Advice on electrical installation regulation wanted

[yoav]

I’d like to find out whether what I want to do is safe and/or complies with regulations before I waste an electrician’s time. This is in Scotland (if the regs are different). Anyway, here goes:

In my new house is a toilet come utility room. In it there’s a toilet and sink along one wall and a worktop with a washing machine underneath on the opposite wall. On the wall above the worktop is a switch labelled Washing Machine. There is no visible socket for the washing machine. Some time ago, I pulled out the machine to check the fuse and I found that the machine was plugged into a socket that was lying loose by the machine and the socket was attached to a cable that led up to the switch on the wall. There had been leak from the machine’s waste pipe which left the floor  damp - with the socket lying in it!

So, I pulled out the socket (there was enough slack in the cable and the machine’s lead) and mounted the socket on the wall next to the machine where it is accessible. So my question is, if I leave it there, am I breaking regulations? And secondly, I was thinking if this is ok, then can I get an electrician to replace the switch on the wall with a combined switch and socket so I can plug something into it as well as switch off the washing machine.

I hope I’ve explained it clearly. Thanks.

[Feanor]

The isolating switch is necessary if the socket the w/m is plugged into is inaccessible, ie behind the w/m.
Otherwise in the situation that the machine developed a fault, you would not be able to isolate it without wrangling the machine out of the way.

If the socket is moved and is now accessible, then you *could* dispense with the isolator, and replace it with a socket.
There will be 3 cables in the back: ring in, ring out, and switched spur down to the w/m socket.
If replacing the isolator with a plain socket, then the w/m socket becomes a straight spur.
Make sure the w/m socket has a switch; ones used on the end of a switched spur often don't.

(You could also run an additional cable run down to the w/m socket and have it properly part of the ring, rather than as a spur.)

Personally, I'd probably leave the isolator in place and add a new socket alongside it, daisy-chained into the ring.

[yoav]

Personally, I'd probably leave the isolator in place and add a new socket alongside it, daisy-chained into the ring.

That’s what I had in mind, as long as it’s legal - sockets and bathrooms don’t always mix. 
I’ll probably then mount the socket for the washing machine on the wall behind the machine so it’s not sitting in water should another leak occur.

[Feanor]

It's not a bathroom, based on your description.

The Wiring Regulations (BS7671, currently 18th Edition) define Special Zones ( Zones 0, 1, and 2) in and around Baths and Showers, but that does not seem to apply here.
There is no zone around a basin, basin taps or toilets.

While BS 7671 doesn’t have regulations for kitchens or utility rooms, the 'On Site Guide' does include *advice* in section 5.2.2 'Location of accessories in kitchens' and there are recommended restrictions on the siting of electrical accessories in a kitchen such as near sinks, ovens or hobs.  Basically, the advice is that sockets should not be closer than 300mm to a sink, but in your situation, they are on the opposite wall so that doesn't apply.

Basically, you're good to go.

[yoav]

Thanks for the information.