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BS7671:2018 SECTION 708

Phil Kinnaird

Hi all,

At present i stay in a Residential Park home. 

I have raised the matter with with the Site Manager that in my opinion the Connection to the Lodges is not in compliance with BS7671:2018 Section 708. The Electrical supply has been confirmed by the DNO  by visual inspection to be PME.

Section 708 clearly states that a Residential Park Lodge under ESQCR Regulations states that a PME earthing facility shall not be used for the means of earthing for this type of installation.

Unfortunately the Site Manager is digging his heels in stating he has spoken with 2 Electrical Contractors who say it is perfectly OK to utilise this means of earthing and the a Contractor who carried out an EICR Report stated in his opinion the System was not PME despite the DNO confirming it was in an email.

I have advised in my opinion each lodge should have its own earth rod installed to earth the individual lodges.

I did contact the helpline at Certsure which is a helpline run by the NICEIC.

They did advise that in their opinion BS7671 :2018 would apply.

They also provided an extract from UK Power Networks Engineering Design Standard  EDS 06-0017 CUSTOMER LV INSTALLATION EARTHING DESIGN Section 6.9 Mobile Homes which states.

 6.9 Mobile Homes

A PME earthing terminal may be provided to mobile homes if the following criteria are satisfied.

The mobile home is permanently sited

The mobile home is is permanently connected to water and sewerage services

The installation is constructed such that a person in contact with the general mass of earth cannot touch any metalwork connected to the earth terminal

The installation complies with the earthing and bonding requirements of BS7671

If these conditions cannot be satisfied the mobile home shall be treated as a caravan in according with Section 5.6

Refer to BS7671:2018   SECTION 721 for earthen and bonding.

Any comments / clarification would be gratefully received.

  • 0 in reply to Chris Pearson

    Thank you Chris. I am happy with all the comments received and that the Lodges are safe for the Residents.

    Thanks to all for their very informative comments.

  • 0

    I lived in a residential park home for many years Blush. It was basically a large wooden box covered by metal sheeting with some insulation sandwiched in between and painted with a pretty cream and red combo on the outside. There were wheels on the chassis BUT they were only there to load it up onto a low loader if it needed to be moved. You definitely could not tow it so they’re not classed as ‘caravans’ in the same way that a touring caravan is. They’re also not the same as some of the static holiday caravans you find on holiday near the coast.  

    it was connected to mains water, mains sewer, mains gas and mains electricity with its own earthing. 

  • 0 in reply to Lisa Miles

    Lisa,

    These lodges are new lodges are built to the latest BS3632 standard. Like your comments they are connected to Mains Water, Private Sewerage System, LPG Gas but they are connected to the DNO PME earthing system. We pay Council Tax as this is our only home.

    It arrives on site via Low Loaders and the 2 sections are put together by the Lodge Manufacturer, They are situated on blocks etc and would have to be dismantled and transported on Low Loaders.

    The majority of the Lodges have a Canexel outer covering.

    They are really well insulated nowadays.

  • 0 in reply to Phil Kinnaird

    Just looked at CanExel cladding, heat compessed resin and natural fibres. So, along with pvc doors and windows, seems that no major exterior parts are connected to the DNO earth. But what MAPJ and Lisa mentioned holds true for anything that is touchable and connected to DNO earth  when you are barefoot on wet grass. Light fittings, chassis, outside tap, not sure what else, pic might be good, we can all get a bit jealous.

  • 0

    So the law permits it. It permits many things. But to decide it is safe or not, I'd still look at the construction on a case by case basis.

    Caveat, I'm one of those who sometimes TTs supplies to things like  shipping containers, trailers and other things with a lot of external earthed metal if the supply was PME and they are not on free draining gravel. Equally I might not blink at an  export PME to a wooden shepherds hut even though it can be towed... I've never actually been asked that latter one, but thinking about it....

    Mike.

  • 0

    for anything that is touchable and connected to DNO earth  when you are barefoot on wet grass. Light fittings, chassis, outside tap, not sure what else,

    Although, other than the chassis, we have those same risks on ordinary (PME) houses....

       - Andy.

  • 0 in reply to AJJewsbury

    Agreed, i just wanted to see pics though Andy Slight smile

  • 0 in reply to OlympusMons

    Water pipes are plastic. Only part I can see would be problematic would be the chassis.

  • 0

    Only part I can see would be problematic would be the chassis.

    Unless there's metallic contact between the chassis and anything accessible inside (possibly unlikely give modern methods of construction), the the chassis could be left unbonded - so avoiding the PME issue.

       - Andy.

  • 0

    Ordinarily, I'd wonder why anybody would be going near the chassis, but then I noticed the stepladders.

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