Remove socket under sink for junction box.

[uncletone]

Hi,
Can I use a wago junction box, which would go under the kitchen base units behind a plinth, instead of a surface pattress/appliance face plate inside the base unit?

This is on a fused spur with the fused switch above the worktop. The Twin and earth coming out the wall about knee height intended to go into the base unit as mentioned above. However, the sink (being undermount), the length of flex from the dishwasher and all the plumbing in there is going to make it a bit cramped and if I need to pull out the appliance it's not going to be easy.

if I remove the appliance plug and join it to the meter of so t+e, it would make it look a lot neating (imo) and loads more accessible. I'm just concerned it might not be legal.

An electrician is coming to finish off a few other things so he'll end up doing it but I just wanted to sound this out before I looked like an idiot asking him.

Thanks

 

[JohnD]

Sooner or later, all sinks leak or overflow, and kitchen floors get wet, so I'd prefer to have neither. You can get weatherproof enclosures that will withstand water. Run the cables in though entries in the bottom so that water cannot leak in through cutouts on the top or sides.

Fixed to the wall, and accessible through a cutout in the cabinet back, is I think preferable.

Dishwashers are particularly deep, so it is not usually possible to have an outlet directly behind them.

If the fitting is accessible and visible, it does not have to be maintenance free. To join appliance flex to T&E, if you don't want to use a plug and socket, you can use a flex outlet. But this is not as quick and convenient as a plug, when you need to remove or replace the appliance.

Are the cables chased into the wall, or running under the floor?

 

[Murdochcat]

In all my years as a spark I've never encountered water ingress into a socket in a cupboard under a sink ............

 

[crystal ball]

In all my years as a spark I've never encountered water ingress into a socket in a cupboard under a sink ............

I have but only twice

 

[EFLImpudence]

https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/0138-w/socket-rubber-1-gang-13a-white/dp/PL09466?st=trailing%20sockets

Rest it on something so that if the floor gets wet it won't.

 

[flameport]

if I need to pull out the appliance it's not going to be easy.

How often do you really expect to be removing the dishwasher?

 

[Taylortwocities]

I have but only twice

Was that when you did the electrics AND the plumbing?

 

[crystal ball]

Was that when you did the electrics AND the plumbing?

One was really bad in a house I had done a few jobs in before, always smelled a bit musty even though very clean, waste pipe had been dripping for years on to socket and then the floor. Floorboards were rotten as was the supporting joist

 

[opps]

One was really bad in a house I had done a few jobs in before, always smelled a bit musty even though very clean, waste pipe had been dripping for years on to socket and then the floor. Floorboards were rotten as was the supporting joist

Fair play, but did the water actually enter the socket, and if it did, did the surface mount box build up with water?

Sorry, not intentionally discounting your earlier post. I have not experienced that, but accept that it could happen.

 

[crystal ball]

Fair play, but did the water actually enter the socket, and if it did, did the surface mount box build up with water?

Sorry, not intentionally discounting your earlier post. I have not experienced that, but accept that it could happen.

Yes, it was full of water when I removed it

 

[SUNRAY]

Just the once here too, surface mounted on the wall with no back in the base unit. to supply the waste disposal unit (remember them? ), T&E ran along just under the worktop then down into the top of the patress. The WM hose crossed and touched the T&E then hooked into the top of an open wastepipe.

When emptying the waste water would splash back and run down the outside of the WM pipe then down the T&E. There was a horrible brown/black deposit to show the route taken and the inside of the patress and socket was very wet and mouldy and felt greasy - soap or fabric softener? At no point had the RCD tripped.

The water also ran down the outside of the waste pipe, dripped off the U bend, through the hole left in the floorboard for pipework and had made a tiny hole in the plaster board below to leave a mark on the sofa below (not obvious due to the bold pattern).

This was in a maisonette about mid 1980's.

 

[ebee]

I would start with the intention of leaving a plug and socket arrangement in place somewhere for a few reasons, making connecting/disconnecting for moving and testing for a start, makes life easier anyway. If you feel the need to offer a little protection from water ingress by leakage etc that is no bad thing.
Plumbing does not have a great tendency to leak anyway but yes sometimes it does happen. But if all is as should be then no problem.
Some tend to thing that a socket under a sink is unwise/illegal but ask anyone of those if they worry about a bathroom etc plumbing/draining above a kitchen and most have never even considered it.

 

[SUNRAY]

I would start with the intention of leaving a plug and socket arrangement in place somewhere for a few reasons, making connecting/disconnecting for moving and testing for a start, makes life easier anyway. If you feel the need to offer a little protection from water ingress by leakage etc that is no bad thing.
Plumbing does not have a great tendency to leak anyway but yes sometimes it does happen. But if all is as should be then no problem.
Some tend to thing that a socket under a sink is unwise/illegal but ask anyone of those if they worry about a bathroom etc plumbing/draining above a kitchen and most have never even considered it.

Agreed and most kitchen sink leaks tend to be drips, so invariably misses anything electrical. Thinking back; every house I've lived in has had a socket or FCU under the sink and the same is true for all the houses my daughter and son have owned except one. The count must be over 15.