2 circuits in one room - allowable?

[greasedmonkey]

I have recently built a conservatory and am now kitting out the inside.

Not a great deal, just a light and 2 double sockets. 1 for a small tv and radio, the other for a lamp. I have easy access to two sockets to spur off, both are on the ring and not spurs and neither have been spurred from so far. Because of this I thought it to be an easy job, but one is in the dining room and the other in the kitchen. The kitchen is on its own circuit and because of this I am now wondering if it safe / legal / wise / compliant to do this as one socket would still be live if the downstairs socket were turned off.

Personally, I always check if something is live before messing with it even after turning it off, but not everyone would.

 

[seasickstevie]

You could have twenty sockets in one room, and every one on it's own circuit if you like.

 

[plugwash]

safe

It's safe for people using the installation and safe for people who take reasonable precautions when working on an electrical installation. It's potentially hazardous to people who make unwarranted assumptions when working on an electrical installation.

legal

Part P says "Reasonable provision shall be made in the design and installation of electrical installations in order to protect persons operating, maintaining or altering the installations from fire or injury."

To what extent it is "reasonable" to protect incompetent people maintaining or altering electrical installations is debatable.

compliant

It's not forbidden by BS7671 to have multiple circuits feeding sockets in one area.

However if you are going to have such a configuration you should IMO be careful to ensure that the installation is properly documented. A label saying "sockets kitchen" is misleading if that circuit serves a socket outside the kitchen. On the other hand labeling it as "sockets kitchen and conservatory" may mislead people into thinking that all sockets in the conservatory are fed from it.

Where you have mixtures like this it may be better to label all socket circuits as "sockets" and then have a plan near the CU showing which sockets are on which circuit.

wise

Personally i'd avoid it if reasonably practical to do so and make damn sure I documented it in a non-confusing way if I couldn't avoid it. Can you extend the ring at the existing socket in the dining room rather than spurring?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Where you have mixtures like this it may be better to label all socket circuits as "sockets" and then have a plan near the CU showing which sockets are on which circuit.

Plan B

May not be to everyone's taste though......

 

[greasedmonkey]

Personally i'd avoid it if reasonably practical to do so and make damn sure I documented it in a non-confusing way if I couldn't avoid it. Can you extend the ring at the existing socket in the dining room rather than spurring?

When planning and building the conservatory, I was not aware that the kitchen was on a seperate circuit as the consumer unit had nothing labelled. We bought the house last year and I have only recently been round flicking switches and testing stuff to identify what feeds where. Extending either ring would mean I would have to cross 2 external doorways and I did not build in any provisions for doing so.

I think I will just label the sockets as to what circuit they are on. The wife has a little sticky label making gadget thing. Until now the only electrical work I have done is to rewire the pond electrics as they were deadly when we moved in, but that was fed from the garage which has its own mini CU.

 

[Astra99]

FWIW, my flat in Spain has half the sockets on the 10A lighting breaker, and the other half on the 16A power breaker. I have identified them with small coloured self-adhesive labels, one colour for lighting, another for power. These colours are repeated at the dis-board. Here in the UK, it's easier to use coloured sockets! Choice is yours.

edit - There is also a (bi-lingual) warning notice in the dis-board cabinet!!!!

 

[phatboy]

Why not extend the ring via either one of the sockets you were going to spur from? This seems more satisfactory....

 

[greasedmonkey]

Why not extend the ring via either one of the sockets you were going to spur from? This seems more satisfactory....

Because it means crossing doorways and I cant see a way of making it tidy and keeping the wiring safe from harm.

I will just clearly label them for now and put a notice inside of the flap on the CU. I may re-address this at a later date as there is much I want to do to the wiring on the house, but it is low priority as it is currently "safe", just not as good as it should be. For instance, the CU has been replaced at some point with a 17th edition jobby, but the circuits are not labelled and in a less than ideal order. 1 RCD has upstairs ring, downstairs ring, kitchen ring, upstairs lights and a spare. the other RCD has downstairs lights, cooker (now disused we use gas), shower (soon to be disused), immersion heater (now disused) and some spares. The garage has its own CU, which I assume to be the one removed from the house.