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What would a clean-sheet set of wiring regulations look like today?

EIreland

The wiring regulations and associated legislation (on sockets etc) have developed in stages over the last hundred or so years.

As a result, the way they have developed is a product of the technological development over that time and of choices that were potentially made decades ago in very different environments.

When BS1363 socket or ring mains were developed, I doubt the people about them were considering a world with inexpensive multi-poles RCBOs, 8000 series Al alloys or the electronics of today.

So, if you could start from scratch with a new wiring regulations system to best achieve affordable, effective and safe electrical systems for installation in domestic or light commercial environments, how do you think it would differ from the status quo?

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  • One might end up with something similar to the First Edition.

    TurboGen said:
    Putting technical topics to one side, I think a big improvement could come from simply re-writing the document from scratch with an improved structure

    I think that is a bit harsh. There is a structure, which follows the internationally agreed one - see p. 20 of BOB.

    I wouldn't want to write standards, or laws. Sometimes, I find my self thinking that something could have been worded better, but I also find it difficult to come up with something which is.

    I think that I would change the Scope. With no real interest in anything with a supply > 100 A per phase, I would be happy with a much simplified document, which would cover domestic and light commercial - e.g. an ordinary shop and a flat above. The rest would be covered by something akin to what we have now.

    Things like voltage and type of earthing system are an entirely different matter. Changing the voltage would cause mayhem will all existing appliances.

    That said, they seem to cope in Brasil with two different voltages.

  • in reply to Chris Pearson
    Chris Pearson said:
    I wouldn't want to write standards, or laws.

    Oh I would! Like a jolly good thrashing for people who throw rubbish out of car windows or don’t pick up after their dog! 

  • in reply to Chris Pearson
    Chris Pearson said:
    I think that I would change the Scope. With no real interest in anything with a supply > 100 A per phase, I would be happy with a much simplified document, which would cover domestic and light commercial - e.g. an ordinary shop and a flat above.

    Isn't that the OSG?

        -Andy.

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  • in reply to Chris Pearson
    Chris Pearson said:
    I think that I would change the Scope. With no real interest in anything with a supply > 100 A per phase, I would be happy with a much simplified document, which would cover domestic and light commercial - e.g. an ordinary shop and a flat above.

    Isn't that the OSG?

        -Andy.

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  • in reply to AJJewsbury

    I think it would probably end up looking a lot like the OSG, which after all was designed for such installations, but the OSG isn't actually a fully standalone document.

    It often directs people to other standards or documents for calculations that, whilst not really common, are far from unknown in a domestic setting.

    I imagine with a clean sheet, you could strip a lot of the stuff out of it that is only relevant for older installations or for multiple different earthing arrangements (for example if you went all-TT you wouldn't need all the stuff about TN-S and TN-C-S).

    I think if you were going down the route of a separate standard for small installations you'd probably write it more prescriptively along the lines of electrical specs in North America.

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