3 pin socket in a bathroom

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Hi

Just thinking ahead as part of renovation works, can I have a regular double socket in:

1) A large W/C combined laundry room which has no bathtub or shower
2) In a regular bathroom with a shower

If so, what are the distances the double socket would need to be away from a sink / toilet / shower?

Thanks.
 
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A bathroom is a room which contains a fixed bath or shower

So (1) is not a bathroom

(2) is a bathroom and any socket must be at least 3 metres horizontally away from any bath or shower tray
Which in UK bathrooms is usually impossible.
 
Thanks. Does that mean then, even if the socket is 3m away from a bath or a shower it can still remain within very close proximity e.g. less than 50cm to a sink or toilet (despite the risks)?
 
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The rules say the environment must be taken into consideration so if considered dangerous no, but there is nothing stopping it being fitted if safe. Within the 3 meters in a room containing a bath or shower replaced the 3 meters from shower if fitted in a bedroom, so in my parents house where there was a shower in the bedroom sockets in that room had to be 3 meters from the shower, unless the shower cubical had doors 2.25 meters high or more, although not too sure on that, or reached the ceiling, i.e. it forms another room.
 
... Within the 3 meters in a room containing a bath or shower replaced the 3 meters from shower if fitted in a bedroom ...
The relevant regulations don't (at least, not now) talk about bathrooms and bedrooms - they only talk about 'rooms containing a bath or shower, so, as you say, they apply just as much to a bedroom (or even living room or kitchen :) ) if the room contains a shower!
.... in my parents house where there was a shower in the bedroom sockets in that room had to be 3 meters from the shower, unless the shower cubical had doors 2.25 meters high or more, although not too sure on that, or reached the ceiling, i.e. it forms another room.
That's an interesting one, which I've never really thought about.

If a shower really is in an 'obviously different room' (e.g. entered through a conventional wooden door from the adjoining bedroom), then I think one can reasonably say that there is 'no shower in the bedroom (or whatever)'.

However, most shower cubicles in bathrooms have doors, some of which are at least 2.25mm high, and I don't think that, from the point of view of electrical regulations, I have ever heard it suggested that the bathroom, per se, then 'does not contain a shower' (because it is in its "own room")!

Kind Regards, John
 
I found most shower doors 2 meters, not 2.25 meters, so in most cases not high enough, so the argument does not exist, I remember my sisters on-suit shower, she walked though an arch, then shower was to one side, so as far as splashes etc, no way could anything from the shower reach the bedroom, however last house arch between dinning room and living room, open plan house, but no way would I have called it a single dog leg shaped room.

Does a bath room have to have a door? It does seem Fig-701.1(d).jpg a wall is a barrier, but the diagrams do not show the 3 meter rule, it says "socket-outlets are prohibited within a distance of 3 m horizontally from the boundary of zone 1." since zone 2 is not a straight line from zone 1, it would need some door, this is the bit I don't under stand, Fig-701.2(c).jpg it seems to show zone 1 goes beyond the partition which would mean it would include a room other side of the wall, which is silly.
 
I found most shower doors 2 meters, not 2.25 meters, so in most cases not high enough, so the argument does not exist, ...
You may have missed my point - which was that I would not think that many people would say that a shower cubicle was 'not in the bathroom' (hence could have a socket right next to it) no matter how high the door of the cubicle, would they?

The 2.25m figure relates to the upper (vertical) limit of the zone, and I'm not sure what that has got to do with the requirement that there be no sockets within 3m (horizontally) from a shower. As above, do you believe that having a ≥2.25m high door on a shower cubicle (in a bathroom) would mean that the shower was 'not in the room'- and, if so, what makes you think that?

Kind Regards, John
 
219611-553b9f8b762308acecf97f405eb39fbf.jpg


It says zone 2 for the right hand side in the latest book - although there are no measurements (apart from zone 0 is 10cm. up from the floor and 2.25m height) so I don't really understand what either means.
 
Non-ideal though it is, I suspect that we may have to resort to the use of crystal balls to try to consider the 'intent'/'spirit' underlying the "3 metre rule" - which I imagine was intended to minimise the chances of someone (at least, someone without extensions leads!) utilising a plugged-in item whilst being in a bath or shower?

Kind Regards, John
 
Yes, although the "three metre rule" only needed putting into words when they, for some reason, did away with zone 3.

In effect saying, there is no longer a zone 3 but its requirements still exist even though that is now 'outside the zones'.
 
Yes, although the "three metre rule" only needed putting into words when they, for some reason, did away with zone 3. In effect saying, there is no longer a zone 3 but its requirements still exist even though that is now 'outside the zones'.
Indeed.

I can't remember - were there any other 'requirements' ('prohibitions') within Zone 3, when it existed?

Kind Regards, John
 
not many British bathrooms are 3700mm or more long

so few are big enough to permit a socket.
 
not many British bathrooms are 3700mm or more long ... so few are big enough to permit a socket.
Quite so. However, in terms of the 'intention/spirit' of the rule, there are many small British bathrooms that have a socket (e.g. on a landing) just outside of the door. In the house of one of my family members, with the door slightly ajar it cannot be more than 1 metre, at most, 'as the cable flies' from such a socket to the bath!

Kind Regards, John
 

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