Work on domestic circuits
- Thread starter bigalert
- Start date
every socket capable of taking a plug is reasonably capable of being used to supply outdoor equipment..
I run the lawnmower off the hall socket of my 1st floor flat through a window.. ( it's the nearest free socket to the window the lead comes in.. none free in the bedroom itself.. )
just like the ground floor dining room in the scenario.. it may not have an external door but it might have a window that looks into the garden, and the back door can't be left open in case the baby / dog gets out into the garden while strimming the edges..
or the front room that overlooks the drive and for the same reasons can't have the front door open, but you need to jetwash / hoover the car..
so is it reasonable to generalise and say every ground floor socket should be RCD protected.. ???
I run the lawnmower off the hall socket of my 1st floor flat through a window.. ( it's the nearest free socket to the window the lead comes in.. none free in the bedroom itself.. )
just like the ground floor dining room in the scenario.. it may not have an external door but it might have a window that looks into the garden, and the back door can't be left open in case the baby / dog gets out into the garden while strimming the edges..
or the front room that overlooks the drive and for the same reasons can't have the front door open, but you need to jetwash / hoover the car..
so is it reasonable to generalise and say every ground floor socket should be RCD protected.. ???
So - in my front garden I have a double 13A socket and a 16A IEC309.
On the rear wall of my house I have a double 13A socket.
On the shed on the other side of the patio I have a double 13A socket, a 16A, 32A and 16A 110V.
On the far side of the shed I have a double 13A socket.
I guess I don't have to have RCD protection on any of my house sockets.
(I have though, even the one in the loft).
On the rear wall of my house I have a double 13A socket.
On the shed on the other side of the patio I have a double 13A socket, a 16A, 32A and 16A 110V.
On the far side of the shed I have a double 13A socket.
I guess I don't have to have RCD protection on any of my house sockets.
(I have though, even the one in the loft).
i think thats fair to say.i always rcd protect the downstairs sockets.imagine this,after a few years of you hanging the flex out through the dining room window and closing it on the cable in roughly the same place,it gets damaged.you inspect it with the power on cos you can hear it crackling and BOOM.geezer karks it and a big hoohah ensues about why it wasnt rcd protected because,it is after all,capable of supplying equipment outdoors 
Well - IIRC there'll be no decision to make after June.
And then won't people start having fun with customers if they are adding sockets. No requirement to put existing circuits onto an RCD, but no adding new ones without it, or they shell out for individual RCD ones.
And then won't people start having fun with customers if they are adding sockets. No requirement to put existing circuits onto an RCD, but no adding new ones without it, or they shell out for individual RCD ones.
Do you need RCD protection for a 110v 16A socket Ban? I thought these were excluded, providing they are fed from a CTE safety transformer etc. I'm not saying that it is wrong to RCD protect them, just I didn't think it was a requirement.
Utter tosh!
Sockets located in rooms with external doorways are those that can reasonably be expected to supply portable outdoor equipment.[/u][/i]
My dad used to take an extention out of the living room window to cut our hedge.
No external doorway there, and not an uncommon thing to happen at all.
No external doorway there, and not an uncommon thing to happen at all.
Being the awkward git I am, I have to ask, does that comply with even the current version of BS7671?
(553-01-04)
Did I say that one was?
Actually - it is on an RCBO, although what it would actually do given that it is supplied by a CTE transformer, I don't know....
Well - it complies with 553-01-03, and that comes before 553-01-04, so yah boo sucks.
Interesting reg though, as it implies that you could not have a perfectly safe circuit, compliant in all other respects, using accessories from reputable manufacturers which meet all their appropriate standards, and which are probably made to withstand much harsher environments than a domestic one, if you decided you'd like your freestanding electric cooker on a plug & socket, or you had a large family and wanted a commercial size washing machine or tumble drier.
I'm sure that can't be the intention behind that regulation - perhaps someone should ask on the IEE forum....
You can get the same (better) level of safety with an interlocked socket, but that still isn't shuttered.
Given you didn't say any of the outside ones were, only the ones on your house.
An RCD upstream of a transformer will protect the cables and the primary winding of the transformer, it offers no protection to the secondary side.
An RCD upstream of a transformer will protect the cables and the primary winding of the transformer, it offers no protection to the secondary side.
You're quite right, sorry. They all are.
I think it may have been mentioned on the IEE forum a time or two
And I think its got something to do with small children, and their penchant for sticking items such as paper clips or hear clips into anywhere they'll fit.
I did ponder, tongue and cheek, then how come we allow lamp holders in household situations then, I was prompted to the answer that it'd be dark otherwise
, but I suppose its that lamp holders are not normally installed at just the right height for children to play with, like socket outlets are.
Its a bit daft really, because you are hardly going to want a BS4343 outlet next to your television in the front room... but you may well want one in the garage, and whether or not little fred would poke anything into it or not is a moot point, because he'll never get to to it because he'll have stopped to drink the paintstripper, chew on some leaded solder, or trap his fingers in the trolleyjack should he ever find his way in there...
And I think its got something to do with small children, and their penchant for sticking items such as paper clips or hear clips into anywhere they'll fit.
I did ponder, tongue and cheek, then how come we allow lamp holders in household situations then, I was prompted to the answer that it'd be dark otherwise
, but I suppose its that lamp holders are not normally installed at just the right height for children to play with, like socket outlets are.Its a bit daft really, because you are hardly going to want a BS4343 outlet next to your television in the front room... but you may well want one in the garage, and whether or not little fred would poke anything into it or not is a moot point, because he'll never get to to it because he'll have stopped to drink the paintstripper, chew on some leaded solder, or trap his fingers in the trolleyjack should he ever find his way in there...
I need a 16A socket for my welder. It's either that or a 1363 plug with fusewire soldered inside it.... 
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