Safety first with bathroom electricity
Family bathrooms, luxury en suites, shower areas, spas and guest bathrooms alike are all judged to be areas that need special consideration when it comes to electricity within the bathroom, the risk of electric shock can be high in these areas due to the abundant amount of water. Your bathroom should only ever contain electrical products that have been designed for use in such areas and they must only ever be installed by qualified electricians or electrical contractors.
To help in designing the layout of your bathroom and ensuring safety for all its users there are some useful guidelines to follow.
You can refer to section 601 within the UK wiring regulations (BS7671) which sets out ‘zones’ within a bathroom, taking into account doors, walls, ceilings and the potential electrical risk of within these zones. Electrical bathroom products and equipment have an Ingress Protection (IP) rating for their intended location, each bathroom zone advises a minimum recommended IP rating.
All Victoriaplumb.com electric elements (for use within heated towel rails) carry an IPX5 rating (the code on your element will read IP55 but the first numerical digit applies to dust and there are no requirements for the level of dust in this case so only the latter numerical digit applies). As the electric element will be placed inside a heated towel rail the zone factors apply to all faces/edges of your radiator and not just the section that contains the element.
Here is guidance to bathroom zones and IP ratings:
Bathroom IP Ratings – Degree of protection against moisture
IPX0 – No protection
IPX1 – Protection against vertically dripping water
IPX2 – Protection against vertically dripping water and up to 15 degrees from vertical
IPX3 – Protection against spraying water up to 60 degrees from vertical
IPX4 – Protection against splashing water from any direction
IPX5 – Protection against jets of water from any direction
IPX6 – Protection from powerful jets of water with limited ingress with no harmful effect
IPX7 – Protected against total immersion in water for limited periods
IPX8 – Protection against total immersion in water under pressure for an indefinite period
Bathroom Zones, locations & IP minimum requirements
Zone ‘0’ is inside the bath, shower or basin – This zone requires equipment to carry a minimum IP rating of IPX7 that is protected against the effects of immersion. Transformers must be sighted outside of zones 0, 1 & 2.
Zone ‘1’ is above the bath or shower tray/base to a height of 2.25 metres. A minimum of IPX4 is required here.
Zone ‘2’ is above the bath or shower tray/wet room tiles to a height of 2.25 metres with radius of 0.6 metres from the water outlet – This zone requires equipment to carry a minimum IP rating of IPX4 or IPX5 if water jets are likely to be used for cleaning (i.e.: if you use a shower head and hose to clean your bath/shower/tiles) Basins can also be classed as a zone 2 area.
Zone ‘3’ is anywhere outside zones 0, 1 & 2 which require no specific IP rating but, as before, a minimum of IPX5 is required should water jets or shower heads/hoses be used for cleaning.
As before, do not attempt to install any electrical items unless you are a qualified electrician, also you can check out the Wiring Regulations and have a look at British Standard 7671 for further information.
You can view all of the Victoriaplumb.com heated towel rails and electric elements on our easy to use online store or call us on 08707 607 222 for more information!
