QUICKY question to resolve a dispute, haha! (a clue would be... a DSO / other near a sink)...

Think to yourself, is it a room with a fixed bath or shower.

However putting our the socket between the tap(s) is not really a good idea.

From memory 300mm horizontally is in some guidance. Nothing that specific in the regs themselves though - just has to be suitable for the environment.

   - Andy,

No actual distance is given inthe regs, but the "must be suitable for the environment" bit still applies, so it rather depends how far you expect things to get splashed. At one time NICIEC advised at least 30cm horizontal , but that was never regs.  (edit  they still do ) Clearly in reality the taps are rather more of a risk then the shallow end of a draining board,and maybe less than 30cm horizontal is OK if there is a large vertical offset instead. Any sink with a pullout hose in a family home with kids, and I'd be adding quite a bit more margin.

I / we'd never do this anyways... just wondered what was the regs, for this as I remember, a few years ago, a BBC investigation programme, (Dom Littelwood), had an 'electrician' inspect a cowboy job and asked about the DSO, near a kitchen sink, and the chap said it has to be "30cm" and then a post on this forum... all laughed at that 'electrician' as there is no guidance for the DSO... wondered if things had changed?


regards to all!

"Far enough" is my answer.

I am not a follower of the "I need a rule (guide, advice, magic wand etc)", in this kind of case. These "rules of thumb" are all very well, but as all appliances have a cable longer than 300mm, just what is this number supposed to represent? If it is a kettle, then earth cable failure and then a fault to case is equally dangerous if the socket is 2m away, given accidental contact. Splashing with water is not really very dangerous, you may get corrosion inside the socket pins but not much else. The safest thing in a kitchen is to use plastic plumbing, to ensure the sink is not bonded to Earth, hide all the appliances behind wood doors, and having a non-conductive floor covering. Under these conditions, it is very difficult to get a shock whatever happens, and if everything is RCD protected is unlikely to cause injury even if a shock could be obtained.

NHBC agree with the 300mm guidance https://www.procertssoftware.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NHBC-Electrical-Fittings-Near-Cookers-Sinks-and-Wash-Basins.pdf

They measure from the basin, so their diagram has a DSO above the draining board.

They recommend 100mm from a hob, but most manufacturers of gas hobs recommend 50mm from the edge of a hob to a combustible surface, which does seem a bit close to me.

Minimum 300mm horizontal distance from the nearest edge of the socket to the nearest edge of the sink