It Never Ceases To Amaze Me...

[securespark]

...how shocked I am when confronted with this incongruous sight:

Especially when one of the items plugged in was a fan heater on a long lead...

Well, I get cold in the bath.....

 

[Chri5]

That took ages to load, hence the removal of the in this edit.

Was there a TV on a 3 legged stool tilted towards the bath for relaxed episodes of 4rse enders ?

 

[VanSolo]

I know what you mean.
That toothbrush should be standing up. It's going to end up in the soap, Yukk

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[securespark]

I wouldn't have a problem with it if it were 3m or greater horizontally from the boundary of Z1. However much I may or may not disagree with the regs, if it were compliant, I would have to let it lie.

But it is not.

 

[ColJack]

great thing is, your bath could be next to the door.. ( as mine is ) and there could be a socket in the hallway immediately outside of the bathroom door and it complies fully.. despite the fact that sitting in the bath, it's possible to reach round the door frame and reach the socket...

 

[ericmark]

Fact - The regs now allow sockets in bathrooms.
Fact - The regs do not say that extension leads should not be used in bathrooms.
Fact - fixed wiring is always better than temp/flex wiring.

Therefore from the point of view of the donuts wot wrote the bathroom regs theres nothing logically wrong with that installation.

Yes its dangerous, yes its stupid, yes its inside one of the meaningless zones.

But IEE logic must say nothing wrong with it.

What you have not said is socket-outlets are prohibited within a distance of 3 m horizontally from the boundary of zone 1. This means in most cases only when a shower or bath is fitted in a bed room can you get far enough away from zone 1 to permit a socket.

Also all sockets under 20A now have RCD protection so any socket found in a bathroom without RCD protection is an automatic failure it can never get a code 4 as there has never been a rule allowing a socket without RCD protection.

I will agree that extension leads are allowed and I understand that New Zealand repealed their Part P because so many accidents were being caused by the indiscriminate use of extension leads.

If you go on holiday you will see standard euro sockets in many hotel bathrooms and I have not seen any reports of deaths on holiday as a result. In the main because the rest of Europe used RCD protection on all sockets well before we did.

So what is the problem. What is the risk of electric shock when all sockets are RCD protected. Yes it is not zero but a lot lower than crossing the road?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yup.

And before the 17th, your bathroom could have been the size of Boeing's factory and you'd not have been allowed a socket half an hour's walk from your bath....

 

[securespark]

I am not anti-bathroom socket.

I have said in the past and again now, there are many regs I agree with and a few I do not. Regardless of my personal opinions of the regs, as an electrician I have to work to those regs.

I think there should be a minimum distance set for sockets in bathrooms to discourage use of mains-fed appliances too close to baths and showers.

There has to be a minimum distance so I guess it's a case of pick a number...

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You're entitled to that opinion.

And in a free labour market as a self-employed electrician you are entitled to turn down any work you choose for any reason.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[ColJack]

what reg says you have to have a pull cord?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And before the 17th, your bathroom could have been the size of Boeing's factory and you'd not have been allowed a socket half an hour's walk from your bath....

Nonsense .

Read the penultimate sentence of 601-08-01.

The context of this topic is, and has been all the way through, regular BS 1363 sockets, not SELV or BS EN 60742 shaver sockets....