Pond Electrics, Electrician Removed Rdc

Talk Electrician Forum

Help Support Talk Electrician Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Freebird

Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2014
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Location
Essex
We have a garden pond with the usual electrics (pump and filter also lighting). I installed the electrics using Blagdon Armoured Garden Power Supply Kit, armoured cable etc. The house had a new consumer box last year with RCD, but I was given advice that for the outside electrics to be legal it had to have its own RCD. So I installed a power point with RCD in the house which is solely for the outside, a cable runs through the wall and into the Blagdon weatherproof box. I believed that satisfied legal requirements.

Today we had an electrician in to wire up new kitchen appliances and new sockets. He finished the job while I was out. On my return I saw that he had removed the power point with the RCD and replaced it with a standard single one and he also put a new double socket next to it wired from the single socket. So the outside electrics no longer have a separate RDC.

Is this acceptable and more importantly are my outside electrics legal and safe now.

 
if the circuit has an RCD at the consumer unit protecting the circuit / outside, then no problem. if there is now no RCD on outside or the kitchen alteration, then it doesnt comply

 
Firstly don't assume all kitchen fitters are "electricians"

Secondly, it sounds like the circuit your outside stuff is connected to is already protected by the RCD in the consumer unit.  So having a second one serves no purpose other than leaving you guessing which one has tripped if there is a fault.

What should really be done is the outside stuff to be on an rcd or rcbo all of it's own, so if something there trips, it does not shut down half your house and your freezer etc.

EDIT

re reading it, it sounds like all your outside stuff just plugs into a 13A socket in the kitchen?  that's the electrical equivalent of one of those horrible DIY outside tap kits where you connect an outside tap via a bit of hose from an inside tap.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks very much for your replies. I think when I first did this job there was a legal requirement for the council to check the electrical work outside. I have had the council check other building work in the house (RSJ etc installed by a builder) in the recent past and they charged well over £100 for a 30 second visit, I resented that. But I was informed that if I installed a seperate RDC with a removable plug as explained in my post then there was no legal requirement for the council to visit  to check it.

The builder who did the work in the kitchen always uses a profesional electrician to do the electrical work, he didnt do it himself. The electrician has done other work in the house in the past and its all been good.

The outside stuff all connects to a Weatherproof Blagdon Powersafe 5 way Switch Box which is fixed to the outside wall of the house. A cable runs from the switch box into the house through the wall with a 13 amp plug and that plugs into a dedicated RCD power supply (solely for outside electrics), only now it just plugs into a standard 13 amp socket.

 
Sorry, yes the house had a new consumer box with RCD fitted last year, the house circuits are protected including the socket in question.

 
I may be totally wrong here but the information that i had was that the electrics to the pond required Building Regulation Aproval if it was a FIXED installation. But if it was connected by a removable plug then it did not require inspection. The key word being FIXED.

 
There has never been any regulation that says you have to have outside equipment on a separate Rcd, although it is good workmanship though to prevent nuisance tripping of other circuits.

I may be totally wrong here but the information that i had was that the electrics to the pond required Building Regulation Aproval if it was a FIXED installation. But if it was connected by a removable plug then it did not require inspection. The key word being FIXED.
Thats a different point though. You are correct but some argue a cable through a hole in the wall going to a plug is just as fixed as if it was hard wired in.

 
Thanks very much for the information, its much appreciated, as long as its safe and legal then I am happy. Cheers Phil

 
I wonder if you'll get a reply, he has the answer he wanted & is happy so fair play.

 
Although there isn`t a requirement for another RCD; I`d be happy with two - if/when one fails, you have a double redundancy scenario.

O/P - If the kitchen fitter / "professional electrician" altered this circuit; and presumably carried out other works - I hope you have been provided with the relevant certificates?

 
Thread title...

Electrician removed the "RDC"....

well thats all good then.....

as long as the RCD hasn't gone...

The RDC does f***-all..

:slap   :coat

 
Although there isn`t a requirement for another RCD; I`d be happy with two - if/when one fails, you have a double redundancy scenario.

O/P - If the kitchen fitter / "professional electrician" altered this circuit; and presumably carried out other works - I hope you have been provided with the relevant certificates?
You'd be happy installing 2 x RCD's in series - of the same value? on the same circuit?

Madness.

 
Top