regulations on the use of flexible cables

[Geordielad]

Hi all,
At my place of work there is a newly built primary school. I carry out the maintenance on his building and at the beginning of the year the heating was shut down to the building to allow work to be carried out and also this shutdown is normally done during summer months. However, we had a spell of cold weather and this meant the corridors and places where the year 1 kids sit was too cold. (about 10C)
The contracts managers wouldn't allow us to install additional fused spurs for heaters (still within warranty) so the only option to get a temporary form of heating was to install some Dimplex FX20V 2Kw downflow heaters. These were wired in 1.5mm 3 core flex, about 2m down wall in mini trunking onto a 13amp plug and plugged in to the socket outlet.

The issue now is another manager from the main school has said "this is against NIC primary school regulations. They should be hard wired in via fused spurs." Correct me if I'm wrong but I've never seen NIC Primary school regulations.

The only regulations I can find (I only have the red book at home) are:
521.9.3 - A flexible cable or flexible cord shall be used for fixed wiring only where the relevant provisions of the regulations are met.
530.4.1 - Except where specifically designed for direct connection to flexible wiring, equipment shall be fixed according to manufacturers instructions in such a way that connections between wiring and equipment shall not be subject to undue stress or strain resulting from the normal use of the equipment.

Now the heaters are not classed as fixed wiring by being on a plug and were PAT tested prior to using them.

Does any one know if these heaters are against regulations wired in this way? Or if there any regulations that will be against this setup?

I am aware its not ideal but were installed as a temporary use thing, but then again this is no excuse to not follow regulations.
Thanks for the help in advance

 

[Engineer54]

What do you mean by NIC regulations??

 

[Geordielad]

I don't know myself. It was some one else that sent an email through saying it was against "NIC primary school regs".
I just wanted to know that there wasn't something I'd missed in the regs that would be against this install.
The manager that said it is trying to cause all kinds of issues with everything so I'm hoping to go back with regulations an make him look an idiot that backs up my install, rather than I've messed up.

 

[Silly Sausage]

I would email him straight back asking for a copy (or link) to these "NIC primary school regs".

Plus, I can't see anything wrong in what you have done.

 

[Geordielad]

That's what we plan on doing but my boss said to make sure we have our install right first.

 

[Richard Burns]

As you say you have plugged in some heaters and apparently this does not meet the NIC primary school regulations?
The NICEIC do not make any regulations, they may make (quite a lot of) recommendations, but these are not compulsory in any way.
Plugging in a heater on a flexible cord is not a problem. It does not come under the wiring regulations as it is plugged in.

There are some recommendations that permanent heavy loads (>2kw) should not be placed on a ring final circuit, but this is for permanent loads and you have a temporary fix.
It may be worth ensuring that you will not be overloading the circuit that you have as a number of heaters on a circuit could easily trip a circuit breaker.
Having flex available for children to grab hold of would be best avoided, but still happens all the time in schools and you have minimized the risk by enclosing it in trunking.
It is possible that the manufacturers instructions may ask for them to be hard wired in as there is a potential for a plug and socket to have a high resistance contact that may get hot in use for high powered appliances, but this is no different to a kettle.

That is about all I can think of as potential problems with this arrangement, things would be different for a permanent arrangement; but as it stands, so long as the situation is monitored there should be no sensible problem that could be raised.

(all this is my own opinion and has no true legal back up, just sense!)

 

[Engineer54]

This is why i asked the question above. I wasn't sure if there was some regulatory body with these initials, as i haven't been around the UK for a good many years now.... lol!!

As R. Burns has quite rightly pointed out, if this is the usual NICEIC crap being churned out, you can tell this brain washed manager, that you only need to comply with BS 7671, and not to any arbitrary regulations made up on the cuff by a non regulatory body!!

 

[Geordielad]

If it was a permanent installation then they would have FCU fitted flush and all cables dropped down stud walls. But then again I would have been suggesting using a different form of heating.
It does seem like it is just the usual NICEIC recommendations. Guess it will be fun emailing him back next week.
Thanks for the help everyone. If I knew half the things you's know now, I'd be a very good spark.

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Ignore any NIC crap. There is only one set of rules. The Electricity at Work regulations 1989, which state that compliance with BS7671 is likely to achieve compliance with the EAWR, or is the other way round, but anyway, the IET make the rules and write the regs, not the NICEIC.

And i will back up what others have said, nowt wrong with what you have done.

I always ask myself, Is it safe? does it work?, and if i say YES, YES then there isn't much amiss.

Cheers..........Howard

 

[Darkwood]

Yep gotta agree with the above .... although you may have to liaise with the local council who may have their own criteria regarding wiring practices within the education network... these will complement BS7671 and may even be stricter and they will have the overall ruling. Any alterations and additional electrical work carried out in schools should be notified to the local council or regional Clark of Electrical Works to ensure any special implemented guidelines are adhered to..... its this i fear you may have fallen foul of and can vary from council to council.