Socket behind radiator - ideas to use....

[AlanD]

I'm about to mount a vertical radiator (to free up wall space where a conventional 6' rad is). New rad is going about 3' away from old. Unfortunately the pipes will have to go along the surface, clipped to skirting board probably, because there is an engineered wood floor down which has glued T&G, so lifting it without destroying it isn't possible.

The problem is that there is a twin gang socket where the bottom of the new rad will be. (rad brackets sit either side luckily). I can't really blank it off, as I need power in that area. A FCU with a trailing cable (clipped to skirting) to a 4-way socket would do, except I can't find and twin-gang FCU's.

Any suggestions of how to get round this?

Does a twin-to-single plate exist?

Also, I can't find any FCUs with a cable outlet on screwfix's site. Do such things exist still? I could 'make' one with a Crabtree 3G plate, cable outlet, Fuse unit and a blank, (with terminal block behind to join the cables) but is there a neater solution?

Eventually (several years away I expect) I will lift the floor and re-plumb and re-wire, but for now I have to work above the surface.

Alan.

[JohnW]

Can you not fit a new socket close to left or right of the radiator. If you sink the box cutout then drill a hole through the side of it to meet some channelling from the existing socket, you may get away without it affecting your decoration. You can then fit a blanking plate under the rad, or fill the old hole providing you have made connections suitable for burying e.g crimping.

John

[Owain]

Not AFAIK but if you can dig out a bit of wall you could fit a dual box that will take 2 x single plates. You could have 2 x power strips,

1 each side.

Yes, most of them have a knockout on the edge for the cable rather than a hole on the front. eg

"Optional flex outlet for flex up to 10mm=B2."

Owain

[AlanD]

John,

Thanks, that's an approach I hadn't considered, but would be do-able. Blanking plate behind the rad would be easiest.

Alan.

[The Natural Philosopher]

if you crimp in existing (sunken) backplate, then simply plonk a bit of newspaper over the wires and cover in bonding plaster, then skim.

But remember low level sockets are against building regulations. All sockets must now be high enough to ensure that disabled people trip over the trailing wires from them. So go left or right, but never down.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That would be the neatest way to replace a two gang socket. You could use a switch if you wanted instead of the blank.

There are other makes of grid switch systems that may match your existing sockets in appearance better. But this may not matter if it's concealed by the rad.

[John Rumm]

A Multimaster (or similar) tool can be your friend for this sort of job

- it can make very fine kerf cuts through the tongues etc for lifting boards without causing much damage.

The problem is that there is a twin gang socket where the bottom of the

Install a new socket some distance to one side of the other, and chase across to the existing one. Then wire it in as a proper extension to the circuit. Leave the existing socket where it is, or replace with a blanking plate (you should not really fill it in since it will be marking the corner of a now non standard cable route).

You can get twin single back boxes, but that would require digging out the existing box.

However there is no need for a FCU in this application anyway. You can run a single 2.5mm^2 T&E to the new position and fit either a double socket, or, a four way socket with integral fuse.

I take it you mean flex outlet rather than cable? Yup they still exist. Most have the flex outlet at the base, rather than via an ugly hole in the face.

these are designed for round flex rather than flat T&E, although you can probably fit it if you remove the cord clamp.

Can you get under the floor by other means? (i.e. is it a suspended downstairs floor with a void under, or an upstairs floor with a ceiling below)?

[Tim Downie]

So don't tell anyone then... ;-)

Tim

[fred]

It's a new build requirement only so doesn't apply anyway.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Does apply to 'material alteration'

Moving a socket is 'material alteration'

[Tim Watts]

No, it doesn't in this case.

I am doing a full rewire and I have no requirement to conform to this aspect of Part M. I know that for a fact 'cos the BCO told me, in person :)

[fred]

You are mistaken.

Whole house refurbs have been done (and subjected to BCO approval) without being screwed up by this cripple friendly nonsense.

[ARWadsworth]

The new sockets go at the same heght as the existing ones on my rewires and in the existing backbox if possible:-)

[John Rumm]

Indeed. BCOs are generally happy if you make things no worse than they previously were.

[John Rumm]

Your cable will not be following a straight line from the one remaining socket then...

[AlanD]

>> Note these are designed for round flex rather than flat T&E, although

John,

I have a Fein multimaster but didn't fancy my chances of making a decent access hole through both the engineered wood and floorboards below to the new location.

Chasing horizontally is probably the best solution, leaving a blanking plate at the old location. I've done similar before with 2 parallel cuts with an angle grinder with diamond disc (and vacuum held to collect dust during cutting!) so will go for that approach. I can angle-grind then SDS the new box location to minimize the damage to the surrounding plaster.

The ugliest part of the final finish will be the rad pipes across the surface - don't think I can get around that unless I go for microbore and hide them in the plaster also... Seems un-necessary for a 'temporary' solution.

Alan.

[John Rumm]

>>>>>

You would need to do it in two bites IME. i.e. get through the engineered floor at a board joint so that you will hide the cut when you replace it. (depends a bit on which way the boards are running - handy if its in the same direction as the router you want to follow.

If you need to cut across boards, then plunge in at a 45 degree angle, then you can just sift them up a couple of mm to lose the cut later (and the couple of mm will be hidden under the skirting / trim at the wall.

Once the under floor is exposed then you can take out a smaller section of that.

Yup, or just chase with the SDS if its not a long run - makes a bit less dust.

I have chased in 15mm speedfit in the past for a rad connection that needed to get past a doorway in a room with a solid floor. Squirted a bit of expanding foam in around the pipe, then filled with bonding plaster and finally skimmed. Seemed to work nicely.

[David Robinson]

AFAICT that appears to be the intent of the regs too - so you can't move light switches further up or sockets further down - but you can stick with the current height, and match new with old (including in extensions).

I _want_ light switches where my youngest kids can't reach them, and I _want_ sockets down and out of the way. Most importantly, I want them all at the same height. I think a wheelchair user would struggle to make it into our house, given the steepness of the drive.

Cheers, David.