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Leccy shower pull cord switch location.

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Davey

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Jul 22, 2009, 4:02:01 PM7/22/09
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My Dad's bathroom has an electric shower over the bath. The bathroom had a
standard rectangular bath with shower curtain and the pull cord switch was
at the other side of the shower curtain to the bath, fixed to the ceiling.

They had the bathroom refurbished a while back and the bath was replaced
with a corner bath and glass shower panel, which now leaves the pull cord in
the area above the bath itself.

Is this a safe place to have a pull cord swictch according to the regs or
should it be moved? Ideally I could do without moving it as there will
likely be little slack in the wiring to be able to move it, but safety comes
first with electrics around water.

Cheers!


Davey

Stuart B

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Jul 22, 2009, 4:32:09 PM7/22/09
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Does this help
http://diydata.com/electrics/bathroom_electrics/bathroom_electrics.php#zones


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John Rumm

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Jul 22, 2009, 6:15:31 PM7/22/09
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Davey wrote:
> My Dad's bathroom has an electric shower over the bath. The bathroom had a
> standard rectangular bath with shower curtain and the pull cord switch was
> at the other side of the shower curtain to the bath, fixed to the ceiling.
>
> They had the bathroom refurbished a while back and the bath was replaced
> with a corner bath and glass shower panel, which now leaves the pull cord in
> the area above the bath itself.
>
> Is this a safe place to have a pull cord swictch according to the regs or
> should it be moved? Ideally I could do without moving it as there will

Uncanny that, I just finished an update to:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Bathroom_Electrics#Showers

(so the answer is no - the switch should not be reachable from the bath
anyway - and in particular if your ceiling is less than 2.25m then it is
actually now in Zone 1 where it really does not want to be!)

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Cheers,

John.

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Dave

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Jul 22, 2009, 7:14:45 PM7/22/09
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John Rumm wrote:
> Davey wrote:
>> My Dad's bathroom has an electric shower over the bath. The bathroom
>> had a standard rectangular bath with shower curtain and the pull cord
>> switch was at the other side of the shower curtain to the bath, fixed
>> to the ceiling.
>>
>> They had the bathroom refurbished a while back and the bath was
>> replaced with a corner bath and glass shower panel, which now leaves
>> the pull cord in the area above the bath itself.
>>
>> Is this a safe place to have a pull cord swictch according to the regs
>> or should it be moved? Ideally I could do without moving it as there will
>
> Uncanny that, I just finished an update to:
>
> http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Bathroom_Electrics#Showers
>
> (so the answer is no - the switch should not be reachable from the bath
> anyway - and in particular if your ceiling is less than 2.25m then it is
> actually now in Zone 1 where it really does not want to be!)

I am confused here John, the OP talks of a pull switch. I assume this is
a cord coming from a rose mounted switch in the ceiling of the bathroom
and it has a plastic insulator close to the switch, which prevents any
chance of a shock from a damp cord. Like my power shower has.

The diyfaq mentions an isolation swith, preferably with an indicater
light in it.

Is the OP's swich a high current switch, doing the same job that is in
the diyfaq and is the shower an electrically heated source fed by cold
water, or is it a pump assisted one, with a switch similar to mine?

I need to know, as my switch cord can go either side of the shower
screen. The rose mounted switch on my ceiling can't be touched from my
zone 1 though.

That looks as clear as mud, so I'll wait to see what you make of it.

Dave

John Rumm

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Jul 22, 2009, 7:57:46 PM7/22/09
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Dave wrote:
> John Rumm wrote:
>> Davey wrote:
>>> My Dad's bathroom has an electric shower over the bath. The bathroom
>>> had a standard rectangular bath with shower curtain and the pull cord
>>> switch was at the other side of the shower curtain to the bath, fixed
>>> to the ceiling.
>>>
>>> They had the bathroom refurbished a while back and the bath was
>>> replaced with a corner bath and glass shower panel, which now leaves
>>> the pull cord in the area above the bath itself.
>>>
>>> Is this a safe place to have a pull cord swictch according to the
>>> regs or should it be moved? Ideally I could do without moving it as
>>> there will
>>
>> Uncanny that, I just finished an update to:
>>
>> http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Bathroom_Electrics#Showers
>>
>> (so the answer is no - the switch should not be reachable from the
>> bath anyway - and in particular if your ceiling is less than 2.25m
>> then it is actually now in Zone 1 where it really does not want to be!)
>
> I am confused here John, the OP talks of a pull switch. I assume this is
> a cord coming from a rose mounted switch in the ceiling of the bathroom
> and it has a plastic insulator close to the switch, which prevents any
> chance of a shock from a damp cord. Like my power shower has.

It don't stop steam and water spray from getting into the switch body
though, which is one of the issues. Note also that talk peeps like me
could easily reach the body of the switch in a situation like this in
most modern height bathrooms.

