Feeling slightly stupid - regs for wiring up built-in fridge in pantry?

[jack]

We finally have our pantry furniture arriving tomorrow. Carcasses will be installed tomorrow, then we choose and install worktops, then the fitter comes back and finishes off some cupboards and woodwork that sits on the worktops.

 

I was just admiring my wife's handiwork after she cleared out the space this afternoon, when I realised that we haven't actually had a socket or wiring installed for the bar fridge that'll be part of this!

 

There are a few options, but before I go too far down any particular road, what's the legal position on sockets for built-in appliances? Is it necessary for them to be remotely switchable? And if not, I assume it's desirable for both safety and practicality?

 

Can two fridges share a remote switch? Our main fridge switch isn't actually that far from where the bar fridge is going, so it's conceivable I could wire both through that, or possibly have two switches at that location but supplied from the same cable.

Thoughts? 

 

Thanks

[Jeremy Harris]

Yes, there has to be an accessible switch or circuit breaker for built in appliances.  It's widely ignored, but not hard to comply with.  For our built in cooker and microwave I added switches in the cupboard next to them to turn them off.  For the dishwasher, I cut a hole in the top rear of the adjacent cupboard to access the switch and socket. 

 

It's extremely useful to do this, as it makes any future electrical installation inspection a great deal less hassle.  Anything that allows easy access to outlets and switches generally seems to make life a lot easier.

 

As above, the requirement to have easy access to switches for all appliances is very commonly ignored, though.  I've seen built in ovens fitted with a normal switched outlet tucked right behind it, with the oven screwed in to the unit preventing access.  One has to wonder how the power is supposed to be turned off quickly in the event of a fault.

[jack]

Thanks Jeremy.

 

I do have an adjacent location where I could put a switch, although running cabling there might be a bit of a faff.

 

Probably safest to get the electrician in and see what he says. Unfortunately, the fitter is onsite with the stuff first thing this morning and I won't have time to get my electrician onsite. Things should still be accessible enough to get the wiring where it needs to be though (I hope!)

[Jeremy Harris]

As a guide, I fitted unswitched outlets behind our built in ovens, but fitted a pair of isolating switches in the adjacent cupboard.  Not hard to do.  For the boiling water tap, where I wanted easy access to the switch, I made up an extension lead that runs behind the units (from the dishwasher double gang outlet that's accessed via a hole in the top rear of an adjacent unit) and that runs to a double pole switched fused connection unit in the cupboard under the sink (high up, near the front) that supplies the boiling water tap.  This keeps things adequately accessible, whilst being relatively unobtrusive, and remains compliant with the regs.

 

BTW, if you feel competent you can now legally modify an existing circuit in a kitchen, without needing a Part P sign off.

[Onoff]

20A DP switch feeding an unswitched socket, fuse in plug top is common. 

[jack]

11 hours ago, JSHarris said:

BTW, if you feel competent you can now legally modify an existing circuit in a kitchen, without needing a Part P sign off.

 

I suspect could manage this with some help from the usual suspects on BH, but I just don't have the time this week. 

[Gone West]

13 hours ago, jack said:

Can two fridges share a remote switch? Our main fridge switch isn't actually that far from where the bar fridge is going, so it's conceivable I could wire both through that, or possibly have two switches at that location but supplied from the same cable.

Thoughts? 

 

Thanks

We have used fused connection units (FCU) with flex outlet plates for all our kitchen appliances. I don't know of any safety reasons why you shouldn't connect two cables to the flex outlet plate for the fridges, but I'm not an electrician.

[jack]

Electrician had some free time today so has kindly offered to come over. He's just arrived and will be extending the ring in the pantry to include the fridge socket. Looks like a straightforward job, thankfully, helped by having space to run conduit behind the units.