Downstairs sockets

[eddieboy]

The house I recently purchased has got the downstairs s/o on one circuit. There are 4 in the kitchen and 4 in the lounge. Does the kitchen need to be a seperate circuit? To me it seems daft just having 4 s/o on one circuit.:rolleyes2:

 

[Guest123]

There is no rule or reg that says a kitchen must be on it's own circuit.

It's more a question of one's own design views WRT loading & circuit constraints etc.

 

[MarkieSparkie]

No the kitchen doesn't need to be separate final circuit. Apply common sense when accessing the likely loading and circuit distribution.

 

[eddieboy]

Thanks for that fellas

 

[Lighthouse Phil]

Over here in Ireland, we now have to put the kitchen sockets on 2 x 20A radial circuits.

 

[Guest123]

Over here in Ireland, we now have to put the kitchen sockets on 2 x 20A radial circuits.

To whose rules or regs is this too???

 

[GLENNSPARK]

is the cooker on its own circuit?....or on the downstairs ring final?....if so then as has been mentioned above...use discretion...especially when the cooker is being used wont you......

 

[Lighthouse Phil]

@Lenny
From the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland (ETCI),,a very similar body to the IEE.
I find it strange that all us Europeon countries are supposed to be working with "Harmonised Regulations", but there are still huge differences between all our working practises and regulations.

 

[Engineer54]

Over here in Ireland, we now have to put the kitchen sockets on 2 x 20A radial circuits.

Why Radials only??

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Why Radials only??

because a radial is like a big sweep of a tenticle (from brussels)....well its a radial (of sorts).innit..lol.....

 

[Lighthouse Phil]

Why Radials only??

Not 100% sure why they changed the rules on kitchen wiring. Tech Council say it was to give more power to kitchen areas but I never had a problem, I'm sure most other sparks didn't either.
When I was wiring kitchens, it was always a 32A Ring, and sometimes (depending on size / diversity) I'd put in a 15A radial for the oven.
Rings are permissable elsewhere in the building.

 

[Engineer54]

@Lenny
From the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland (ETCI),,a very similar body to the IEE.
I find it strange that all us Europeon countries are supposed to be working with "Harmonised Regulations", but there are still huge differences between all our working practises and regulations.

There is no way the UK and Ireland can be harmonised with Europe, not while we still have a fused plug top. Most European countries have DP protective devices at the DB's, because most use non polarized plug tops. Many are still using unearthed power outlets.

Anyway, it's about time they took a few things from the UK regulations, instead of the UK changing or lowering it's standards, perhaps the rest of Europe can change and even raise there's a little for a change...lol!!

 

[Guest123]

@Lenny
From the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland (ETCI),a very similar body to the IEE.

Just had a look at their website.

They seem to have a good range of publications on offer, quite pricey though.

 

[eddieboy]

is the cooker on its own circuit?....or on the downstairs ring final?....if so then as has been mentioned above...use discretion...especially when the cooker is being used wont you......

Yeah the cooker is on it's own circuit so no probs.

 

[Jabbajaws]

A Irish friend of mine from Eire, tells me that they are only permitted to use ring final circuits, though don't quote me on this, as my friend is a joiner and has only observed sparkys using this practise, over there...

 

[Lighthouse Phil]

A Irish friend of mine from Eire, tells me that they are only permitted to use ring final circuits, though don't quote me on this, as my friend is a joiner and has only observed sparkys using this practise, over there...

I'd say that ruling was some time ago.
We're working from ETCI rulings from July 2011 at the moment.
An odd one here up to recently was that every house had to have at least 1 ring

 

[Engineer54]

Not 100% sure why they changed the rules on kitchen wiring. Tech Council say it was to give more power to kitchen areas but I never had a problem, I'm sure most other sparks didn't either.
When I was wiring kitchens, it was always a 32A Ring, and sometimes (depending on size / diversity) I'd put in a 15A radial for the oven.
Rings are permissable elsewhere in the building.

Just seems to me they are playing around with the current UK Reg's trying to put their own stamp on it without any good reason to do so!!... Surely it's down to the electrical designer what requirements a particular kitchen needs??

If they were that concerned, they could have just stated ''minimum of 2 power circuits required within kitchen areas''!! At least that would give the designer a bit of room to maneuver, by having 1 x ring and 1 x radial, 2 rings, 2 x radials!!