safety zones within kitchen

[Taylortwocities]

I am saying that there is nothing in BS7671 that says that the horizontal zone cannot continue round the corner.

 

[LiamPope]

I agree, but what of the OSG and other literature? Yes I appreciate that these supporting works are not the regs themselves.

And since I may have opened a can of worms (apologies if I've in fact reopened an old can of worms ), let's empty it and watch them all wriggle about...

Two points:

1. Regs say '...an angle formed...' which is crystal clear in most buildings where angles are 90 degrees, but what if they're not? Does a 1 degree kink in a wall (a mere misalignment of plasterboards perhaps) constitute such an angle and give a 300mm wide vertical safe zone? If not, at what angle do you draw the line? What if the transition between walls is curved?

2. Whatever constitutes 'an angle', does it or does it not terminate a horizontal safe zone as shown in the OSG? What about a door?

Of course, not a concern if you live in a lighthouse.

Any opinions/precedents?

 

[LiamPope]

Nobody fancy a nice endless argument about the wording/intentions of the regs, then?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Nope, nothing to argue about. Its clear enough

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's irrelevant in this case:

is it possible to run a cable horizontally from an all ready installed socket, around a corner of a room into another socket?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Its nuts but to be honest no more nuts than the assumption that average Joe with a hammer and nail or a christmas cordless will know about the horizontal and vertical zones - I bet if you polled a good cross-section of people it would be a minority that knew about safe zones.

Most know not to drill directly above or below a socket or light switch, not a lot seem to know about horizontal safe zones tho.

Last year I came very close to scooping the DIY Disaster Forum annual merit award.

I was changing a dimmer to a regular switch so that I could use a CFL, so I was standing directly in front of the switch facing the wall.

Annoying, I thought, that the clock above the switch wasn't in line with it. "I'll move it", I thought. Checked that if I did it would cover the old hole, and it would.

I got as far as touching the tip of the drill bit to the wall directly above the centre line of the switch before I thought, "Err... hang on.."

 

[Ookysoft]

Hi!

I'm doing a refurbishment of a '50's bungalow kitchen. There's a consumer unit [ meter and old push-in fuse box etc ] on the wall to the right of the kitchen sink.

What's the current distance it should be away from the sink and, if I'm doing a replacement of the kitchen units and putting a new sink in where the previous stood, do I have to move either the [consumer] unit or the position of the sink.

Offers of a link to a kitchen electricals safety diagram would be useful....

I think, if it's allowed to stay where it is or the owner refuses to pay for a sparky to move it [to where?], I'll build a ledge in the cupboard containing the unit so it's impossible to touch both the sink and the fuse box.....

 

[plugwash]

I'm doing a refurbishment of a '50's bungalow kitchen. There's a consumer unit [ meter and old push-in fuse box etc ] on the wall to the right of the kitchen sink.

What's the current distance it should be away from the sink and, if I'm doing a replacement of the kitchen units and putting a new sink in where the previous stood, do I have to move either the [consumer] unit or the position of the sink.

There is no specific requirement for distances in a kitchen (unlike in a bathroom) just the general catchall that equipment must be suitable for it's environment.

Is the consumer unit in a location where it is likely to get splashed?

As always photos and diagrams are very usefull.

mods: can you split off this new discussion into a seperate thread?

 

[Ookysoft]

Oops! I was reading previous & replied instead of sewing a new thread.

Thanks for the reply - it's up on the wall in a kitchen cabinet - well out of splash range!