17th Edition and RCD Protection

[Stephen Dawson]

Planned, pressure from major projects thast did not want to have to requote.

[John Stumbles]

Yebbut as I said earlier Pratt Pee reads to me as though it doesn't

*disallow* the 17th ed, so I was ignoring it and moving on to the *real* regs :-)

Sounds good: I'd guess such systems are (hopefully) designed by clued-up engineers who know what they're doing and know the regs and when to deviate from them. BS7671 is of course non-statutory: by following it you cover your botty but if you deliberately and with good reason choose not to do so you can still be within the (various) law(s) but may have to argue your case if push comes to shove.

[Andy Wade]

Part P itself (the statutory instrument) hardly mentions BS 7671 at all. In fact it's only cited in Schedule 2B to define the term "special location". The statutory requirement of the building regulations, apart from notification, is only this:

"P1 Reasonable provision shall be made in the design and installation of electrical installations in order to protect persons operating, maintaining or altering the installations from fire or injury."

Approved Document P does refer to BS 7671:2001 (the 16th ed.) but is merely guidance on how the P1 requirement can be fulfilled.

The foreword to BS 7671:2008 (17th ed.) does say that it replaces the

2001 edition and I see that BS online are already showing the latter as a withdrawn standard. Thus, IMHO, the reference in the Approved Doc. should be taken as effectively referring to the 17th ed. for designs completed after 1st July.

Provided you don't lose sight of the fundamental principles set out in Chapter 13 and referred to in 0.1 in Approved Document P.