# Forum Home Renovation Electrical  Power Point - Distance from tap

## GMC

Hi 
Do you know hard it is to search for this - PowerPoint is a Microsoft name and nothing else comes up  :Smilie:  
I am about to start tiling a splash back for the bathroom sink - its new and the a little bigger than the old one and the power point is now pretty close to the taps 
I know there is a regulation for a safe min distance - I just cant find one (And waiting for the electrician to come will make the wife cranky as thats another week I havent done anything on the room - LOL) 
Can someone let me know, so I can leave a hole for my sparky 
Thanks 
GMC

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## Master Splinter

Check link in my sig.

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## ScottH

400mm high or 150mm across (if it's 45 litres or less)

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## elkangorito

A little more specifically, the GPO (power point) must be outside of; 
the vertical plane 0.15 m from the internal rim of the water container and the floor, and the horizontal plane 0.4 m above the water container.

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## GMC

Thank you all for your replies - I have a good idea now   :2thumbsup:  
Cheers 
GMC

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## rrobor

May I reply to this in all seriousness. I suffer from an ailment which is my business, I tell you this because I take drugs which are dangerous. Now I had a flair up and went into hosptal to be monitored. My doctor then told me as I tell you now. You are responsible for you. If you think this is wrong dont do it. I had to take drugs 30 mins before food, I had to do that myself. I was handed drugs in a bare palm by a female nurse. Those drugs cause abortion and sterility, you feel them burn. My point then is B-u-g-e-. who tells you what is and what is not. In the end can you live with yourself if you put a socket in, which is to code as of now, but it killed your daughter. So please never look at at what some officious little waffler says, its your and yours life, protect your heratage and your future genetic line as you see fit. Personally a socket in a bathroom is not a happening in my house.  Rob

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## elkangorito

> Personally a socket in a bathroom is not a happening in my house.  Rob

  Further to the above quote, all & any GPO's in bathrooms/wet areas, are banned in the UK. I do believe that this may exclude extra low voltage shaver outlets.
I think that Australia is too lenient in this regard as I also think that GPO's in a bathroom is asking for trouble. 
To counter my own belief, my sister once asked me to install an extra GPO in her bathroom. I told her that it couldn't be done according to the regulations (no easily available area outside of the hazardous zone).
To my complete shock, I found her using her hairdryer whilst she was still wet & standing on a wet floor (she'd just gotten out of the shower). The problem was that she had used an extension lead to supply the hairdryer, which was draped all over the wet floor. 
How did I fix this? 
I told her a few simple truths about how easily electricity can kill you. Thank god she listened to me as now she unplugs other things so that she can use her hairdryer. 
Someone once said, "You can't protect fools". This is true but what should also be added is "...& ignorant people".  
Education should always the first step...not legislation.

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## GMC

Those last two replies are appreciated 
Thank you

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## piscean

we have a power point in the bathroom but it's only used to keep an electric toothbrush charged up so it's really handy for things like that, but just thought I'd add something about hairdryers in bathrooms. I know some one who recently got out of a bath, didnt empty it and then started drying her hair. She stepped backwards and tripped into the bath while she was still holding the dryer but she was lucky because they'd just moved into a new house that was fitted with a safety/earth leakage? switch and it shut the power off very quickly so she was ok, but hairdryers and bathrooms are such a bad mix

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## woosydiver

> A little more specifically, the GPO (power point) must be outside of; 
> the vertical plane 0.15 m from the internal rim of the water container and the floor, and the horizontal plane 0.4 m above the water container.

  I was going to ask this question as I am currently designing changes to my kitchen. 
The previous reply used the term "400mm above OR 150mm horizontally" yet you use the term "0.4m above AND 0.15m horizontal". The words OR/AND mean quite different things in this context, can you clarify? 
I mean, I would like GPO's to the side of my sink, 150mm to the side is fine, but to have them 400mm above AND 150mm would be difficult. 
If "AND" is correct then I don't think I have ever seen a kitchen with GPO's as high as 400mm above the work surface [which would be in line with the top of the sink], this would put them half way into wall units in most kitchens. 
Thanks. 
Steve

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## Master Splinter

Pages 35-47 (yes, there's 12 pages of dos and don'ts in wet areas) in the 'domestic wiring' document linked in my sig.

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## Bloss

Don't panic, use some common sense (and the regs)  - get your electrician to install an RCD on all circuits - especially bathroom - risk reduced to close to zero .  .  . and she'll know where the GPO can go too . . .  :Smilie:

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## TheEngy

Out of interest, where do they install RCD's in wet areas?  Do they do them in the room somewhere (like in the vanity) or back at the circuit board? 
Also what is the point of the 150/450 distance?  If you have a hairdryer plugged in it will still reach the water.  
Lastly one more quest, what happens with round bowls, is the 150mm measured from the edge of the bowl to the wall (as opposed to the outmost tangent)

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## China

RCD's are installed in your Meter box / circuit board / meter box
The 150/450 is to help prevent splashes on yhe GPO.
As for your last question don't know a sparky will have to answer.
As for having a GPO in the bathroom how many people are killed because they had GPO in the bathroom---- None they were killed because they did some stupid

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## TheEngy

> RCD's are installed in your Meter box / circuit board / meter box

  Hmm yeah I thought so, I do have one in mine, I assume that covers the whole house.

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## murray44

> Hmm yeah I thought so, I do have one in mine, I assume that covers the whole house.

  I wouldn't assume it covers the whole house. An easy way to determine what it covers is to manually trip it out and then go around the house and turn stuff on/off and see what doesn't come on.

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## TheEngy

Oh it does it's been off a few time in storms etc and nothing worked.   
Regarding the 400mm to the GPO, is that fromt he top of the water level, top of the bowl or top of the bench?  We have a round bowl that sits a bit on top of the benchtop

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## murray44

> Oh it does it's been off a few time in storms etc and nothing worked.

  I didn't realise they tended to trip out in storms. I assume the storm didn't knock your mains out?

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## TheEngy

It doesn't most times, but for some reason last time it did. It wasn't actually a storm, I think a car went into a power pole or something. 
It was strange that it tripped, that doesn't normally happen.  The only times it normally happens is if I turn my kettle, microwave and dishwasher on at the same time.

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## chrisp

> The only times it normally happens is if I turn my kettle, microwave and dishwasher on at the same time.

  That's the 'CB' circuit breaker function tripping due to overload rather than a RCD trip due to leakage.

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## TheEngy

Yeah sorry, I have like 3 power CB and 2 light CB's, so it's only the CB that switches when I have too many devices on. 
I also have a blue switch which rarely goes off, I assume this is the RCD? 
It's an old house but they seem to have put in a new powerboard and meters before we bought it, so that power setup isn't too old which is good.

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## NigeC

what size is the CB?

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## TheEngy

Ahh i had a look, the safety switch says RCD 40A, 30mA 
So I guess I have RCD, that should make my bathroom GPO's safer?

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## NigeC

The CB rating of the one that trips?

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## m6sports

> Out of interest, where do they install RCD's in wet areas?  Do they do them in the room somewhere (like in the vanity)

  im in the middle of my bathroom reno and was going to follow the rules of height and distance from the top of the vanity 
would it be possible to install a GPO inside the vanity ?  
as its only going to be used to charge the tooth brush and electric razor

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## TheEngy

> The CB rating of the one that trips?

  Looks like there are two C16 for the power lines and C10 for the lighting.  Then a separate one for stove and aircon,

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