special location and pet shower

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ricardo6jr

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Hi, I have a friend whos just built a house with the drawings being passed and the build wired. I have brought up an issue with a shower in the utility room and the sockets within. it is my understanding that this now falls under special location and in turn the sockets must be at least 3m away from the boundry of zone one. My question is wether this is a grey area or not, the architect is arguing that it should be treated like a sink with a pull out hose but it is essentially a mixer valve and hose for cleaning the dogs after muddy walks etc. They plan on a screen which splits the area from the wall where the sockets are but is this enough? 

 
Its a room with a fixed bath or shower  ...   so   240V  sockets are allowed beyond the boundary of Zone 1... covered by the required RCDs   .     (Or if it was my job ...not in there at all) 

 
I posted on here a while back  of a job we did at an architect's house .   He had an additional ,  posh conservatory type  extension  which contained an excercise tank and a jaccuzzi  .    Tank was like a big bath where you swim against  a pumped current. 

I went to drop off some stuff to our sparks  to find he'd been bulldozed into  wiring a ring main in there ,    there was an oak skirting about 12" high  and he had  twin KO boxes flushed into it   and a socket right above the tank   ( for plugging Christmas lights into )    And he'd moved the 4 gang wall light  switch into the room , wall mounted  , metal plate , grid switch  .  

He'd convinced our spark that it wasn't a bathroom  so the regs didn't apply  .  (  16th edition)     I was arguing with the architect AND our bloke  ( Who should have phoned it in  before doing any extra work anyway.  !!)    .  The only reason it wasn't a bathroom was that it didn't say that on the door,  it would still have wet , naked people walking about , plugging stuff into sockets etc . 

The upshot was  I had to  drive the NIC bloke  there to quell the argument .............   only he sided with the architect's opinion  and pronounced it wasn't a bathroom .   :C   I've told the story a few times and some sparks agree ...its not a bathroom .      We asked for payment up to date and advised them in writing that we would be leaving the job and they get another firm to complete. 

In our opinion the criteria was  ...wet , naked people in a room which was to filled with electrical equipment ......but what do we know .  

 
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Evans Electric said:
I posted on here a while back  of a job we did at an architect's house .   He had an additional ,  posh conservatory type  extension  which contained an excercise tank and a jaccuzzi  .    Tank was like a big bath where you swim against  a pumped current. 

I went to drop off some stuff to our sparks  to find he'd been bulldozed into  wiring a ring main in there ,    there was an oak skirting about 12" high  and he had  twin KO boxes flushed into it   and a socket right above the tank   ( for plugging Christmas lights into )    And he'd moved the 4 gang wall light  switch into the room , wall mounted  , metal plate , grid switch  .  

He'd convinced our spark that it wasn't a bathroom  so the regs didn't apply  .  (  16th edition)     I was arguing with the architect AND our bloke  ( Who should have phoned it in  before doing any extra work anyway.  !!)    .  The only reason it wasn't a bathroom was that it didn't say that on the door,  it would still have wet , naked people walking about , plugging stuff into sockets etc . 

The upshot was  I had to  drive the NIC bloke  there to quell the argument .............   only he sided with the architect's opinion  and pronounced it wasn't a bathroom .   :C   I've told the story a few times and some sparks agree ...its not a bathroom .      We asked for payment up to date and advised them in writing that we would be leaving the job and they get another firm to complete. 

In our opinion the criteria was  ...wet , naked people in a room which was to filled with electrical equipment ......but what do we know .  
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have classed that as a location containing a bath or shower.

More 702 swimming pools and other locations.

 
We all see it our own way  Sid,     I saw a room, in a private house  , with a bath of water  sunken into the floor , upon emerging people are  dripping wet   ( So far its like a bathroom )   

Then because someone has installed a ring main in there  and there is now possibly ...a TV set ,  a music centre ,  some sort of heater ,  a vacuum cleaner ,  an electric kettle perhaps .....  ( So its still like a bathroom  .but with added socket outlets..dripping wet person with low skin resistance  but now he's plugging the vacuum in  with wet hands .....lets hope the RCD  has been tested recently ....might be switching the lights on at the wall grid switch while the rest of us have a pull switch )

 
I removed one of the sockets which would of fell within the 3m range and left the other two so regardless of how its interpreted it complies either way, still two doubles above the utility worktop so sufficient amount anyway. Decided if its a grey area best treat it as a bathroom type area, thanks

 

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