Forums Forums Wirral Information Ask - Wiki Wirral Did I need this ?

Any leccy savvy people around ? A while ago , we needed a newly positioned double socket in the kitchen for a fridge and a freezer . The electrician put in one of these . 13Amp Twin RCD Protected Plug Socket which didnt have any switches on it . Cost £20+Vat (plus labour) .I queried the fact that this didnt have any rocker on/off switches on it just the trip current button and tester , in the middle . He told me it was the new legal requirement . I didnt mind as it meant the freezer and fridge couldnt be switched off accidentally .
Is there a legal requirement to have this type of double socket now rather than the usual simple ones with 2 red rocker switches? If so does it only apply to fridges and freezers ?
If Ive been ripped of unecessarily , then I dont want to get same company back to do my next 'non fridge'socket requirement .

AFAIk 17th Edition Regulations (2008) are that any new domestic installation, or alteration/addition to existing requires RCD protection.

Maintenance or repair of existing does not count.

So no, not been ripped off, electrician installed to the regulations

Google "17th Edition RCD"

Ooow good, thanks rhoobarb. Thats good to know. Ive read your link - although a lot of it is above my head .Do you know if you can get these new RCD protected sockets with rocker switches?

Funny thing is , friends newly bought 1960's house has been gutted completely and rewired with sockets in new places , and I didnt see any unconventional looking sockets there. Ah, maybe it was just a matter of it having what seems to be referred to as a consumer unit dual RCD,which I presume is something to do with the main electics box with all the tripping switches.

The alternative would have been a new consumer unit (fuse board) as the regs require RCD protection.
I hope it was just a case of changing a single for a double. If it required any wiring then the circuit should be RCD protected from the consumer unit, just putting an RCD socket on is not good enough.
You can get RCD sockets with switches.

I am a JIB approved electrician BTW.

Thank you Blueskier . Well , a foot of wiring to move it along a bit and a single to a double . Not sure if we have the circuit protected from the c u or not . What do I look for - will it say on it? Glad the switches are available . Thanks.

To see if a circuit is protected by an RCD you should find at your board a test switch (big T on it) labelled up with instructions of how to test.
Alternatively you may have an RCBO fitted which goes on an individual circuit, this is an integrated RCD and overload protection.It has a switch like a circuit breaker and a test button.
To strictly comply with the regs one of these should be protecting that circuit. In reality though as long as you have your certificates i.e. Part P of the building regs i wouldnt worry.

As Blueskier said, the cable to the new socket should be RCD protected (strictly speaking) if they installed the cable to the new socket that is.

"Any socket outlet that can be used to power equipment outdoors" or "A socket outlet that can be used by an ordinary persons" needs to be RCD protected (BS:7671:2008 - amended 2013) Something to the tune of that anyway..

Would of been better to have an RCD / RCBO at fuseboard.