cables close to central heating pipies

[alecson]

Can my ring main cables be boxed in with central heating pipes ?
If so how close can they be to the pipes if the pipes aren't insulated ?
I'm trying to keep the size of the boxing as small as I can.

 

[oharaf]

I would really reccomend you DO NOT do this!!!

The heating pipes will damage your cables almost certainly.

What is the set up? Can you cables not have run under the floor or is it a solid floor?

Take a pic and we may be able to give you some further advice. If you'd like someone to run an eye over the install and give you some advice on site i'd be more than happy to visit.

 

[Stoday]

Insulate your heating pipes.

 

[Steve]

i'd be more than happy to visit.

In all fairness, Yorkshire is a very big place!!

Or is work slow?

As Stoday says, insulating the pipes will help, but then the cable must not come into contact with the insulation or it will need derating anyway. And try to ventilate the box somehow - holes drilled here and there would help.

 

[BS3036]

It really depends on the ambient temperature inside the boxing-in. If it ever reached 70 deg C then you just can't do it with normal twin and earth. If it ever reaches 65 deg C then you had to derate it by around a factor of 2. So it still wouldn't carry enough for a standard ring final.

In fact anything above around 38 deg C would make this not possible (exact figures probably need checking) so it seems like a bad plan to me, unless these are underfloor heating pipes which are usually around 30 deg.