Was all of these isolators necessary?

[opps]

I would have gone for a grid system, a double socket faceplate is 4 modular wide, and a fuse holder and a switch is one modular wide, so likely it could be made more compact.

in my kitchen we have the dishwasher, Neff deep fat fryer, extractor hood, TV, B&O soundbar, washing machine, tumble drier, boiling hot water heater, single oven, combi microwave/steam oven, fridge, freezer and induction hob.

That is 13 items.

I was happy that the electrician (like the OP's) used separate switched FSUs in a cupboard. I would however say that he should have fitted those particular ones on the righthand side of the cupboard and not the left. The OP won't be able to remove the fuses in the two far left boxes because he won't be able to lever in a screwdriver to remove the fuse.

 

[EFLImpudence]

1... You are talking about emergency switching, not "isolation".

Indeed - emergency switches:

537.3.3.6
"The means of operating shall be readily accessible at places where a danger might occur and, where
appropriate, at any additional remote position from which that danger can be removed.

Devices for emergency switching off shall be so placed as to be readily identifiable and convenient for their intended use."

However, as neither an isolator nor an emergency switch is required for the appliances in question, they are just switches that someone has put in a cupboard and can be used as either - if you know they are there.

 

[JohnW2]

My parents had a dishwasher once that caught fire whilst I was at their house. I was rather glad I could easily isolate it imediatley without having to pull the machine out or run off to the consumer unit.

Fair enough - and, presumably per what I recently wrote, I presume that isolator was 'sensibly' positioned and not (as is only too common) on the wall immediately above the DW, such that it could not be safely operated when the appliance was "on fire".

However, as I've also said agreed, if the ultimate connection to the appliance is via a socket and (fused) plug, one certainly does not need that switch to be an FCU.

Kind Regards, John

 

[winston1]

- and the primary deciding factor is often that FCUs can be appreciably cheaper than DP switches.

Kind Regards, John

For goodness sake John price should not come into it. Anyway by the time the sparks labour has been added the total price differential is very much smaller.

 

[Munroast]

House is being rewired.

And the electrician has placed the isolators for the kitchen appliances (fan, washing machine, fridge, hob, oven etc) in a cupboard wall unit.

I am just curious whether all of these isolators were necessary?

For example do you one need an isolator for a fridge? And isn't the hob and oven usually on one isolator?

Is this how modern rewiring is done? Or is the electrician simply trying to up his number of points?

what an utterly stupid idea placing all the isolaters at the back of a cupboard - In the real world that cupboard will be used to store things, the isolaters will be hidden and difficult to get to if they are ever needed, in fact in most homes the occupants will either never know or forget where they are.

 

[bernardgreen]

Indeed - emergency switches:

How about emergency isolation.......

Faulty appliance, no access to plug and socket without moving the appliance. RCD cannot be reset, house in darkness.

You may not think that rates as a emergency but for the peoplw affest it is very close to being an emergency.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Nevertheless not required by the regulations so - as I wrote...

 

[bernardgreen]

And what to do if the fault is that the plug overheated and welded it self into the carbonised socket

 

[ericmark]

what an utterly stupid idea placing all the isolators at the back of a cupboard

Yes some daft twit has put the water stop cock at the back of one of my kitchen cupboards, well to be fair, likely there before the cupboards were installed.

 

[JohnW2]

How about emergency isolation....... Faulty appliance, no access to plug and socket without moving the appliance. RCD cannot be reset, house in darkness. You may not think that rates as a emergency but for the peoplw affest it is very close to being an emergency.

As you've been told, logical though all that might be (albeit dependent on on's personal interpretation of "emergency"), "emergency isolation" is not a concept which exists in the regs - one can have "emergency switching" (to switch off something in an 'emergency') or "isolation" (to render something safe whilst it is being worked on - or, as you suggest, to prevent it's interference with other parts of the installation) - but those, together with 'functional switching', are all you have to choose from.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

And what to do if the fault is that the plug overheated and welded it self into the carbonised socket

Switch off that one circuit at the CU, I imagine, and then either remedy the fault or send for someone to do so.

The same probably applies to most other scenarios one might think up by ';scraping barrels'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

For goodness sake John price should not come into it.

I wasn't saying that it should - merely observing that it sometimes (maybe often) does.

Anyway by the time the sparks labour has been added the total price differential is very much smaller.

I presume you are talking about the 'percentage differential', since the absolute differential will be the same regardless of who installs it. However, you need to remember that this is a DIY forum, so many of the the members would be installing the switch/FCU themselves, so 'labour costs' don't come into the equation.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes some daft twit has put the water stop cock at the back of one of my kitchen cupboards, well to be fair, likely there before the cupboards were installed.

Mine was in a cupboard, under the kitchen sink as the original fitment and remained in a cupboard under the sink after I refitted the kitchen - just the handle poking through the back board. Since then a meter has been added. It's an obvious place to look for it, but I don;t think I would expect isolating switches to be tucked away in a cupboard. Even then, to find them you would need to be on your knees looking for them.

 

[crystal ball]

I recall fitting sockets/switches in cupboards in the 80s, so its been around a while but over the years have had a few calls to cooker hoods, ovens etc to working, usually a can of beans been pushed to far back and actuated the switch, ho hum all goes in the holiday fund.

 

[bernardgreen]

Switch off that one circuit at the CU, I imagine, and then either remedy the fault or send for someone to do so.

Not effective if the fault is a Neutral to Earth fault.