Running electrical cables horizontally between sockets in kitchen

J

Jacksmith101

New Member
Hi,

I'm having my kitchen fitted and I'm in the process of getting some quotes from electricians.

I need to have two sockets moved across about 300mm horizontally, one electrician who quoted for this said he couldn't just move them across as the zone would then be wrong and 'you can't have any horizontally placed cables between sockets' and the one socket which is just a spur horizontally from a ring main socket is apparently not within regs. He said he would have to re-route both of them vertically down from the ceiling.

He also said something similar about moving a boiler control switch to the other side of a wall.

I've looked online and you do seem to be able to place cables horizontally between live sockets so I'm confused if he is correct or not, I'm going to get another quote and will check but if anyone could offer any insight into what is actually within regs that would be great.

I guess it comes down to if the first ring main socket is fed vertically or horizontally. But he didn't check this or ask, I've ordered a stud finder to check.

thanks
 

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When my house was rewired the sockets in the kitchen are all connected horizontally, was done by qualified electricians so I'm assuming it's fine. I do believe you are allowed have 1 spurred socket off another, but you're not allowed to spur off a spur.
 
No issue with the horizontal cable as shown but how are the sockets fed?
 
No problem with horizontally run cables as long as they are in line with a socket or other accessory which means that they are within 'permitted zones'.
 
jonathanc said:
No issue with the horizontal cable as shown but how are the sockets fed?
Click to expand...

This is a good point. I bet that the issue is that one of the sockets has a vertical feed, so that moving the socket horizontally means that the feed cable is no longer in a permitted zone
 
Bob256 said:
This is a good point. I bet that the issue is that one of the sockets has a vertical feed, so that moving the socket horizontally means that the feed cable is no longer in a permitted zone
Click to expand...

So the answer to that is to leave that socket there and then run horizontally from there.
 
Yes I agree probably best to just leave the first sockets if it's got a vertical feed, otherwise if it's horizontal just extend the ring along the existing zone, thanks for the advice.

I've ordered a stud finder which can also find electrical cables apparently and I'll take off the socket too to have a look where they are being fed from.

Seems like the guy was looking for the most complex solution and the most amount of work, if he had said and given me options it would have been much less of a shock. I really don't want to have my bathroom floor taken up so he can feed cables down the wall.
 
If the exsting sockets are both fed from above then you may have no option other than leave the two existing and add the extra ones.
 
Horizontal runs are absolutely fine, as stated above, if you shift a socket across that has a vertical feed there must be a fitting at the point where the vertical feed drops down to meet the horizontal to mark the end of the vertical, that can be a socket, or a spur, or indeed just a blanking plate.

If you simply want a few additional sockets run across from an existing one, then horizontal is fine

I can never understand these chaps who create work for themselves, its more work, but that doesn't always correlate to more money, or a happy customer who will be back for more.
 
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