching this forum, that a shaver socket needs to be earthed, needs an isolation transformer, is notifiable work and that a combined light/shaver socket is a good solution. But I can't find any reference to a shaver socket being spurred off an existing light .

I'm thinking it's easier to get an answer off here than get someone round to quote for a job which may not be possible. Plus, I don't have a tame electrician, so I'm thinking from a safety perspective that an answer off this forum might be the most reliable.

The proposed new socket would be well away from the bath and more than 600mm from the wash basin.

Can someone advise?

Cheers.

As the existing light is connected to a lighting circuit, there is no concept of 'spurs' - any additional connection would just be an extension of the existing circuit. Provided the cable used is of the same size as that used for the existing circuit, a shaver socket can be added in the way you intended.

The new cable must be installed in the appropriate locations - either vertically or horizontally in line with the new socket or existing light fitting, or both.

Shaver sockets include an isolating transformer in them.

The work is not notifiable unless it would be within 600mm of the bath.
Distance from the basin is irrelevant.

Great, that sounds good. I was getting the 600mm from basin idea from this earlier thread: //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=74819&start=0

I've just re-visited it and it is rather confusing, but it does seem to say that the 600mm matters and that the work is notifiable. However it's several years old so maybe regs have changed? Unusual though for them to get less restrictive rather than more. I've also spotted the suggestion that the circuit should have an RCD. I believe my lighting circuits each have an MCB, with the whole supply running through an RCD. I presume this counts.

andrewjameshoward said:

Great, that sounds good. I was getting the 600mm from basin idea from this earlier thread: //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=74819&start=0 ... I've just re-visited it and it is rather confusing, but it does seem to say that the 600mm matters and that the work is notifiable. However it's several years old so maybe regs have changed? Unusual though for them to get less restrictive rather than more.

Click to expand...

Maybe unusual, but true. The information (and diagrams) in that 7 year-old thread are seriously out-of-date. There is no longer a zone 3, and zone 2 simply extends to 600mm from bath/shower, all the way from floor to 2.25m above floor. Isolated shaver sockets are allowed in Zone 2, but, as you imply, the catch is that work within Zone 2 is notifiable.

andrewjameshoward said:

I've also spotted the suggestion that the circuit should have an RCD. I believe my lighting circuits each have an MCB, with the whole supply running through an RCD. I presume this counts.

Click to expand...

Yes, current regs require that everything in a bathroom be RCD protected, but, from what you say, that is, indeed, the case for this lighting circuit.

KInd Regards, John

Oh that is good news. Thanks for the explanation. It sounds so simple I'm tempted to it myself now. Is it one of those "Part P" things where I should get a qualified tradesman to do it, or am I allowed to do my own work in this instance?

andrewjameshoward said:

Oh that is good news. Thanks for the explanation. It sounds so simple I'm tempted to it myself now. Is it one of those "Part P" things where I should get a qualified tradesman to do it, or am I allowed to do my own work in this instance?

Click to expand...

Anyone who is competent (everyday sense) to do the work satisfactorily and safely is allowed to do any electrical work, and only you know whether that applies to yourself. Were it notifiable work, it would make little sense for you to do it yourself, since the cost of notification would probably make that approach much more expensive than using a registered 'self-certifying' electrician, but, as discussed, it's not notifiable if it is outside of the (current) Zone 2.

One problem with electrical DIY is that very few DIYers have the equipment and/or knowledge to undertake the various tests which, strictly speaking, should be undertaken when any electrical work is done. That theoretically should preclude almost all electrical DIY work - but I need not tell you that a lot of electrical work is undertaken by DIYers!

If you do decide to do it yourself, bear in mind that any buried cable must be routed in 'safe zones' (see forum's wiki about 'cables in walls').

Kind Regards, John