Question on safe zones

  • Thread starter doingitmeself
  • Start date
D

doingitmeself

I have a very quick question on 'safe' zones. I'm thinking about adding a new socket in our dining room on a wall which currently has no sockets at all. As you will see in the attached diagram, there is an existing socket in the lounge, which is just the other side of the partition wall which separates the dining room and lounge. This socket was installed when the house was built, and is part of the main ring main. The cables feeding this socket go straight up to the ceiling void.

I'm trying to avoid taking off any plaster since we only recently decorated both rooms. As I understand it there is a 'safe' zone which extends horizontally from both sockets (coloured purple in the diagram) which means that I can happily run cables between the two sockets without any form of mechanical protection being required.

The house is entirely dry lined so I'm hoping that I can simply thread a length of 2.5mm through the inch gap between the blocks and the plasterboard and connect up to the sockets at each end. My understanding is that since the cable will be run in a 'safe' zone there is no need for the cable to be run in any form of trunking or metal capping. I've tapped out the route of the cable and am reasonably confident that there are no 'dabs' on the horizontal between the two sockets so it should be a straight run.

Am I correct in my thinking or is there something more involved here? Any suggestions would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance!

//media.diynot.com/190000_189974_47775_28868289_thumb.jpg
 
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Is the socket you are adding electrical connected to the sockets you refer to that a creating the safe zone, as they must.
Also the safe zone is only applicable at reverse side of wall, if the wall is less than 100mm thick and the socket is actually fixed to this wall.
Your diagram seems to suggest otherwise?
But saying that don't forget once you have a socket in place it creates it's own safe zones, there is no requirement to have two outlets vertical or horizontal of each other to create a safre zone., one outlet will identify a safe zone!
You will also require RCD protection on either the whole circuit or the additional part.
//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:installation_techniques:walls
 
Sorry, I should have made it clear. The diagram is a 'side-on' view showing the edge of the stud partition (100mm thick) and the front of each socket. I'm intending for the new socket (on the left) to be a spur off the existing ring socket (on the left).

Other posts on this forum (can't find any atm) seem to imply that the safe zone applies to both sockets?
 
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A single outlet/accessory on a wall will create a safe zone vertical and horizontal for cables in that wall.
If the wall is less than 100mm thick, the safe zone can be extended to the reverse side of that wall.
You do not need to have two accesories to form a safe zone.
if you have back to back sockets, you have no problem, but you still need to either have or add RCD protection to the additional socket!

 

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