Gas and water pipe distances??????

[liam999uk]

hi how far away do gas and water pipes have to be away from an electrical consumer unit? Iv'e heard water pipes have to be 150mm at least but could this be reduced?? Have tried to find out about gas pipes but can't find anything on net which tells me!!!! cheers liam

 

[gas4you]

Gas meters etc have to be a minimum of 150mm from the consumer unit.

Gas pipe work has to be a minimum of 25mm from any electrics, preferably 50mm.

 

[liam999uk]

Great stuff!!!

 

[bengasman]

gas and water pipes have to be 150 mm away from the meter tails as well; the big cables that go into the consumer unit.
no, you can not reduce this

 

[swbjackson]

Its also 150mm away from sockets.

BS6891-2005
8.16.2 Separation of installation pipework from other services

Where installation pipes are not separated by electrical insulating material, they shall be spaced as follows: a) at least 150 mm away from electricity meters and associated excess current controls, electrical switches or sockets, distribution boards or consumer units; b) at least 25mm away from electricity supply and distribution cables.

 

[liam999uk]

sound as long as the pipe is at least 25mm from the side of the consumer unit then thats sufficent enough to satisfy the regs then i should be ok? it's just im moving a boiler but the only place i could run the pipe is next to the consumer unit and its a tight fit but i can get about 35mm away from the edge of the unit before it runs up the side of a wall!!! could make it a bit further away but it means making boxing in bigger in a small room!! cheers again

 

[swbjackson]

No it's 150mm from the consumer unit.

 

[ChrisR]

Er, Mike just showed you 150mm! If the pipe has electrical insulation round it then there is no minimum. The paragraph previous to the one Mike quoted refers to pvc tape as insulation, which implies that you can go as close as you like if the pipe has tape round it.

I'd put trunking round the pipes.

 

[liam999uk]

ahhhhhh thats different now so its 150 mm for both pipes then??? not 25mm like gas4you said???? this would'nt b a problem really but it wouldnt look that good in a small room thats the only problem BUT i would prefer to be safe in the knowledge that it's as regulations state if there were any problems!!!

 

[liam999uk]

what would the gas regulations state as electrical insulating material for the pipe? would this make the distance smaller as it is implying??

 

[ChrisR]

MOst of the Gas training books say 25mm, which is why that's the normally-quoted figure. Not many of us learn the British Standards off by heart!

 

[liam999uk]

cheers forget my last reply u got there first!!!!!

 

[liam999uk]

plastic mini trunking it is then guys cheers!!!!! maybe some tape as well for good measure!!!!! lol

 

[gas4you]

MOst of the Gas training books say 25mm, which is why that's the normally-quoted figure. Not many of us learn the British Standards off by heart!

Has this changed recently Chris or have I never been taught properly all these years

Even my Part P training didn't mention 150mm except for consumer units

 

[bengasman]

has been 150 for long time