Socket locations in new Kitchen

[eyedee]

Hi. I'm about to begin a new kitchen installation and am in the final planning and purchasing stages. I'm unsure about one aspect of the lighting however and would really appreciate advice from those that know.

The kitchen is going to have three lighting solutions, which I'd like to have operating off of a single triple light switch. One of the switches will be for ceiling spot lights, one for hanging pendant lights over the breakfast bar and one for LED Strip mood lighting. The questions I have relate to the LED Strip lighting.

My kitchen is rather small (even after the wall between the kitchen and dining room has been removed) and so I'm customising the cabinets to reduce their depth slightly. This means that there is no space behind the units other than at their lowest area where the legs and plinth goes.

I am hoping to purchase 2 LED Strip Lighting kits that each come with there own UK plug transformer (240vAC > 12vDC). I'd prefer to buy kits with socket transformers so that I can easily replace them if they break. One kit will be installed on each side of the kitchen. I just want to make sure it's legally possible to do what I think is necessary before I go purchase the LED kits.

What I was hoping to do was get an electrician to install a switchless socket on each side of the kitchen that I would plug the LED strip lighting kit into. Those two switchless sockets would be connected to the third switch on the triple light socket in order to turn the LED strip lighting on from the light switch.

Is it legal and ok for the electrician to do this? And will each switchless socket need to be installed off of a 13A fused spur?

Secondly, is it legal to install sockets right next to the floor within the area underneath the kitchen cabinets? It's the only space I have available for sockets and plugs. If not the wall, then how about those floor sockets? Would they be legal in a kitchen?

Thanks for reading and for all helpful advice.

 

[ericmark]

There are some issues. 13A socket from lighting circuit in theory not allowed however could supply from socket circuit using a fused connection unit to reduce max current to rating of the switch. Or he may feel marking the sockets for plinth lights only is good enough. In other words there are ways around the problem but only person who can say is the one signing the certificates.

 

[EFLImpudence]

To have sockets operated by a light switch would (virtually) mean they would have to be on the lighting circuit.

Perhaps you could locate them in or on top of a cupboard and labelled so that they would not be used for other things.

 

[eyedee]

Thanks for your comments. I will get an electrician in and see what they propose.

What's the word on socket placement though? Is on the wall but touching the floor legal, and if not can floor mounted sockets be legally used in a kitchen?

Thanks again.

 

[Taylortwocities]

If your socket is that close to the floor, you wont get a plug with the flex in.

Personally, I would not put a floor socket in a kitchen, I've seen too many water accidents in kitchens - your floor socket would act as a natural drain. Not a great idea.

 

[eyedee]

A socket could theoretically be fitted on a 90 degree angle (not that it would be a great idea) so the flex wouldn't be an issue.

A floor socket can be fitted on a raised plinth - approx. 1cm higher than the floor to account for 'slight' spills etc. but I completely agree with your point.

I totally get that none of the options I've mentioned seem like great ideas. That's why I'm hoping for some fresh perspectives and solutions from pro's in the know!

 

[stillp]

I'd suggest you abandon the idea of wall-warts and socket-outlets, and but LED drivers that can be wired into your lighting circuit. They're no more likely to fail than wall-warts, and if they do fail they could still be replaced.

 

[eyedee]

Thanks stillp. I was more concerned about the LED strip lights failing rather than the transformers. It's just easier to replace whole lighting kits rather than forage for replacement parts years down the line, but I'm starting to think the only realistic option is to hard wire drivers into the lighting circuit.

I'll re-think the lighting design.

Cheers

 

[winston1]

Thanks stillp. I was more concerned about the LED strip lights failing rather than the transformers.

They are NOT transformers. They are switch mode LED drivers.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Pedant alert!!!!

I think we had this discussion a few weeks ago.
These devices transform, and the dictionary definition is:

transformer
transˈfɔːmə,trɑːns-,-nz-/
noun
1. an apparatus for reducing or increasing the voltage of an alternating current.

So it IS a transformer. Although the adopted "trade" word for transformers for LEDs seems now to be DRIVER.

 

[winston1]

A transformer in electrical terms is a wire wound device with 2 coils on a magnetic core. Switch mode power supplies are not transformers. Your dictionary definition is out of date. LED drivers don't even come under your dictionary definition as they output DC.

 

[EFLImpudence]

LED drivers

They are not drivers.

A driver is a person operating a vehicle.

 

[Taylortwocities]

…..or something to hit a golf ball with……...

 

[JohnW2]

Pedant alert!!!! .... transformer ... an apparatus for reducing or increasing the voltage of an alternating current. So it IS a transformer. Although the adopted "trade" word for transformers for LEDs seems now to be DRIVER.

It's certainly fairly pedantic, given that it's seemingly become 'standard usage' (just as with 'continuity testing') - but within the spirit of pedanticism, and given that it's Friday afternoon, I have to agree with winston1 that I don't know of any technical definition of 'transformer' that would cover something which turned AC into DC, whether at the same or different voltage. Changing AC into DC might be a 'transformation', in everyday language, but that just ain't how the technical terminology works - you might just as well call a diesel generator 'a transformer', since it 'transforms' chemical into electrical energy

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

We may all accept that an led driver is not a transformer but that does not alter the fact that there are now wire-wound transformers and electronic transformers (even if for no other reason than that is what the manufacturers call them).

No more than an led driver is a driver than because that is what they are called.

So every time some one calls an electronic transformer simply a transformer then winston will have to add that is not a wire-wound transformer and that some one can retort "I never said it was".