Special Location Part P

[malcolmsanford]

Not having used the dreaded Part P for a while I always took the Special location as from the Part P document 2006 as the following,

"Locations containing a barh tub, or shower basin, swimming pools or paddling pools, hot air saunas"

Which for me meant the whole room. I was speaking to a mate a few weeks ago and he was telling me that on the legislation.gov.uk web site this is the new definition they have posted

“special location” means a location within the limits of the relevant zones specified for a bath, a shower, a swimming or paddling pool or a hot air sauna in the Wiring Regulations, seventeenth edition, published by the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the British Standards Institution as BS 7671: 2008(2)."

Which to me reads that only work within the zones are now notifiable, and all work out of the zones are not. So an example a light in a shower that is over 2.25 from FFL is outside the zone, so therefore not notifiable. Am I right or have I read this wrong guys.

 

[telectrix]

from your quote, it looks like it's an amendment to 17th. makes more sense to regard the zones as special location rather than the whole room, which , in some houses could be quite a large room.

 

[malcolmsanford]

So that is right then Tel only areas in the 3 zones are classed as notifiable, Not sure what I think about that lol. As you say in some of the older Victorian houses a bathroom can be as big as a bedroom.....................

As the majority of us are not great lovers of Part P, I just think this adds more ambiguity, whereas any electrics in a special location ......notifiable was in all honest pretty straight forward, this may lead to a is it. isn't it, scenario and just make work a little more complicated. Be interesting to see what others think.

 

[telectrix]

next thing is we'll be able to fit plate switches in bathrooms, as long as they're outside the zones. sockets for hair dryers, flat screen TV's, the mind boggles, and after further reflection, boggles again.

 

[Octopus]

If this "new guidance is true" it will further complicate the views of the many.

Sheer madness.

 

[nickblake]

I wish they'd make up their minds one day you can do this next day you cant just drives me insane its hard enough explaining to a customer that they cant have a pendant light in zone 2 without them moving the goal posts , for goodness sake make up your minds


Grumpy old Nick

 

[telectrix]

well, nick, at least it's got you going. for that reason alone, i'm all for it . LOL.

 

[andyb]

I think you should work to Bs 7671 and part P of the building regs,
Both describe a bathroom as a 'location containing a bath or shower'
The zones are within this location.

In the BRB under additional protection it says all circuits of the location, it doesn't mention zones which I take to mean the whole room.

I think I'll wait for the regs to change before I alter the way I work.

 

[Octopus]

I think you should work to Bs 7671 and part P of the building regs,
Both describe a bathroom as a 'location containing a bath or shower'
The zones are within this location.

In the BRB under additional protection it says all circuits of the location, it doesn't mention zones which I take to mean the whole room.

I think I'll wait for the regs to change before I alter the way I work.

I agree, its easier for all concerned, sparkies and public alike if its the "room" and not "zones" in a room.

 

[malcolmsanford]

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/2214/schedule/4/made

Here is the link I was sent and it's right at the bottom of the page

 

[kung]

As mentioned i will also stick with it untill the amendments come into force and bleed me dry replacing all the publications GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[andyb]

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/2214/schedule/4/made

Here is the link I was sent and it's right at the bottom of the page

Got that Malcolm, but at the moment we have to comply with 7671 and part p,

It seems strange that for a kitchen they mean the room or part of room (very vague) but it would seem not in a bathroom.

 

[telectrix]

well, my kitchen is a special location when ( every xmas) the tin bath comes off the nail on the back door.

 

[malcolmsanford]

Got that Malcolm, but at the moment we have to comply with 7671 and part p,

It seems strange that for a kitchen they mean the room or part of room (very vague) but it would seem not in a bathroom.

This is an amendment to the building regs, not the BS 7671-2008 they are advising that all works out of the zones, the zones that are decided in section 7 of the BS 7671-2008 is now no longer notifiable, so it's not the BS 7671-2008 that is changing but the building regs.

So as I read it , in a scenario where a customer wants a towel rail installed on a wall, if you take the supply from a ring final or a radial via a spur and run it to the sink outside the zones, then before this building admendment you would have to notify the work as it was in a special location........... a bathroom.

Now as the work is outside the zones, and therefore not considered a special location anymore, you can say that your just extending an existing socket circuit the same as you would in a bedroom say, and therefore is not notifiable.

Of course you need to make sure that the circuit is RCD protected as the BS 7671-2008 just classes the location of a room containing a bath or shower as a special location, it's just the building Regs now only recognise the zones as a special location.

Well that is how I see it.