Floating sockets..

[pete01]

You are rather wriggling

... so what if the socket were glued to the floor, or if the cable were clipped to the floor close to the socket?

Clip the cable and fix the socket? Thats better

 

[securespark]

One could, but we would then again be in the territory of 'subjective judgements'. In terms of the situation we have shown, if the socket were mounted on the wall in the vicinity of that WM valve, then a loakk from the valve (or the connected hose) could send a jet of water straight at the socket!

In any event, what you say does not answer my question (which you quoted) as to what is the allegedly 'required IP rating' for a socket in that location!

'Subjective judgements' again - and, in this case, presumably influenced by the fact that things like "furniture knocks and vacuum cleaners etc." are not really a consideration behind a WM

I'm not quite sure where you are going here.

Of course these things are subjective. One of the complaints about the 14th Ed. was that it was written too much like an instruction booklet, that it was "dumbed down".

So a decision was made by the committee to write the 15th and future Eds. in a style that required more input from the user and require the user to make more of their own decisions.

When the 15th was released, there were complaints aplenty from electricians who said it was too difficult to understand and a changeover period was agreed before use of the new edition became mandatory.

So, TCALSS, there are subjective things. Some people will always interpret regs differently to others.

This is why guides are introduced.

To go to your example of the water in the socket: if you genuinely believe a socket will be at risk of getting wet, you should consider mounting it elsewhere or fit an appropriate IP rated socket.

As for the socket heights and furniture and vacuum cleaner knocks, I was talking generally.

You have to ensure when installing equipment that it's suitable for it's environment and not likely to get damaged in normal use. Another example of this is not fitting sockets so low that that get bashed about.

 

[securespark]

You are rather wriggling

I rather think you are.

I have to agree with Pete.

Fix the box, socket and cable, all of which designed for fixed installation, to the fabric of the building. If you think the socket will get wet, re-site it elsewhere or replace it with a suitably rated socket.

You even suggested replacing the socket and cabling shown in the picture with a trailing socket and flexes. But the trailing socket is not designed for that job.