Could it be argued that 463.1.3 requires a separate switch for items like an oven, hob, refrigerator or washing machine etc. where the appliance has no means of external isolation/control except those on itself? Or are functional controls on the appliances adequate and sufficient?
Z.
You are becoming even more confused Z. The regulations do not work as you are reading them. Each is read entirely by itself, a heading section is not then applied to eveything below it! You are suggesting that functional switching must apply Isolation, which is not the case! 460 is a description of the scope of the chapter 46 (as it says), the range of things covered in the chapter. It does not mean that 461 for example applies also to 463 Functional switching for control. Read 463.1.2, it basically says the opposite of 462.2! That is the difference between isolation and functional switching.
A "regulation" is numbered chapter number followed by a subsection ie 46 + 2, 462. 462.1,.2,.3 are subsections of a regulation and apply to the case defined in 462, Isolation. It has nothing to do with 463, Functional switching. The two only could come together if you want to use an Isolator for functional switching as well, and then care is required to choose the relevant bits of both, for example that an isolator has sufficient live switching capability and life, which isolators may not!
I hope you can see all this now, because it is fundamental to reading the regulations correctly, and one of the many reasons why faulty certs and particularly EICRs are produced.
A further point is that there is no reason at all why you cannot label things to make the use obvious, if the customer doesn't like it they can remove the label, but usually they do. A case in point is an EICR I did recently. There were two switches with neons above one another in the hall. One was normal immersion heater, the other off peak. The customer had complaineed of high bills, guess why? The labels saved them a couple of hundred pounds a year! See 514.1.1, it is actually a requirment and could be a code 1!
You are becoming even more confused Z. The regulations do not work as you are reading them. Each is read entirely by itself, a heading section is not then applied to eveything below it! You are suggesting that functional switching must apply Isolation, which is not the case! 460 is a description of the scope of the chapter 46 (as it says), the range of things covered in the chapter. It does not mean that 461 for example applies also to 463 Functional switching for control. Read 463.1.2, it basically says the opposite of 462.2! That is the difference between isolation and functional switching.
A "regulation" is numbered chapter number followed by a subsection ie 46 + 2, 462. 462.1,.2,.3 are subsections of a regulation and apply to the case defined in 462, Isolation. It has nothing to do with 463, Functional switching. The two only could come together if you want to use an Isolator for functional switching as well, and then care is required to choose the relevant bits of both, for example that an isolator has sufficient live switching capability and life, which isolators may not!
I hope you can see all this now, because it is fundamental to reading the regulations correctly, and one of the many reasons why faulty certs and particularly EICRs are produced.
A further point is that there is no reason at all why you cannot label things to make the use obvious, if the customer doesn't like it they can remove the label, but usually they do. A case in point is an EICR I did recently. There were two switches with neons above one another in the hall. One was normal immersion heater, the other off peak. The customer had complaineed of high bills, guess why? The labels saved them a couple of hundred pounds a year! See 514.1.1, it is actually a requirment and could be a code 1!
Labelling won't improve the situation that I showed above, where a built in oven, a built in hob AND a dish washer all were controlled by the 45 Amp cooker switch. The dish washer had NO INDEPENDANT CONTROL/ funtional switch.
If the dishwasher develops an earth fault it can not be independently isolated, so the oven and hob are no longer useable as the R.C.D. would trip off.
Also, an easily accessible control switch for an appliance that is located under a kitchen worktop is a good idea. It can act as a functional switch and offer the protection of an emergency switch and isolator. 462.2. It needs to be "located adjacent to the associated equipment." 462.3.
Z.
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