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Hi John

Do the regs apply to caravans?

Are you now saying that regs etc would make the use of a polarity change over lead illegal?

What he said was that  any wiring changes must be done by a 'competent person'.  You are allowed to do simple electrical work in your own home, but not rewiring the whole house ( unless the work is checked by an accredited electrician ).  I think most people are competent to switch two wires over ( if not there are ready wired couplings to be had).

Brian 

Any alterations on caravans are not notifiable under part P of the regs.

Saxo1

That's what I thought

But Brian its not what John said

Nor did he say anything about rewiring a house

Possibly it would be better to let him answer the question I posed

I wanted clarification from his point of view which I am happy to accept may be different to what I understand

I would think that were there to be an accident in this country, involving the use of a plug that had been deliberately wired incorrectly I would not like to stand up in a court of law and defend my actions.If you were to come across reverse polarity in the U.K. it would be the responsibility of the site owner to rectify the problem.

IT is a different situation on the continent, as they don't appear to recognise there is a problem .I wonder what the position would be if there were an electrocution as a result of using a wrongly wired plug bearing in mind that they dont appear to recognise the problem in the first place.

Unfortunately although we are in europe the regs are not fully harmonised,although the 17th  edition has moved someway to harmonising the regs one example is the use of 230v sockets in bathrooms ,subject to limitations they are now permitted in the U.K.

I  was not aware that there were commercially manufactured couplings available it would be interesting to see what safety features they have incorporated in them.

Saxo1

Hi Saxo

It just made me wonder in these litigeous times if we are letting ourselves be liable to prosecution in producing our own reverse polarity leads after I read John's posting

It seems that it could be  a devil and deep blue sea scenario

Is it better to risk prosecution or electricution

The former is open to appeal the latter may not be

There is a commercially available change over unit

I used one for over 10 years but on swapping it over when changing a van I noticed that the plastic on the screw up connectors had melted

I then made up a reverse polarity lead

I always plug in my Martindale tester every time even in UK as it shows up any damage etc to the hook up lead as well as site box problems etc

The CC and C & CC both have fact sheets on reverse polarity advocating a home made lead

Hi John,

My van is fitted with double pole MCB's and double pole RCD's so I am personally happy that the risk of an electric shock is minimal and I have ceased to worry about reverse polarity.

I was just being Devils Advocate re the home made leads but as you say in this day and age who knows.

I think that if it's possible to purchase a purpose built and approved unit then thats the way I would go.

Just packed the van and am off to the land of reverse polariy tomorrow till October if you never see my post's again it may be because I didn't worry about it!

Saxo1