Potential H&S risk

[bolst3r]

Quick background... Good mate is buying a house and wasn't available for second viewing and had to move quick. Knowing I have done a few 'jobs' he asked he to have a look.

Anyway when looking at the en-suites I saw they both had what looks to be open electric fires with a cable going through the wall, under the floor and out the architrave to a plug in the bedroom (see pics). Noticing there are no extractor fans I figure these were installed to get rid of condensation but it's the fact an open electric fire is in a wet area that bothers me, especially with them having young kids - they all like touching stuff you know!

I flagged this and said it's a death trap and whoever did it is crazy but I don't want to worry him unnecessarily. After this feedback he got a sparks in (sensible move) who said "it's not great and they wouldn't choose to have it in their home but they've seen it before and it's not really much of a problem". Fair enough he's qualified and i'm not but for my own sanity what's the score with stuff like this?

Thanks.

 

[deadshort]

I would remove the heaters, as they are not designed to be used in that environment. Are the sockets they fed from RCD protected ?

Regards,

DS

 

[Taylortwocities]

Need a layout of the en suite to determine if the heater is outside zones. And it would have been helpful if you could say the make of the heater - its too blurred to guess at.

In general though, you can get panel heaters for bathrooms but ant controls are covered or behind perspex panels. the one in your picture do not seem to be of a type suitable for use in bathrooms.

I certainly hope that the socket that the heater is plugged in to has RCD protection! ( crap way of doing it too, with visible cable).

Your mate should budget for suitable heaters to go in there, and chuck those away./

 

[JohnD]

I think the brand is Glen. Part of Dimplex group.

it's not an electric fire, it's a convector heater.

 

[bolst3r]

don't believe they are via an RCD as off the original consumer unit. They are a good distance from the main wet area (2-3m) and are probably convectors hence being ok.

Makes sense now - learn something new everyday

Cheers guys

 

[ericmark]

It is likely that heaters of that type will not kill anyone at that distance, but I would not use them in my house, I would at least swap for a heater designed for that environment.

Other point is the red plug, NHS use special red plugs with no fuse protection for items where if they fail it could endanger life. Do check there is a fuse in the plug and the socket is RCD protected.

 

[DaveHerns]

It's not a deal breaker .If I was buying a house I'd be more concerned about the structure, any nasty neighbours etc

 

[Deleted member 18243]

Also, those heaters cost a lot to run. Get gas central heating eventually if you can.

 

[bolst3r]

it's certainly not a deal breaker and no reason to not buy a house but was concerned about my mate and his young family... There is no RCD at the moment and there is central heating in the rest of the house (they have a plumbed towel rail). I guess this is done for the summer and due to condensation although there are other preferable methods that can be used to sort this.

My main fear was danger, if it's not dangerous then I can sleep well at night knowing there's no immediate risk

 

[DaveHerns]

Seems quite a nice bathroom. Shame someone spoilt it with those heaters and the wiring.