Unit mounted socket

[deanmacken]

Hello all, i am in the middle of a kitchen installation, i'm doing lots of the work myself and am having building regs certify. i'm told they need to come out at first fit and then a second time. in the last house i owned i did the rewire and a leccy friend did the consumer unit and testing, at that time (pre-partp) i mounted a double socket inside a kitchen base unit for power to the dishwasher and sink waste unit, i also mounted the cooker isolator in the back of the base unit to the left of the cooker, these were using surface mount back boxes directly screwed onto the chipboard of the base unit, i have a similar situation now and would like to do the same for neatness and wanted to know if these would pass the inspection. if not would using a cavity box protruding into the service gap behind the units pass?

Thanks in advance

Dean

 

[Chri5]

Back board of most kitchen cabinets tends to be very feeble 1-2mm sheet, not really suitable for mounting anything.

I'm generally very anti the idea of mounting sockets or switches inside cabinets due to the need to quickly and safely isolate services with issues such as chip pan fires etc (the last thing you need is having to move baked bean tins and other clutter to get to a switch during a fire incident).

If you really can't place sockets above counters and in easy access for isolation then the side wall would be a stronger and better area to consider.

Side wall near the door (so can be easily accessed and less prone to clutter preventing access) and a run of trunking back to the rear for cable protection would be better.

 

[deanmacken]

Thanks for the answer - i'm lucky that they are 18mm all round - we specified this so it would take the weight of the granite tops we are fitting.
The cooker isolator would be at the front, near the top. the socket would be quite 'hidden away' (and high so theres no worry about water getting to it) but i'm guessing that the cooker isolator would be the major concern?
In all honesty the isolator is probably overkill, its a gas hob wth a leccy oven, oven is 5m away from consumer unit on a 40amp breaker with an RCD. i just dont want to get snagged by the regs for the location of the mount.

 

[FredFlintstone]

I thought electrical fittings needed to be fixed to the fabric of the building?

Whether or not a fitted kitchen unit is classed as the fabric of the building is up for debate. For the purposes of building and contents insurance, a kitchen is part of the building but this could be different for electrical requirements.

Better to stick a FCU above the worktop with a flex outlet below for the appliances.

Regards

Fred.

 

[deanmacken]

yep i'd heard that, which is why is was posting here...

I'd rather not follow your suggestion purely because of looks, if i have to then thats fine, but i'd rather avoid it if poss.

Can anyone firm up on this subject?

Thanks again for all your time.

 

[Chri5]

I thought (amybe I'm wrong) that kitchen cabinets due to being a permant fixture could be 'considered' as part of the fabric of the building.

I'm sure someone will be here soon to clear the matter up.

 

[bernardgreen]

The approved method in our new kitchen has been to mount 13 amp sockets on the wall behind the cabinet backs with holes cut in the backs to provide access. The cable from the appliance runs down behind the back to the floor and then along on the floor to the appliance. The socket is fed by 2.5mm² from an FCU above the work surface located where it is (reasonable) obvious that it controls the appliance.

The only time access is needed to the socket is when changing the appliance.