Hi all, I'm looking to convert my dining room into a bedroom but the consumer unit and the meter/main cable are situated in a cupboard within the room. Could anyone advice what the regs are on this?
No issue with regs as far as I know. I have not seen a regulation in BS7671 or the Building regs that says you cannot have one in a habital room.
Just think of studio flats - One large room which is a lounge and converts to a bedroom, with the kitchen at one end. In those the CU will be in the bedroom.
Nothing in the regs that I'm aware of, but you might want to do some research about sleeping within close proximity to magnetic fields. There is a fair bit of evidence and research around this topic. I am aware of a case where a bed head board in a childs bedroom backed onto a wall which had the service head and meter on the other side and the small child got a brain tumour.
Interesting, but sounds like one of those urban myths. And I find it unlikely, everybody has LV cabling running down their walls and across ceilings and walls. Please provide a link to the news item.
Is there any evidence that the brain tumour was in some part caused by the electrics behind the wall? I somehow doubt it.
I agree Doc. absolutely ridiculous! It would be different if we were talking about high power RF or microwave emissions, even then it would be questionable I think.
Hi Doc/ Bazza, I can't find the exact article as I read it quite a few years ago. But I do remember the case as I have young children myself. The metal foil on the Kingspan insulation board helped the EMF from the meter/ tails from what I remember. The child's head was literally the thickness of the wall away from the cut out. Below is a link which may be of interest for further reading - its only food for thought. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/electromagnetic-fields-fact-sheet#q4
Yes, and the study concluded Static electric and magnetic fields and extremely low frequency electric fields were determined “not classifiable as to their carcinogenicity to humans” (12).
I can Remember a report that said Having a socket under your bed made you stirile, and the electric blanket was the work of the devil!!