How far away should a wall socket be from the kitchen sink. Just watched a
program on the TV were the guy renovated a kitchen and fitted the mains
outlet above the kitchen sink.

Seemed a bit dodgy to me but he was a professional kitchen fitter

Sam

"Sam Farrell" wrote in message
...
How far away should a wall socket be from the kitchen sink. Just watched a
program on the TV were the guy renovated a kitchen and fitted the mains
outlet above the kitchen sink.

Seemed a bit dodgy to me but he was a professional kitchen fitter

Sam
I'm sure someone will come along with regs if there are any.

However it seems to me that in may modern houses the kitchens are so small
that all of the sockets are within touching distance of the sink

Tony

Sam Farrell wrote:
How far away should a wall socket be from the kitchen sink.

A minimum of 300 mm clearance, measured horizontally along the wall, is
recommended. It's not a hard and fast regulation, but is
well-established now and anyone inspecting for Part P is likely to
reject anything much less than that.

Seemed a bit dodgy to me but he was a professional kitchen fitter

But not a professional electrician...

--
Andy

"Andy Wade" wrote in message
...
Sam Farrell wrote:
How far away should a wall socket be from the kitchen sink.

A minimum of 300 mm clearance, measured horizontally along the wall, is
recommended. It's not a hard and fast regulation, but is well-established
now and anyone inspecting for Part P is likely to reject anything much
less than that.

300 mm is a bit close IMO, I don't know of anything that needs to be plugged
in within such a short distance of a sink.

On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:16:59 +0000, Andy Wade
wrote:

Sam Farrell wrote:
How far away should a wall socket be from the kitchen sink.

A minimum of 300 mm clearance, measured horizontally along the wall, is
recommended. It's not a hard and fast regulation, but is
well-established now and anyone inspecting for Part P is likely to
reject anything much less than that.

Seemed a bit dodgy to me but he was a professional kitchen fitter

But not a professional electrician...

I've see it several times a week in NHS hospitals. At on site a PC on
a trolley with CRT monitor and a bar code reader was pulled up right
next door to a handwash basin.

DG

On 17 Mar, 10:22, "dennis@home" wrote:
"Andy Wade" wrote in message

...

Sam Farrell wrote:
How far away should a wall socket be from the kitchen sink.

A minimum of 300 mm clearance, measured horizontally along the wall, is
recommended. *It's not a hard and fast regulation, but is well-established
now and anyone inspecting for Part P is likely to reject anything much
less than that.

300 mm is a bit close IMO, I don't know of anything that needs to be plugged
in within such a short distance of a sink.

It always seems very odd to me that the regulations can be anal to the
point of absurdity in some respects, but something which even to the
layman looks dodgy is perfectly within them.

A friend of mine was made by a BCO to take off all his light switches
and sockets, undo all the cables and put grommets in the metal back-
boxes, an operation which is far more likely to cause damage to the
cables than leaving cables (which would otherwise never move) in
ungrommeted holes. However, it looks like he could have a socket by
his sink getting sprayed with water with impunity!

Martin Pentreath wrote:

A friend of mine was made by a BCO to take off all his light switches
and sockets, undo all the cables and put grommets in the metal back-
boxes, an operation which is far more likely to cause damage to the
cables than leaving cables (which would otherwise never move) in
ungrommeted holes.

Oh that's a bit silly. There's no specific regulation in BS 7671 that
requires grommets, so in that case, provided that the cables have been
installed without damage, it would have been better to leave well alone,
IMHO. Mind you, the lack of grommets (established good practice for at
least 40 years) does send out a clear message about the likely
competence of the installer and ought to lead to a general tightening of
the inspection regime.

However, it looks like he could have a socket by
his sink getting sprayed with water with impunity!

I've got one double socket closer than 300 mm (here when I came) and
it's never been any problem.

Going back the other way though they have been somewhat over-cautions
about allowing 13 A sockets in bathrooms. They're now allowed, but must
be at least 3 metres from the bath or shower tray.

--
Andy

Owain wrote:

IIRC the Regs require Good Workmanship.

Yes, and proper materials - you have a point, I suppose. The 17th
edition is more stringent and requires good workmanship by competent
persons, or persons under competent supervision [134.1.1].

--
Andy

On 2008-03-18 01:25:50 +0000, Andy Wade said:

Owain wrote:

IIRC the Regs require Good Workmanship.

Yes, and proper materials - you have a point, I suppose. The 17th
edition is more stringent and requires good workmanship by competent
persons, or persons under competent supervision [134.1.1].

Without defining "competent"?

It sounds more like CORGI every day.

That statue of Michael Faraday at Savoy Place crumbles.

Where is Collister Jones when we need him? A R Owens would have had
them for lunch.

Andy Hall wrote:

Without defining "competent"?

Better to leave that for the courts to interpret, I think.

That statue of Michael Faraday at Savoy Place crumbles.

Ooh I don't know, he looked quite shiny last time I was there, a few
months ago. And the elegant carved lettering across the front of the
building still says "The Institution of Electrical Engineers" - none of
this silly engineering and technology nonsense...

Where is Collister Jones when we need him? A R Owens would have had
them for lunch.

Now there's a thought. Alwyn still seems to be around:
http://www.eng.bangor.ac.uk/Staff/st...4834&subid=0#d

Nos da.
--
Andy

"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:47dffc38@qaanaaq...
On 2008-03-18 01:25:50 +0000, Andy Wade
said:

Owain wrote:

IIRC the Regs require Good Workmanship.

Yes, and proper materials - you have a point, I suppose. The 17th
edition is more stringent and requires good workmanship by competent
persons, or persons under competent supervision [134.1.1].

Without defining "competent"?

It sounds more like CORGI every day.


Err, yes, that was the only point - electricians felt they were hard done
when compared with gas fitters, as the latter had CORGI to corall customers
to them and they didn't. Hence the lobbying, hence Part P and the emergence
of the mythical "Competent Person", who has nothing to do with persons who
are competent.


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)