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  • Ah thanks for that.
    In my situation I'm in a flat without RCD protection. The electrical installation is from the 80s but looks to be professionally done and compliant with the regs of the time. I've added a couple of sockets to the ring (not spurs) and moved various light switches and ceiling roses, all the while ensuring that all cable runs are vertical or horizontal in the special zones, and in plastic trunking which is then plastered over - ie the same standard as existing. However the existing installation isn't greater than 50mm deep (e.g. from the floor upto a socket it's just about 20mm depth, the thickness of the bonding plaster + skim coat), but should I have chased in further for my additions? I'm simply adding to circuits rather than creating new ones, so kind of assumed I was ok in a grandfather rights sort of way. Chasing in any more than I did would have entailed getting right into the brick and not just taking off the bonding plaster, a massive ballache, but of course if it's gotta be done it's gotta be done...

  • Your approach is common sense and shouldn't lose any sleep over it but by the letter of the regs you should have RCD protected the whole circuit. You don't need to RCD protect circuits that you're not altering though which doesn't make much sense as they arguably carry the same level of danger as your alterations.

    Bear in mind that Part P was pushed through building law by an MP who lost his daughter because a builder put a wire in an extension wall running diagonally. Someone then fitted a metal plate rack with a screw that punctured the wire. There was no problem until the girl touched the earthed metal sink and the plate rack.

    Primarily Part P helps the building trades to maintain safe standards especially in new builds where the electrical system is designed from scratch. It doesn't make quite as much sense in legacy systems. For example no one is going to change the height of all the sockets in a room to above 450mm just to add a new socket, but if you are fitting new sockets to a room then they should be above 450mm but you're not going to fit one socket higher than all the others especially if it would result in a diagonal cable run.

    Complying with the regs helps tradesmen to maintain a level of end user safety because the hive mind has had a good look at all the stuff that can go wrong which the individual sweating to make a living might otherwise not recognise.

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