DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi,

I am in the process of having to re-wire sections of a house I have just bought (to remove some melted rubber cables) and will be getting the insulation tested and (fingers crossed) a certificate issued by an electrician. However is someone able to help me with some clarification on the following please:

1) Is it a mandatory requirement for electric showers be on the RCB side of a split load fuse board?
2) Is it mandatory for the higher rated fuses to be nearest to the circuit breaker within the fuse board? (I believe it is at least bad practice).
3) Can the fuse board earth bar be the main earth point for wires to bond the water and gas pipes, etc?
4) Does a shower earth terminal need to be earth bonded to the heating and water bonding within the bathroom when the bathroom hot and cold water supply pipes are plastic with only the last meters to the shower in chrome? (The shower is fed direct from the fuse board via 10m T&E).
4) The two-way landing light must be on the upper lighting circuit or can it be supplied from the lower floor circuit?
5) The two-way landing light is currently supplied neutral from the upper floor and live from the lower floor, is this allowed via the regulations?
6) I have added mains powered smoke detectors on each floor (hall + landing), however is it mandatory to add a heat detector in the kitchen also?
I need to get 4 and 5 above right before channelling the walls!

Thank you,

Paul.

Hi, make sure you have an obliging leckie available BEFORE doing any wiring, once done you may find a prob. in getting a cert on 3rd party work.
1]Not mandatory at this moment but shower makers always state it should be on RCD or warentee may be invalid.
2]It used to be the practice when older boards had smaller buss-bars but all boards now don't matter which order.
3]Yes if terminals will take enough larger cables.
4]No, but should have local isolator switch.
4a]either.
5]NO, circuits must not 'borrow' neutrals.
6]No.
regards SPARX

What Sparx says is A1 but I would not want to use a shower without earth leakage. And by June it will be required to have earth leakage 701.411.3.3 and also as Sparx says an electrician can do an inspection and test on an existing installations but he can't sign an installation certificate for the design or construction unless he is responsible for them. The person who signs them must be able to exercise reasonable skill. i.e. You would need to have technical knowledge or sufficient experience. Most people would not be able to comply with this. The only way around it would be for an electrician to design and monitor the installation which he can't do once completed. And also you may find insurance is not valid. Since power should not be put on a circuit before it is tested there is a problem if you want to live in the house while the work is being done.

Thank you for the answers, they help greatly.

Cheers,

Paul.