Which electrical zone is this towel rail in?

[jim_in_sussex]

Smallish shower room/wc. Looking at wall with doorway behind you (left to right):

width mm

0 280 600 160 510 500 800 window + gap + towel rail + gap + wash basin + gap + shower cubicle

The towel rail is standard issue (1999/2000 vintage) Henry ex B&Q & is plumbed into the CH (off in summer) & also has an electrical heating element up its left pillar.

The cable from the heating element goes up the wall (under plaster), over the ceiling & down into a standard connection unit just below on the right of the left pillar. That is fed from a switch (5A fused with red indicator light) outside the door which in turn is spurred off a ring main.

Q1: Is the element & switch in electrical zone 2 or 3? ie does it matter that part of the heated towel rail is nearer than 600mm to the wash basin, although the heater isn't?

Q2: Does the setup meet the regs? Is there a better way it could be connected?

TIA for all views

[John Rumm]

Distance to the basin does not matter, its the distance to the shower that counts. If that is enclosed, then more than 600mm puts it in zone 3.

Looks ok from here regs wise. It probably only needs a 3A fuse rather than 5 (most of these are in the 100 to 400W range).

Some folks like to install them with a timer so you have them stay on just for a couple of hours to dry towels etc.

[jim_in_sussex]

Yes, looking at IEE regs amnd 3/April 2000, that seems to be right. However what set this query off is the diagram on the back of many light fittings in B&Q & Homebase which show zone 2 as including an area within 600mm radius of wash basin taps. So, regs changed, or an error on the boxes?

Just to clarify the situation, if the right side of the towel rail were within 600mm of the shower, but the element was still over 600mm away, would that setup still be in zone 3?

TIA

[John Rumm]

IIUC the zones concept was not in the 16th edition to start with but was introduced by an ammendment. It may be that the non current one included mention of basins. The current one (section 601) defines one of the "special locations" as "containing a bath or shower" - again no reference to basins.

Have a look at:

Just to clarify the situation, if the right side of the towel rail were

The short answer is: I don't know for sure.

However logic would suggest that it would count as zone 2 though. Should it become live due to a fault, the risk of indirect contact would be at a point less than 600mm to the shower.