It would be a shame if he was barred before he could fully explain what made him fixed on the idea of 13 Amp sockets on a lighting circuit being bad practice.
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Could you/would you run a plug socket off this?
- Thread starter simondyntDBeK
- Start date
It would be a shame if he was barred before he could fully explain what made him fixed on the idea of 13 Amp sockets on a lighting circuit being bad practice.
When I know it's a 6A circuit, I work within that capacity. However it appears winston1 insists on loading 13A sockets with higher power devices even though he knows the installation is not designed for it.
As far as I can make out, it's because he doesn't have the inteligence to work within the designed parameters.
Historically I've done a lot of temporary work in others properties such as sound and lighting for public entertainment. I'm not stupid enough to see a 13A socket and assume I can load it with 3KW.
He's the sort of person who would see this and start plugging in loads of kettles, electric heaters etc.
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I would personally not lose sleep (indeed would probably 'sleep better') if his never being able to provide that 'fully explanation' was the price to be paid for ridding us of all this tedious nonsense.
Having said that, in this particular context he is probably doing no worse than you often do - 'worrying' about (and hence describing it as a 'bad practice') a theoretical hazard of extremely low probability. I'm sure it's extremely unlikely that someone would come to serious harm as a result of being 'plunged into darkness' in a roof space as a result of plugging some high power device into a 13A socket on a 6A lighting circuit - but, as you might yourself argue in relation to comparable situations, it's not actually impossible that such harm could arise.
Kind Regards, John
I do not describe something that is very un-likely to happen as being bad practice. Yes I am risk aware and do, when creating a risk assessment I do include consideration of highly improbable events that would have significantly harmful results if they did happen.
If they immediately freeze motionless until their eyesight becomes accustomed to the dark then an accident is un-likely but not impossible. Having a torch to hand when working in a loft is sensible at all times.
Yes I do see where Winston1 is coming from. Mis-use of a socket by using it to supply a load greater than the designed maximum load could have un-wanted, even harmful results, when the MCB / fuse cuts the power.
But that situation, as already mentioned, is a result of poor design of the installation and/or the way it is mis-used.
If you're saying you have some agreement with winston1 then i need to start panicking... I have 4 loft spaces and a total of 6, might even be 7, sockets on lighting circuits, which contain 4 ultrasonic animal deterants, router, microwave dish & 50W 2 way radio base station.
Don't panic, it is less than 1% of agreement.
I have two loft spaces but electrics in any permanent form are banned from them as they are thatched roofs.
Yes, I understand that - but, although he uses different (and incorrect/inappropriate) language to talk about them, it seems to be the same 'highly improbable events' which concern both of you. As you say ...
I'm not so sure about that. As I think he recently wrote himself (in a post which seems to have been removed), I think winston's point was that, although he personally understands enough about the design of an installation to prevent him 'mis-using' it, one cannot ever know how other people will use it.
As you know, I am personally perfectly happy to have 13A sockets on 6A circuits, even in lofts, although I would usually clearly label them (or make it difficult to use them for things other than the intended loads) to minimise the risk of 'mis-use' (even by 'others') - and I am 'happy' because (unlike winston, and maybe even you) I regard the risk as so small as to not be worth thinking/.worrying about.
The main problems with winston are (a) that he 'goes on and on' about it, at every possible opportunity and (b) he misleads people by not making it clear that he is only expressing his own opinions, rather than generally-accepted views as to what constitutes 'bad practice', and even goes as far as saying that the the regulations are 'incorrect'. To my mind that, in itself, is 'bad practice' in a forum designed to advise 'the general public' and, for the sake of people who visit the forum for advice, I'm therefore rather surprised that it is tolerated (by 'the PTB') in this forum.
Kind Regards, John
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