The requirement for RCD protection didn’t go from nothing to everything in one go, there was a gradual change driven by regs and guidance to contractors, mainly from the NICEIC.


Perhaps someone would like to add dates:

• No RCD protection required for any sockets.

• RCD protection required for sockets likely to be used outdoors, so the developers started fitting a socket with a built in RCD in the back of the garage or similar.

• All ground floor sockets deemed likely to be used to supply outdoor equipment, so the ground floor socket ring has a RCBO.

• All sockets require RCD protection.

In many cases the cooker circuit with a single socket has slipped through the net and still does not have RCD protection. In rented homes the landlords will generally do the bare minimum amount of upgrading, so anything coded C3 will still be exactly the same in five years time as it is now. There’s no reason to use an EICR to apply unnecessary  pressure on a landlord to upgrade an installation, but not spending any money on an installation that is over thirty years old is hardly the act of a professional landlord.


There is actually a high probability of the cooker socket being used for outdoor equipment if any work is done in a home, because if the builders, kitchen fitters, electrician, etc turn the socket circuit off whilst work is carried out the cooker switch socket will be used for the equipment they are using outdoors, an occurrence I see regularly.


So is the coding for any socket without RCD protection C2 unless it is in a flat on the first floor or above?


Andy Betteridge

The requirement for RCD protection didn’t go from nothing to everything in one go, there was a gradual change driven by regs and guidance to contractors, mainly from the NICEIC.


Perhaps someone would like to add dates:

• No RCD protection required for any sockets.

• RCD protection required for sockets likely to be used outdoors, so the developers started fitting a socket with a built in RCD in the back of the garage or similar.

• All ground floor sockets deemed likely to be used to supply outdoor equipment, so the ground floor socket ring has a RCBO.

• All sockets require RCD protection.

In many cases the cooker circuit with a single socket has slipped through the net and still does not have RCD protection. In rented homes the landlords will generally do the bare minimum amount of upgrading, so anything coded C3 will still be exactly the same in five years time as it is now. There’s no reason to use an EICR to apply unnecessary  pressure on a landlord to upgrade an installation, but not spending any money on an installation that is over thirty years old is hardly the act of a professional landlord.


There is actually a high probability of the cooker socket being used for outdoor equipment if any work is done in a home, because if the builders, kitchen fitters, electrician, etc turn the socket circuit off whilst work is carried out the cooker switch socket will be used for the equipment they are using outdoors, an occurrence I see regularly.


So is the coding for any socket without RCD protection C2 unless it is in a flat on the first floor or above?


Andy Betteridge