Fitting an electrically heated towel rail to back of door

[bonnyrigger]

I'm thinking of fitting my electrically heated towel rail to the back of my bathroom door(which obviously opens and closes). It will be fitted with a cable that will be looped to allow for the movement of the door. There is just no other place for it. Is this o.k to do? I can't find any other question like this.

 

[HERTS P&D]

In a word 'NO'

Put it on a wall.

Andy

 

[bonnyrigger]

Thanks for that. In an ideal bathroom i would,but there is just no other place.
I know you get ultra flexible cables specifically for movement,so it would work.
(we use these cables at my work
Are you saying it st not allowed by the regs?

 

[JohnW2]

In a word 'NO'

As a matter of interest, why do you say that? Although it's clearly not ideal, there are plenty of situations in which flexible cables are subjected to far more 'flexing' than would be the case with this proposal. If there were concerns, a coiled lead could be used.

Kind Regards, John

 

[bonnyrigger]

Thanks John. Are you saying it would be o.k?

 

[JohnW2]

Thanks John. Are you saying it would be o.k?

If there were absolutely no other option, I would probably consider it, and I can't think of any regs which specifically prohibit it - but I might well consider using a 'coiled' cable, and I would take whatever measures were necessary to remove any risk of the cable getting 'trapped' or 'squashed' when the door opened and closed. One issue to consider (which would apply equally if you fixed the rail to a wall) is what you are going to connect the 'other end' of the cable to, since there are all sorts of restrictions about what is permitted in a bathroom - e.g. sockets in bathrooms are usually impossible, since the regs effectively require them to be at least 3.6 metres from a bath or shower.

Kind Regards, John

 

[bonnyrigger]

Thanks again. That sounds good. I will be fitting a flex outlet plate which will be fed by either a ceiling mounted pull cord or an fsu fitted outside the bathroom. This will in turn be fed from a 30ma rcd circuit from the consumer unit.
I think i`ll patent this idea and take it onto dragens den!!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I will be fitting a flex outlet plate

What Zone will it be in?

 

[RF Lighting]

Will any part of the towel rail be able to touch anything when the door is open?

 

[17thman]

Thanks John. Are you saying it would be o.k?

since there are all sorts of restrictions about what is permitted in a bathroom - e.g. sockets in bathrooms are usually impossible, since the regs effectively require them to be at least 3.6 metres from a bath or shower.

just to point out that socket outlets are not allowed within 3m of zone 1, which is the edge of bath or shower, if closer then a fused spur adequate for the location could be used. To my mind it is a good out of the box idea but i dont think a door allows it to be reliably allows it to be fixed to the building fabric

 

[JohnW2]

just to point out that socket outlets are not allowed within 3m of zone 1, which is the edge of bath or shower...,

Whoops - my mind was obviously thinking (incorrectly) of 3m from zone 2 - hence my 3.6m figure. However, my point remains, even with 3m, that not many bahrooms in standard houses (and, one assumes, certainly a bathroom with no wall space to fit a towel rail!) will be big enough for sockets to be permissible anywhere.

... if closer then a fused spur adequate for the location could be used.

Indeed - that was obviously the point I was making. The OP's plan to use a flex outlet plate with the FCU outside of the bathroom is probably even better.

....To my mind it is a good out of the box idea but i dont think a door allows it to be reliably allows it to be fixed to the building fabric

It obviously doesn't, but so what? Probably the majority of things powered via flexible cables are not 'fixed to the fabric of a building'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[17thman]

just to point out that socket outlets are not allowed within 3m of zone 1, which is the edge of bath or shower...,

Whoops - my mind was obviously thinking (incorrectly) of 3m from zone 2 - hence my 3.6m figure. However, my point remains, even with 3m, that not many bahrooms in standard houses (and, one assumes, certainly a bathroom with no wall space to fit a towel rail!) will be big enough for sockets to be permissible anywhere.

... if closer then a fused spur adequate for the location could be used.

Indeed - that was obviously the point I was making. The OP's plan to use a flex outlet plate with the FCU outside of the bathroom is probably even better.

if the FCU is outside the bathroom the the flex or coiled flex would presumably have to enter through a wall and therefore constant opening and closing could cause abrasion of the cable sheath against the edge of the cable aperture, careful consideration should be given to this.

 

[JohnW2]

Indeed - that was obviously the point I was making. The OP's plan to use a flex outlet plate with the FCU outside of the bathroom is probably even better.

if the FCU is outside the bathroom the the flex or coiled flex would presumably have to enter through a wall and therefore constant opening and closing could cause abrasion of the cable sheath against the edge of the cable aperture, careful consideration should be given to this.

That's surely his whole point in having a flex outlet plate inside the bathroom (rather than just poking a cable through a hole in the wall), isn't it? In any event, what you say would be equally true if it were an FCU, rather than an outlet plate, within the bathroom, wouldn't it? - in either case, as you say, one obviously has to be careful about what goes on where the cable leaves the accessory.

Kind Regards, John

 

[17thman]

[/quote]
Indeed - that was obviously the point I was making. The OP's plan to use a flex outlet plate with the FCU outside of the bathroom is probably even better.[/quote]

 

[17thman]

that was your quote