RCD in the loft

[GaryMcCExeter]

Hello all - first post here - have been browsing for a while. This is a bit of a lengthy one.

Our house has been extended by the previous owner and last week, just as I was about to go away, the sockets in the extended part lost power. The lights still worked.

When I got back, I checked all of the fuses (we have a fuse wire CU) and they were all fine. While doing this I labelled them all so that we knew which was which - we have been here a while but have not done anything electrical yet.

While doing this, I discovered that the lights in the extended part of the house were controlled by a 30A fuse. While wondering why anyone would have done that, I remembered that there is an RCD in the loft.

The RCD would appear to be linked to the 30A fuse and it controls the lights, sockets and shower extractor fans in the extension.

The question is, is this safe? We will need to replace the CU at some point so would it make more sense, to specify to the fella that we get to do the job that we want the RCD removed and the CU to control it all?

The other question is, we have no sockets in the loft, could I use this separate circuit that is controlled by the RCD to provide sockets?

 

[1john]

is there just an RCD in the loft, or a small consumer unit, wither way something needs to be done. Did they have building regs for the extension?

 

[JohnD]

stupid idea to have it in the loft.

 

[1john]

it's a non compliance, adequacy of access to switchgear.

Main concern here is if his whole extension os on one 30A rewirable fuse, i am sure there are other things to follow.

Sounds like a PIR (periodic inspection report) wouldn't go amiss here.

 

[GaryMcCExeter]

In trying to get the info in a logical order, I got slightly confused

It is a mini CU in the loft - one 63A 'switch', one 32A and one 6A.

The fella that owned the house before us was a builder himself and used his own people to do the extension work when they had some slack time. The ground floor extension was done first and then the first floor.

I need to dig out the purchase info to find out if all of the i's were dotted and t's crossed.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

The question is, is this safe? We will need to replace the CU at some point so would it make more sense, to specify to the fella that we get to do the job that we want the RCD removed and the CU to control it all?

Yes that could be done and is a good idea

The other question is, we have no sockets in the loft, could I use this separate circuit that is controlled by the RCD to provide sockets?

No reason why not, but this can all be sorted when you have the electrician in.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The fella that owned the house before us was a builder himself and used his own people to do the extension work when they had some slack time.

He's still subject to the same laws as everyone else. Do you know when the extension was done?