armoured cable in the garden

[joeandrews]

I'm having some garden works done and want to take the opportunity to run an armoured cable from my shed to my house, I will get an electrician round later in the year to connect it up.

At the house end; is it okay to leave enough distance on the cable so it can reach a house socket? Or does it have to be connected to the main fuse box? mine is right round the front of the house

Many thanks.

 

[ericmark]

For the electrician to make out the installation certificate he must see the cable laid before it is back-filled and be satisfied that any sand and tiles or tape is correctly done.

So step one is select the electrician and he will look at what you have and decide if it needs direct connection into the consumer unit or not.

Because the RCD can be expensive when bought as a din rail mount when compared with one built into a 13A socket especially if he decides a 10ma rather than a 30ma is called for to pre-arrange before his visit and advice what route you are taking could be a very costly exercise.

Let the electrician do the planning and you just do donkey work.

 

[joeandrews]

Thanks for your reply.

So it is possible to connect to a socket other than the main fuse box?

 

[riveralt]

For the electrician to make out the installation certificate he must see the cable laid before it is back-filled and be satisfied that any sand and tiles or tape is correctly done.

I agree with everything you say ericmark but apart from the tape (522.8.10), where do it say anything about sand and tiles?

 

[ericmark]

Depending on ground the electrician will decide what he thinks is required. In stony ground you may use sand. But point is the guy signing certificate makes the decision.

And yes he could terminate the SWA into a box with a RCD FCU in it and from that to ring main. He could also just have a connection in the box and then wire into a simple RCD plug.

It would depend what you want in shed. Normally if you need no more than 2kW then one would look at connecting in some way to house socket supply.

If you want a heater, kettle, and want to run a 400W radio transmitter. Then you will need to go to consumer unit. (Also likely to be an issue with earth types)

There is no one size fits all. Which is why I say talk to the electrician first. I would not think any electrician enjoys digging a hole? So likely he will be happy for you to lay cable for him. But he needs to be in control. Let him tell you what to do. He can then sign everything without any problems. Otherwise it may mean paying the LABC their fee of £100+ to be able to used a multi signature installation certificate.

 

[riveralt]

Yes, tiles and sand were included in the 16th edition but removed from the 17th - as were the minimum depths. Also the cable can be surface mounted.

Just out of interest when you would us a 10mA RCD?

 

[bernardgreen]

Just out of interest when you would us a 10mA RCD?

On mains supplies to medical equipment hich involved direct electrical contact with the patient or other human body. ( or is that a 5mA ).

Either way the power supply design had to be designed very carefully.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yes, tiles and sand were included in the 16th edition but removed from the 17th - as were the minimum depths.

Apart from the removal of concentric cable as an acceptable type, there's no change in the requirements of 522.8.10 vs 522-06-03.

Also the cable can be surface mounted.

Often difficult to do in a compliant way, and/or ugly.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Joe.

Your first step is to determine what is to be powered in the shed.
MIG Welder. Vehicle lift, lathe?

Or just one light and a double socket to power lawn mower.

Nothing can be determined until you have done that.

The answers will then lead on to where the feed to the shed can terminate.
For a vehicle lift you'll need to go to the consumer unit
For a socket and lights then a fused spur from an existing socket (but not any socket) may be OK.

 

[joeandrews]

I just need a light and a couple of double sockets in the shed.

So if I have enough armoured cable to reach inside the house, can a different cable be used to take it to the most appropriate socket?

I'm just wondering how much armoured cable I can leave coming out of the ground at the house end.

Thanks again gentlemen.

 

[ericmark]

Just out of interest when you would us a 10mA RCD?

Normally where either a 30ma RCD is already fitted or likely to be fitted in near future. Although there is no time discrimination using a 10ma RCD reduces the chance of tripping the main 30ma RCD.

So considering likely at some time consumer units will have 30ma RCD's fitted to use 10ma for sockets, FCU's and plugs seems a good idea so in the future it will still have a purpose.

However getting 10ma units seems hard. Pro Elec do an in-line for £14:17 and I did find a caravan supplier with an RCD plug at reasonable price but many are at silly prices £60 plus. A MK 13A RCD Socket Active 10mA K6100 WHI is likely £60 compared with Volex 2G DP RCD Skt priced at £21.10 and I would find it hard to justify the extra cost.

For an electrical workshop yes worth it. But shed supply no. We have to live in real world and however much it seems better to use 10ma price seems to knock them out.

Cheapest I can find here at £13.27 but since it can be unplugged and removed not sure if could be used?

 

[Taylortwocities]

I just need a light and a couple of double sockets in the shed.
.

And how far is the shed from the house (estimated cable run?)

So if I have enough armoured cable to reach inside the house, can a different cable be used to take it to the most appropriate socket?

I'm just wondering how much armoured cable I can leave coming out of the ground at the house end.

.

It really depends. For instance, if you have suitable feed at a socket, and the socket is on an outside wall then the electrician could mount an external suitably IP rated box or FCU or combo fcu/RCD outside and the armoured cable can terminate in the bottom of the box.
If there is no suitable supply where you need it then the cable can be tyerminated inside and then run to the supply point using cable suitable for internal wiring. But there are too many options that depend entirely on your specific layout.

You need to involve a competent electrician at this planning stage, he can do the design, you do the donkey work, he connectes up and does the legal paperwork..

 

[ricicle]

Why not just install a 4 inch duct (complete with draw rope) and then a cable can be pulled in when required.