consumer unit in bathroom

[minesabeer]

Having a chat at work yesterday and this came up....Is it possible to have a consumer unit in a bathroom? If so under what conditions? would it have to be in a lockable cupboard with a certain IP rating? If it was in a lockable cupboard (or one only openable with a tool) would this in itself fall foul of an access to switchgear regultion? what zone would suit if any? Has anyone ever seen one in a bathroom (one of the guys at work has)?
Any answers or further information would be interesting and might settle a bet or two!!

 

[Murf]

You should hit yourself on the back of the hand immediately with a hammer for contemplating such a thing

 

[plugwash]

if its out of zones you could use any normal CU
i don't think its allowed in any of the zones though but i may be misreading
note: just because it is allowed does not make it sane

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Switchgear and accessories are allowed in Zone 3, aren't they?

You'd have to be bonkers. Think of the RCD trips the condensation would cause.

Don't hit yourself on the back of the hand with a hammer, hit yourself around the head with a bit of 4be2.

 

[minesabeer]

i seem to remember there is an IP4X requirement for zone 3 which i can't see any way of meeting this requirement, not sure about outside the zones though, but as stated the regular condensation does not miraculously stop at the outer edge of zone 3.

 

[AdamW]

I reckon a cupboard rated to IP-67 or IP-68 would do the trick, preventing moisture ingress and RCD trips. Not sure where you would buy one (certainly wouldn't be a cheap item for domestic use, would be industrial or military).

A lot of hassle to go to to move a CU, mind!

 

[plugwash]

im pretty sure you can buy ip rated consumer units

 

[Darkness]

im pretty sure you can buy ip rated consumer units

One of my shed's CU's is IP rated 56 I think, thats the rating on it so yep you can get IP rated CU's.

 

[minesabeer]

Yeah, I've seen ip56 models, but I think most are designed for garages, I haven't noticed any fully featured or split load types though. What are the models you were looking at?

 

[sparky_uk04]

What IP mean?

 

[AdamW]

IP = Ingress Protection.

You write it IP xy or IP xyz, where:

x = rating against ingress by solid objects (1 being a hand, 6 being totally dustproof)
y = rating against ingress by liquids (1 being protection against vertical rain, 8 being totally waterproof down to depths below 1m)
z = rating against impact (1 being a gentle knock, 9 being a whack)

If you see a 0, that means there is no rating against that attribute.

In these forums you will see a 2 digit IP rating, as impact isn't really a consideration in domestic wiring (unless you like to go mental with a hammer at your CU )