Regs for a power socket in a bath/shower room

[Theo Markettos]

Since 230V 1A can kill you quite happily, what's to stop you fitting a bigger isolating transformer - say 3KVA?

Theo

[Theo Markettos]

Do they have a cigarette paper 'door', which accidentally gets thrown away as soon as Building Control have left the building? I've seen Grand Designsy books where the bath is in the middle of the bedroom... not sure those would pass the regs :-)

Don't know the regs I'm afraid, but another approach used in hotels is to permanently wire the hairdryer to the wall behind a faceplate. In the hotels' case it's mostly to stop people nicking it, but does it pass the rules?

Theo

[David Hansen]

On 18 Jun 2009 14:28:17 +0100 (BST) someone who may be Theo Markettos wrote this:-

There are limits on the power which can be taken out of the socket, which are enforced by IIRC a bi-metallic strip.

[Andy Dingley]

The magnetic core of the isolation transformer is deliberately undersized, such that it saturates and limits the magnetic flux, thus the electrical current.

The current delivered is still capable of killing you, if you were to strip the shaver apart and apply each connector to your ears. However you're no longer at risk of a fault to earth from it. As the current supply is limited, there's no longer a need to provide a fault path through earth (which is normally part of how the circuit is protected), so as to pass a fault current through earth and thus trip an overcurrent device.

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Mike Harrison writes

I suppose the incoming water is fairly warm anyway so doesn't need to be heated as much. That picture still scares me though.

[ARWadsworth]

help.

The 16th OSG did not allow sockets close to a bathroom door that would allow hair dryers etc to reach the bath. The statement (not a reg ISTR) was not well worded but would never stop Darwin Awards such as extension leads into a bathroom.

Adam

[PeterC]

Electrician at work told us about an elderly couple whose son (after their money?) had put them a freestanding, single-bar electric fire in the bathroom. It was an old one with a bare wire element and widely spaced bars on the guard. They were delighted that it could be adjusted for angle from the bath! The son had also put a bit of thick nail in the CU to stop a fuse from blowing!

[Cicero]

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When one hears this kind of story about elderly people it makes one wonder how they ever managed to live long enough to grow old. If they don't know themselves that this arrangement is dangerous then they've lived charmed lives. It's a bit harsh to blame the son (unless he is really intent upon creating an 'accident') because they presumably brought him up and passed on their own ignorance of basic safety. Elderly people do slow down but generally they don't suddenly lose their faculties and common sense. A case for blaming the parents, I think.

Cic.

[Pete Verdon]

There was one with the bath *under* the bed - the bed slid back on runners. Looked rather wonderful, but must have been awful in actual use. Permanently soggy duvet, I suspect.

Pete