IT's NOT TOO LATE TO COMMENT

The 18th edition wiring regulations is still open for public consultation. If you want to have your say or even if you just want to sneak a peek at the 18th edition Draft Document, just nip back to the Have Your Say Blog and follow the links. Remember, you will need to sign in to the BSI web site if you haven't done so before.

A few things to look out for in the new 18th edition wiring regulations are:

The addition of a new part, Part 8. This is by far the biggest change and covers Energy Efficiency of electrical installations. This section deals with the energy consumption of the installation itself, offering the client the ability to specify the level of energy efficiency required. The installations will be rated according to the level of efficiency and measures installed. The ratings are from EIEC0 to EIEC4. Things like electric car charging, Power Factor correction and low energy lighting will all be taken into account.

Protection against overvoltage and transient over voltages. This section talks about overvoltages within as well as external to the installation and looks at Surge Protective Devices (SPDs). Oddly this section includes costing of SPDs in dwellings where it attempts to weigh the benefits of SPDs against the value of the property. This will obviuosly be different for individual geographical locations, Good Luck with that!

Protection against fire has been a long established subject matter for the regs but we will see it notched up a gear in the 18th edition wiring regulations. RCDs are currently used as an additional level of fire protection but we are going to see the addition of Arc Fault Detection Devices (AFDDs)

as well.

IMPORTANTLY GUYS YOU ONLY HAVE A FEW DAYS LEFT TO COMMENT ON THE 18TH EDITION WIRING REGULATAIONS, SO HAVE YOUR SAY WHILST YOU STILL CAN!

I'LL POST AGAIN SOON