Any plumbers out there? Advice required.

[Tigerrrr.......]

Hello.

We've just had a new kitchen fitted and the workman has put a double electric socket in the cupboard under the sink on the floor, facing upwards.

Guess what - we noticed a leak last night dripping very close to the socket.

Very worrying. Is it legal to fit electrics under a sink? Any advice welcome.

Thank you.

[maviczap]

Don't think so, there's one under my sink, although mine is vertical not horizontal, which is just plain daft

[Specialone]

As a builder who does tons of kitchens and bathrooms, a lot of kitchen fitters do this, I'm not one of them, its asking for trouble IMO.

All the big companies find this acceptable, but a socket facing up is worse obviously.

I believe any electrical socket or switch has to be at least 5-600mm from the sink but that applies to above worktop ones I think, should be less below.

[Dave20046]

Hello.

We've just had a new kitchen fitted and the workman has put a double electric socket in the cupboard under the sink on the floor, facing upwards.

Guess what - we noticed a leak last night dripping very close to the socket.

Very worrying. Is it legal to fit electrics under a sink? Any advice welcome.

Thank you.

I'd ask 'em to shift it. I had one under my sink when I moved in and immediately noticed it was soaked, all the time. Didn't seem like a good idea so moved it.

[Bluefish]

Yeah legal, but hardly the best place, see if you can get it moved to the next cupboard along, or removed completely if not required.

[Stuuk1]

I'm unfortunately a sparky and pretty sure there are no regs on this... However your house should be protected by an RCD if the electrician installed it in a place like that.

I think the only regulation with regards to a socket around the sink area in a kitchen is in the building regs, something like 200-300mm from the sink. Not 100% sure but have a feeling that is above the Worktop, not below.


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[Balky001]

It's not best practice even if legal. Ask him what the benefits are. If you have to undo the waste you will get spillage. Very lazy installation.

[Stuuk1]

It's not best practice even if legal. Ask him what the benefits are. If you have to undo the waste you will get spillage. Very lazy installation.

+1


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[timwilky]

I would think the only reason to install anything in the cupboard below the sink would be to power a waste disposal unit. But why do it if there aint one?

And if there was I would have done it off a fused spur.

[maviczap]

I would think the only reason to install anything in the cupboard below the sink would be to power a waste disposal unit. But why do it if there aint one?

+1 We didn't have this kitchen fitted, but there's a socket under our sink.

No reason for it, as the dishwasher & washing machine have their power socket under the counter top away from any water.

Plenty of other sockets in our tiny kitchen so no need for this

[Specialone]

What a lot of them do is pull the cables through for a dishwasher or something, building regs on new builds is the sockets below must have above worktop isolators for each socket which are normally fused independently.

I put sockets inside cupboards all the time for appliances, just not inside the sink one.