Kitchen sockets circuit

[SUNRAY]

They don't ... and I have now discovered that they haven't

I can more-or-less 'cancel' my OP. Never trust the labels on a CU . It seems that the guy who did the (re-)wiring was more sensible than I had thought, other than being incompetent with his labelling!

I obviously hadn't actually checked before, but I was now moved to do so, and have discovered that one of the sockets circuits does both middle and upper floors (all bedrooms/bathrooms, so essentially fine), one does just the kitchen/utility and the third one the rest of the ground floor - in other words, probably exactly what I would have done if designing myself.

I therefore think that the present arrangement is fine, and am sorry for having wasted people's time with a non-question

Kind Regards, John

Certainly not wasted anybodies time, chewing the fat can be so useful at times.

For what it's worth I have what is supposed to be a 4 bed house with 2 upstairs and 2 downstairs but we use one as dining room, t'other as office/toy/bedroom and knocked the pathetic area called dining room into kitchen. We have a ring for kitchen and one for the rest of the house plus the usual ancilliaries.

 

[ebee]

as I also always say, I've always considered 'over-temp alarms' to be the most important things, since the two or three occasions ion which I've nearly lost a freezer full of food were due to failure of the freezer, not the the power supply toit.

Yes good point, it is also, usually possible to monitor individual circuits and alarms for over temperature too etc etc by GSM and/or interweb so worthy of a thought in addition to sole circuits of vital appliances, a bit more belts and braces and again there is a cost to such benefits.

These days it`s almost possible to do owt with nowt using modern tech.

 

[SUNRAY]

It's now pretty irrelevant, but I wonder what you had in mind here? On the face of it, the 'layout' of a property would not affect the electrical loads, would it?

It very well could, if for example the utility is on ground floor rear but kitchen is first floor front it may make little sense to include both on the same circuit. also the use of the middle floor is now not as assumed.

 

[ebee]

the 'layout' of a property would not affect the electrical loads, would it?

Oh yes it could , sometimes

 

[JohnW2]

It very well could, if for example the utility is on ground floor rear but kitchen is first floor front it may make little sense to include both on the same circuit. also the use of the middle floor is now not as assumed.

Yes, but you didn't have to do any 'assuming', since I had told you that the upper two floors were only bedrooms & bathrooms and that one circuit supplied "kitchen & utility area".

 

[JohnW2]

the 'layout' of a property would not affect the electrical loads, would it? ... Oh yes it could , sometimes

You as well

As I've just written to Sunray, I had thought it would be clear that I was talking about a property 'such as I had described' - and, given that description, I don't really see how any other aspects of 'layout' could significantly affect electrical loads.

 

[JohnW2]

Yes good point, it is also, usually possible to monitor individual circuits and alarms for over temperature too etc etc by GSM and/or interweb so worthy of a thought in addition to sole circuits of vital appliances, a bit more belts and braces and again there is a cost to such benefits.

Sure, if one wants to be aware of 'failures' whilst one is away from the property, there are all sorts of new-fangled ways of achieving that ... but one has to decide how far it is worth going

 

[JohnW2]

I have a cheap Chinese battery alarm/display on our utility-room freezer, it triggers when ever the temperature rises, or the door is kept open too long. That covers for power loss, or other failure, and last year warned us the old freezer had failed.

Yep, I have similar in the freezers in my cellar.

 

[JohnW2]

Certainly not wasted anybodies time, chewing the fat can be so useful at times.

In view of my early discovery, I have just been around and checked every single one of the (many) sockets) on the ground floor here - and they do indeed correspond with what I have most recently described - one circuit supplying all the sockets in the kitchen & adjacent 'utility area' and the other circuit supplying the sockets in just the two other rooms and the hall.

 

[Murdochcat]

Leave the circuits alone and get a RCBO board with SPD fitted

There is a 1980’s estate near me with 2 & 3 bed houses with single socket circuits .

 

[JohnW2]

Leave the circuits alone .....

As I've explained, I've subsequently found that the circuits are fine - so, yes, I agree.

.... and get a RCBO board with SPD fitted

... and, as I also wrote, the one thing that needs doing ('in due course') is 'upgrading the CU' - but I'll do all I can to avoid any SPDs! I'd also really like to be able to avoid having to have a ('potentially dangerous') metal CU, but I suppose I'm on a loser there

 

[ebee]

A plastic CU with a metal box outer cover? e.g. inside a metal cabinate - a few less points of possible contact by conductors.

I must admit that I felt far happier when an all insulated consumer unit was permissible to be fitted in most instances. It`s a pity that they were not at all as fire resistant as they were supposed to be!

 

[EFLImpudence]

Non-combustible. Just another cock-up.

 

[SUNRAY]

Yes, but you didn't have to do any 'assuming', since I had told you that the upper two floors were only bedrooms & bathrooms

When?

and that one circuit supplied "kitchen & utility area".

 

[ebee]

Non-combustible. Just another cock-up.

Non Combustible and Fire Resistant are not worlds apart - depends how you define the terms, I was using non technical everyday speech but yes point taken.
I was invoking the Alice in Wonderland defence of Humpty Dumpty I think

Don`t worry though EFLI my friend, A council employee was trying to educate me on the difference between Litter and Rubbish when telling me I was not allowed to put my remnants of my lunch (eaten in my car) into as litter bin because I had magnetic vehicle trade plates on my estate car whilst eating lunch therefore it was trade waste (yes a sandwich) , he told me that the council would fine me.
I replied that the council did not have the authority to fine me, the only authority that could fine me is a court of law.
Anyway I drove down to his next bin stop and put it in just as he was wheeling his bin trolley towards it - miserable twerp he was LOL