As a boy I unscrewed sockets and light switches because human children are inquisitive. Nowadays I'd be protected by an RCD in the Consumer Unit But not if I open up the consumer unit!
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New changes to Part M in new homes could catch you out. For many years new dwellings have had to comply with minimum and maximum heights of light swit ches and power socket outlets. The new edition of the guidelines about acce ssibility now adds the consumer unit into that list of height-controlled fe atures to ensure that more people with physical disabilities will be able t o access the consumer unit to investigate and reset the circuit breakers.The new requirement is that consumer units must be positioned so that the s witches are mounted between 1350mm to 1450mm above floor level. Many people have said how stringent this requirement is - there is not much room for m anoeuvre!
The consumer unit has often been positioned at a high level, in kitchen cup boards or above doors and coat pegs. The new requirement effectively outlaw s all these positions. It will be a design challenge to find a suitable pos ition for the unit.