EICR departure code for bathroom.

[rattlehead85]

I am compiling an EICR on a period style house with wiring dating back to mid 60's. The installation has a fuseboard with 3036 fuses protecting all circuits. The bathroom has neither RCD protection or evident supplementary bonding arrangements although there is a 10mm bond to the main water stopcock. The lighting circuit has a class 2 enclosed light fitting and pull switch + a 230v extractor outside zones. What recommendation code should be attributed to this C2 or C3?

 

[Richard Burns]

I would say C2 dangerous in the case of a fault, since there is no RCD protection in a bathroom with no supplementary bonding.
However you could check continuity between metalwork in the bathroom and if <0.05 ohms consider supplementary bonding to be in place, in which case it would be C3 improvement recommended.

 

[Guest55]

agree with RB , C2 for no bonding in bathroom but no code for the fan and light outside zones.

 

[rattlehead85]

agree with RB , C2 for no bonding in bathroom but no code for the fan and light outside zones.

Even if the light and fan are both class 2?

 

[Richard Burns]

Class II means they would have no earth and therefore would be safer than class I with exposed metalwork.

However so long as they are suitable for the environment, especially as they are outside zones, then they would be fine in all cases; outside of zones general wiring rules apply (except for sockets <3m from bath).
They would also be OK (except the pull switch) in zones 1 and 2 so long as they had IP protection to IPX4 or IPX5 if water jets.

What is worrying you about these items?

 

[rattlehead85]

No the items and zoning i'm fine with. It was really just the issue of the lack of bonding to the location and if a c3 departure would be more appropriate seeing as class 2 equipment was in place.

 

[Richard Burns]

I see what you mean, you are thinking that if there is no possibility to touch anything "earthy" then a fault that causes something to become live would not be a problem.
This is approaching a non conducting location, I don't think BS7671 has that allowance for bathrooms because of the increased risk of shock. I probably agree if there is no metal in the bathroom the risk is reduced, however you would have to be able to justify this is you decide in your professional judgment that this is safe.

I would not like to take the risk of effectively classifying it as ignore, which is how C3 is viewed.
Then again it has probably been safely in use for years, just like most of the installations that are around now.

 

[dagrat]

As above, do the continuity test for ecp's and if ok then c3. If not then c2

 

[rattlehead85]

Thanks guys for your opinions. I will tend to agree with classifying it as a code 2 as there is no evidence of any 16th edition bonding present with clamps or earthing connections in or even close to the location.

 

[tony mc]

Does the bathroom require supplementary bonding ?

Are the parts you are worried about extraneous ?

Just a thourght!

 

[Deleted member 26818]

To my mind, It should be code C2 for lack of bonding, and code C3 for lack of RCD protection.
These are separate conditions which should be reported on individually and not be lumped together.