> The diyfaq mentions an isolation swith, preferably with an indicater
> light in it.

Indeed...

> Is the OP's swich a high current switch, doing the same job that is in
> the diyfaq and is the shower an electrically heated source fed by cold
> water, or is it a pump assisted one, with a switch similar to mine?

I am guessing the former, but he did not make it absolutely clear.
(Thinking about it, I will add a section on shower pumps to the wiki)

In reality the situation is similar; functional switching for both types
is usually provided on the appliance - and isolation on a separate switch.

> I need to know, as my switch cord can go either side of the shower
> screen. The rose mounted switch on my ceiling can't be touched from my
> zone 1 though.

Ideally the switch needs to be in zone 2 or outside. Somewhere you can't
reach it from in the shower, and somewhere its not going to get wetter
than it is designed to be.

> That looks as clear as mud, so I'll wait to see what you make of it.

Your message or the wiki? (the latter is still a work in progress on
that article - so not unexpected!)

Andrew Gabriel

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Jul 23, 2009, 4:04:26 AM7/23/09
to
In article <37WdnadA44D6APrX...@bt.com>,

Dave <dave...@btopenworld.com> writes:
>
> The diyfaq mentions an isolation swith, preferably with an indicater
> light in it.

The FAQ would be wrong then. The isolation switch must have a
_mechanical_ means of indicating the on/off state. An electrical
means of indicating the on/off state (such as a light) is not
required (and in some cases, not wanted).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

PeterC

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Jul 23, 2009, 9:15:29 AM7/23/09
to
On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:57:46 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

>> I am confused here John, the OP talks of a pull switch. I assume this is
>> a cord coming from a rose mounted switch in the ceiling of the bathroom
>> and it has a plastic insulator close to the switch, which prevents any
>> chance of a shock from a damp cord. Like my power shower has.
>
> It don't stop steam and water spray from getting into the switch body
> though, which is one of the issues. Note also that talk peeps like me
> could easily reach the body of the switch in a situation like this in
> most modern height bathrooms.

I have 2 switches in the bathroom:

light switch - this could, in exceptional circumstances, be hit by a spray
from the shower (hasn't happened in 40 years

shower switch - I put this in in such a way that the /cord/ can (just) be
reached low down from the bath but the switch can't be sprayed uless the
shower head is taken outside the curtain and held round a corner. In that
position the spray could hit the switch if it were outside the bathroom but
near the door.

I'm tall enough to be able to touch a 2.3m ceiling with my clenched fist
but reaching the switch from the bath would carry a greater risk of
slipping over.
--
Peter.
The head of a pin will hold more angels if
it's been flattened with an angel-grinder.

John Rumm

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Jul 23, 2009, 12:47:08 PM7/23/09
to
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
> In article <37WdnadA44D6APrX...@bt.com>,
> Dave <dave...@btopenworld.com> writes:
>> The diyfaq mentions an isolation swith, preferably with an indicater
>> light in it.
>
> The FAQ would be wrong then. The isolation switch must have a

Incomplete is the word you are looking for - I have only been tarting
this article for the last couple of days ;-)

> _mechanical_ means of indicating the on/off state. An electrical

Indeed - I will add that. Same applies to fan isolators IIRC as well.

> means of indicating the on/off state (such as a light) is not
> required (and in some cases, not wanted).

For showers its probably neither here no there. For things like towel
rails on pull switches its handy to have an easy to see "on" indication.
Most of the mechanical flag switches are high current and hence rather
loud and clunky.

Dave

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Jul 23, 2009, 5:20:26 PM7/23/09
to

Here is my set up.

I tapped off from the upstairs ring and took a 2.5 mm feed to an
isolating switch, by wiring under the bathroom, landing and cupboard
floors and coming up into the hot water / airing cupboard. The isolating
switch is fused at 5 Amps. Then this fused supply goes back under the
floor and goes up to the ceiling mounted pull switch, so that you can
stop the pump running. It is this swich that now bothers me. I suppose I
could move the switch into the loft to comply and just have a cord
coming out of the ceiling through a small grommeted hole.

>> I need to know, as my switch cord can go either side of the shower
>> screen. The rose mounted switch on my ceiling can't be touched from my
>> zone 1 though.
>
> Ideally the switch needs to be in zone 2 or outside. Somewhere you can't
> reach it from in the shower, and somewhere its not going to get wetter
> than it is designed to be.

Then in the loft it is. Unless you come back with any other ideas.

>> That looks as clear as mud, so I'll wait to see what you make of it.
>
> Your message or the wiki? (the latter is still a work in progress on
> that article - so not unexpected!)

I was refering to my post. I made it around midnight and I was very tired.


Dave

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