Electrical safety concern notification for dummies

[Wez]

Hi guys. I've recently purchased a new property and the following notice was left for me. Does anyone have the right lexicon to explain this to a complete novice?

As a side note, My oven always trips the fuse box and doesn't work, yet all the other electrical circuits are fine - could this be linked?

 

[Octopus]

How tall is the bathroom?

Re the Oven - sounds like that is the issue, not the wiring.

Are there any more pages in the "report" left for you?

 

[Madocks]

Your bathroom lights arent capable of withstanding water, splashes etc. Zones can be found here

Best bet is to check the zoning with a tape measure, then get a spark in, change the light fittings to correct IP rated ones for the zone and whilst he is there ask him about the suplimentry bonding requirement.

Is your oven gas or electric? does it trip on hobs or just oven? does it trip the MCB or RCD? (google the pics)

 

[Octopus]

The above sketch of zones is misleading - there are no zones around basins

 

[SparkyChick]

So in essence, the bathroom is divided into zones. Zone 0 is the bathtub/shower tray. Zone 1 is the area directly above zone 0 to a height of 2.25m above the finished floor level and zone 2 extended horizontally 0.6m from the edge of zone 0 and zone 1.

Within these zones, only certain types of accessories/installation methods are allowed.

This report suggests you have non IP rated downlights within Zone 2. This means water could get into them and present a hazard. The important thing to note is if they are in the ceiling and that is higher than 2.25m from finished floor level, they are not within zone 2, they are classed as outside the zone. Should you fit non-IP rated downlights in a bathroom? common sense says no, but if they are outside the zones they do not contravene the regulations.

The issue about supplementary bonding... if you have RCDs and all circuits that would need supplementary bonding (more on that in a moment) are protected by them, then you don't need supplementary bonding. Circuits that should be included in supplementary bonding are any that supply accessories within the bathroom, so typically your lighting circuit and say an electric heater circuit. Supplementary bonding connects the earths of these circuits to the exposed metalwork in the bathroom to create an local equipotential zone, the purpose of this is to minimise the potential difference between different items of metalwork, thus minimising the chance of you being killed in the event of you touching two different bits whilst an earth fault is present.

The oven is a separate issue to the issue of the bathroom electrics highlighted by that report.

Hope that helps.

 

[Wez]

Hi mate. Thanks for the reply. My light switch for my bathroom is outside the room. The hob is electric and it works fine. As soon as I switch the red button on the wall to allow the oven to work (can send pic but assume that makes sense), it switches the RCD off immediately as soon as I try and use the oven.

 

[Wez]

How tall is the bathroom?

Re the Oven - sounds like that is the issue, not the wiring.

Are there any more pages in the "report" left for you?

There are no more to this specific report, but I had a separate report which highlighted a similar issue. Have attached photo

 

[SparkyChick]

Hi mate. Thanks for the reply. My light switch for my bathroom is outside the room. The hob is electric and it works fine. As soon as I switch the red button on the wall to allow the oven to work (can send pic but assume that makes sense), it switches the RCD off immediately as soon as I try and use the oven.

Sounds like a fault with the cable from the oven switch to the oven or the oven itself. Has it ever worked?

If you could, post a picture of your consumer unit.

 

[Midwest]

All I can say is thank God for the 17th & RCD's. Those pesky little green & yellow wires!

 

[Wez]

Photo attached. Pointing to the one that trips upon use. It's never worked for as long as I've known but recent purchase

 

[Midwest]

Who paid for the EICR?

 

[Midwest]

Photo attached. Pointing to the one that trips upon use. It's never worked for as long as I've known but recent purchase

That's a double negative, is it either or?

 

[Octopus]

There are no more to this specific report, but I had a separate report which highlighted a similar issue. Have attached photo

View attachment 40042

I would say that highlights a completely different issue!

 

[Wez]

That's a double negative, is it either or?

Sorry, what I mean is I've never tried it before, essentially

 

[Midwest]

You could have a fault between switch & cooker. As the cooker is new, might have a fault in itself, or could be just some damp in the elements.

As others have said, think your electrical installation needs some attention. If you paid for the EICR, you could seek advice from the author.