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Hi.
Are there any requirements or contraindications to fit European socket in the wall within the ring circuit?

Can't recall, but the British Ring Final Circuit (Ring circuit) is designed around the 13Amp sockets I don't think it would be a good idea.
 
Hi.
Are there any requirements or contraindications to fit European socket in the wall within the ring circuit?


You mean apart from not complying with BS7671 requirements and the fact that most European type socket outlets, typically German SHUKO plugtops are not polarised, the simple answer is Yes!!

Don't Do It!!

 
You mean apart from not complying with BS7671 requirements and the fact that most European type socket outlets, typically German SHUKO plugtops are not polarised, the simple answer is Yes!!

Don't Do It!!

Flat plug is not polarised. Right..What will happen then if somebody will put that kind of plug reversed? Just theoriticall idea.
Need to understand that, as I had some problems with European sat. receiver, and needed to make extra earthing to housing/case with completly new UK cable and plug. Before was nearly 100 V on housing. Why?
 
I've seen them in posh hotels (or they could of been yank), but I was have too much of a jolly good time to find out how it was connected ;D
 
Small electronic units with switched-mode power supplies using 2-core power cables often produce a small amount (often around 0.25 mA) of leakage current to the case. Using a digital meter, you will often read some voltage to earth, often around half the supply voltage or 80-120V. This is normal and not dangerous, provided the insulation of the unit tests OK. As soon as you make any kind of ground path, maybe even just touching the casing, that voltage will collapse.

Fitting European socket in UK for a specific purpose (not general use) - in principle OK if it provides an equivalent level of safety. But they MUST NOT BE CONNECTED TO A 32A RING or radial except via a fused spur, as they require fusing at 16A (or 10A) max.
 
From another forum: BUT, and it's a big but, you don't have to follow BS7671, and actually you don't have to follow the plug and socket regs either - if you did, you'd never be allowed a lead with a blue caravan socket on it either. As soon as you accept that intelligent departures are allowed, then its OK.
However, what you must do, is install to make it no more dangerous than it would be in the country of origin.
A properly wired and protected socket is MUCH safer than either a chinese made adaptor of uncertain earthing, or as often done, the thin europlug forced into the L and N holes of the 13A socket with the earth shutters lifted by a screwdriver or a biro. In reality this is what you get when visitors bring their own stuff, and you don't make provision for them to use it.
For a hotel with many foreign visitors to provide a properly protected Schucko socket or two as well as the normal 13A ones is a perfectly reasonable and responsible course, that removes these dangers.
regards
Mike "
 
I agree with this, but you do not say why you want to install a non-BS1363 socket outlet. Obviously it would not be acceptable to wire UK houses with only Schuko, for example, as it would not then be possible to plug in locally purchased equipment without changing the plugs. What is the special purpose for your outlet?
 
Hi.
Are there any requirements or contraindications to fit European socket in the wall within the ring circuit?

If this is your own house, do so at you and your familys risk.

If its a paying customer, I would say decline to do so unless you can find compliance within the BGB.
 
Installing a foreign socket-outlet in a UK installation does comply with BS7671.
It would be arguably against the Regs to connect it to an RFC as these are intended to be used with BS1363 accessories.
However connecting such an accessory to a radial would not be a problem.
 
From another forum: BUT, and it's a big but, you don't have to follow BS7671, and actually you don't have to follow the plug and socket regs either - if you did, you'd never be allowed a lead with a blue caravan socket on it either.

regards
Mike "


Please do specify which regulation says you cannot have a lead with a commando socket on it. ( I assume that is what you mean by blue caravan plug)
Our hire stock includes a few thousand leads with everything from blue 16A plugs/sockets up to 125A red plugs /sockets and would love to know what regulation this contravenes!
 
So, it seems no problem connecting a European non polarized socket outlet, so long as it's fed from an FCU, who cares if the fuse isn't in the appliances switched line or not!! Makes you wonder why the Germans bother to use DP breakers for their socket outlet circuits.... If we were talking about a French type Schuko outlet i'd have no problems, they Are polarised !!

Apart from anything else, ...Why would anyone want to install such an outlet in their own home when all you need to do is change the plug top?? I can understand hotels and guest houses wanting such a convenience, where a dedicated DP protected circuit can easily be provided in such circumstances....
 
I agree that polarisation is desirable but appliances sold in the UK are suitable for sale and use anywhere in Europe, so the tolerance of non-polarised supplies will be designed in, e.g. with double-pole main switches. A look at a couple of white goods schematics the other day revealed that half the functional switching was in the neutral anyway. If the socket is supplied from an FCU, the fuse will be in the line as the upstream wiring is polarity is known, so I don't see how this relates to the polarity of the appliance connection.

Yes, it would be better if Schuko was polarised but for purely historic reasons it isn't. We should not refer to the French CEE 7/5 plug as Schuko, which specifically means the side-contact CEE 7/4 plug. Curiously, although CEE 7/5 is polarised, there does not seem to have been any hard and fast convention as to which polarity is correct, at least until recently, so in practice I don't think it's much more helpful.

The OP has not been forthcoming on the purpose of the socket...
 
Don't really care too much about the semantics of the how's and why's, if were talking about an unpolarised European socket outlet on a standard UK domestic circuit, then it should be frowned upon, end of!! Yes you can make provision to accommodate such a provision, but unless it's for say a Hotel or Guest House or the like, then it's a waste of time, just chop the European plug off and replace with a standard 13A plug top, ...Sorted!!
 

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