height of cu

[Steve]

you been here all night waiting for a reply? i personally would have better things to do with my saturday night, as have the other members of this forum, which may be why you haven't received a reply.

Wang the CU anywhere. Common sense tells me it only needs to be accessed once in a blue moon, and ours is right by the ceiling and we never had a problem with it there. However, ask BC first.

The PVC conduits sound a good idea. Put conduit boxes on the end of them, behind the CU, to make threading easier.

 

[bigbob]

ty crafty, you are right nothing better to do than ask stupid questions,

gl
bigbob

 

[bigbob]

i noticed you answered straight after motd finished wigan?

 

[Steve]

i noticed you answered straight after motd finished wigan?

coincidence. dont follow football.

 

[bigbob]

ok anyway thanks for reply.

bigbob

 

[Adam_151]

I'd like to see you get 10mm² down 20mm conduit...

 

[ebee]

Surely a CU must be accessable for persons likely to be needing to use it anyway.

Just above a doorway sort of height could be considered "not readily accessable" but still accessable to most able bodied folk by virtue of bufffet/small steps etc and be inaccessable to childer.

However for a disabled household something like the 450mm to 1200mm rule might apply or if it is deemed likely that a disabled person might dwell there at some time.

 

[SamySnake]

What about mounting a isolator for a bathroom fan above the bathroom door? Is this contravening part m?

 

[plugwash]

i'd say no because its meant as maintinance isolation only (and whoever is doing the maintinance is going to need to reach the bloody fan itself anyway)

 

[bigbob]

what sort of switch would you use for kitchen fan and where would you posistion it?

 

[JohnD]

what sort of switch would you use for kitchen fan and where would you posistion it?

Mine is fed off the kitchen ring so has a switched FCU wityh neon just above the kitchen worktop with al the other sockets and switches.

If I was taking it off the lighting citcuit I might have thought about a pull cord to save chasing.

But what's that got to do with height of cu?

 

[dingbat]

IEE: Electrician's Guide to the Building Regulations

Chapt 3 - Mains Position (p.29)

3.1 Location and accessibility

"Consumer units must be generally accessible for use by responsible persons in the household. They should not generally be installed where young children might interfere with them."

Of course, this doesn't take into account what happens if the 'responsible person' is restricted in their reach due to disability, age, injury, etc. I wouldn't want to be an elderly person, alone in a house at night and unable to reset the lighting circuits, for instance.

As somebody else mentioned there has also been conflicting recent guidance (I can't remember the source, offhand) suggesting that CUs should be at similar heights to those suggested in Part M for sockets and switches.

Maybe it would just be easier all round to prohibit the use of dwellings by young children?

 

[BOB NUTS]

whats wrong with a bit of discipline for kids today?- 'dont touch the CU or your in trouble sonny' - i cant see any problems with a child lock on the CU - they have them on escape windows. If an adult needs to access the CU then if they cant operate the child lock they shouldnt be touching the CU. People even fit them to toilets - and i personally have alot more toilet emergencies than i do with the electrics

cooker controls are often at a height of 900mm similar to the worktops - much more readily dangerous for kids burning themselves or starting fires imo.

 

[ebee]

People fit consumer units to toilets ??

 

[BOB NUTS]

only if their part Pee registered baa-boom-cha