Hidden emergency switch

[puntloos]

Home cinema, kitchens, garages can all be pretty scary or dangerous. I was debating building "mains switches" for them, so in case of emergency there would be some important button to hit and everything would be off. Something like this:

 

 

Big button but also an "accidentental trip cover" that prevents too easy bumping into it triggers.

 

But - this is ugly in living quarters. Are there any elegant versions of this, and is it a good idea in the first place?

[ProDave]

I can understand this for a workshop with lathes, mills etc but what in a kitchen or cinema warrants one?

[joe90]

I have never heard of them being used in a domestic situation but I do remember them in our metal workshop in school so the teacher could trip anything if he saw a disaster looming. Surely decent protection fuses/trips are enough in a “home”.

[puntloos]

Well, kitchens have scary systems similar(ish) to lathes, e.g. blenders, hobs etc

Cinema system - well ha this actually is why I thought this up, smart homes fail sometimes, in particular my logitech harmony, once every 4 months maybe, literally keeps raising the volume. And while it is doing this, no other controls work. Fun! 

 

I just think that IF the power systems in one room are all on the same circuit anyway, it couldn't hurt to have such a shutdown and it would probably be very easy to insert while you're building the room from scratch anyway?

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by puntloos

[Temp]

Emergency cut off switches are meant to be brightly coloured so you can find them quickly in an emergency.

[AliG]

Most issues would probably be electrical which should trip the circuit breaker.

 

If someone puts their hand in a blender then Darwin's Law applies.

 

I have put some items on WiFi switches where they need reset sometimes, like the Sky Box and it saves me having to go and root around for the switch. IF there is anything you are worried about I would just make sure you can access the normal switch.

[puntloos]

58 minutes ago, Temp said:

Emergency cut off switches are meant to be brightly coloured so you can find them quickly in an emergency.

 

You're not wrong, but well, there is IMO a point that these switches are not "critical" (let alone required by regulations) in the places where I'm suggesting, so having them a little less shouty seems fine. 

 

Anyway like I said if most/all of a room is on the same circuit anyway surely it's not that hard to create a central "off" switch?

[AliG]

3 minutes ago, puntloos said:

Anyway like I said if most/all of a room is on the same circuit anyway surely it's not that hard to create a central "off" switch?

All the sockets in a room would probably be on the same circuit and all the lights on a different circuit.

 

In the kitchen, ovens and his will be on their own circuit with their own RCD.

 

You could install a multi grid socket that allows you to turn things off in the kitchen as below.

 

Things like the dishwasher and washing machines which are plugged in behind them need to have accessible switches according to the regs. We just have all of ours inside ne kitchen cupboard to keep it tidy.

 

 

 

[puntloos]

9 minutes ago, AliG said:

All the sockets in a room would probably be on the same circuit and all the lights on a different circuit.

 

In the kitchen, ovens and his will be on their own circuit with their own RCD.

 

You could install a multi grid socket that allows you to turn things off in the kitchen as below.

 

Things like the dishwasher and washing machines which are plugged in behind them need to have accessible switches according to the regs. We just have all of ours inside ne kitchen cupboard to keep it tidy.

 

 

 

 

Excellent, this is a pretty good alternative. Perhaps just create a row of these buttons that you can all flip..

[puntloos]

Alternatively I did find this one. Might be useful for hands-free or distance operation.

 

[wozza]

If the use of such a button would be to cut the power to everything, will you be fitting emergency lighting?

[dpmiller]

1 hour ago, puntloos said:

Alternatively I did find this one. Might be useful for hands-free or distance operation.

 

which one were you thinking of?

[TonyT]

Watch out if you have ring final circuits you couldn’t use a switch to isolate it, you would. Need to use a contractor.

 

easy for radials 

 

Think it’s a bit over kill myself but have fun 

[Nickfromwales]

You could have a second CU loaded with the RCBO’s of the ‘danger circuits’ and have a switch that isolates the power to that CU via a BFO contactor. You can then use a strategically positioned matching light switch as the emergency cut off.

Barking mad though, all the same ?