but please don't try to tell me that a boiler wired directly
into the mains is any safer than one with it's own 13amp fuse and
plugged
into a socket.

Well there we must agree to differ. :-)

I would be interested to hear your explanation....

It's probably a bit esoteric but my concerns are about what else gets
plugged into the socket.

I was asked to PIR a large Edwardian villa that had been converted
into eight flats. In each case the flat's combi boiler had been
located in a bathroom cupboard.

This should not have been a problem as all the controls had been
positioned elsewhere. Unfortunately the installer had used a plug and
socket to connect the boiler rather than a FCU, with the result that
the tenants had used the "handy" socket to plug in other appliances.

To add to the fun the boiler was on its own 16A MCB which was
(correctly) fed from the non-RCD section of the consumer unit.

This does not just affect boilers by the way, I have seen immersion
heaters where a plug and socket arrangement was abused in the same
way.

When I was an apprentice some thirty-mumble years ago we were taught
that a fixed appliance should always be hard-wired and never plugged
in.

Perhaps I'm getting old. :-)

John
--
John White,
Electrical Contractor

I think I can see the point that you are possibly making... that is that
the socket
(assumed to be a double or have a multiway adaptor plugged in) may be
"overloaded".

A boiler will take perhaps 250 watts - say 1 amp and the heater may take
another
12 amps or so - that's not more than 16A, and certainly not more than a ring
with a
32A CCT breaker protecting it. The possible likely event is that the breaker
might trip
but that is not "dangerous" (is it ?) The same can happen at every other
double
socket in the house !
I suppose the boiler would not function if the circuit was tripped out so it
might be cold.

I really can't see why this is "dangerous" !

Nick