Controlling the cable on installation

[SamySnake]

This may be a stupid question for all you professional sparks.

I installed a ring circuit today for the first time that needed approx 50m of cable. The only way i could logically think of carrying out this task was to remove the cable from the drum first, then drag all 50m around the ring's proposed route in order to clip both legs neatly, and ensure that i hadn't clipped the beginning of the circuit without leaving enough cable to finish it. This process was seriously cumbersome.

Can a professional please advise on the best way to control and clip large amounts of cable in a circuit.

 

[andy]

just pull it off the coil as you go. altho you sometimes need to pull a length off first but then it can get tangled

 

[SamySnake]

Yes, but once you've clipped your first drop to an accessory, it then becomes impossible to continue pulling cable off the roll through the clips!

 

[andy]

Yes, but once you've clipped your first drop to an accessory, it then becomes impossible to continue pulling cable off the roll through the clips!

clip workin toward the reel?

 

[JohnD]

If it's a ring circuit, I didn't understand the question. Was it 50m to the first socket? the way I've done sockets on a ring, I'd run and cut the cable to the box for the first socket, then (usually) a few metres to the next one, and so on. Have I missed something?

 

[SamySnake]

Then how do you pass the reel through small gaps/ceilings under floors or through the back boxes? Surely you have to start with the loose end?

 

[andy]

take reel to near socket, cut to length and take that end thru?

 

[SamySnake]

Nope, you're right JohnD. I was just attempting to keep the cable whole through the circuit. I was being stupid.

 

[JohnD]

Not stupid, just that there's an easier way to do it. I remember a time when it was recommended to do it that way, instead of cutting the cable, you would strip the sheathing and a bit of insulation, then bend the conductors like a hairpin and poke them into the fitting. Looking back, I suppose this was intended to give security of continuity, but not easy to do and seems like a daft idea now.

 

[andy]

only time ive ever done that was for lights in a building. left them unbroken so temp lights could be added at any drop. but that was just a case of pull 50+metre of cable and hook over hanger

 

[SamySnake]

Thanks for your help boys.

 

[ebee]

Once you got all cable off the reel and clipped in place then OK, but what if the customer decides he no longer wants rewiring and you have to put all the cable back neatly on the reel?
Now that is a bigger problem.
Good job you did not cut it because you would then have to join each piece before rolling it because its quite difficult to do once rolled up.

If you buy a 100m reel of 2.5 T & E and roll it out and strech it evenly throughout it`s length to 250m then you can use it as 1.0 T & E just bear in mind the cpc will only be only be 0.6mm2 so you will have to recalculate Zs accordingly and use lower value MCBs/Fuses (or an RCD) to compensate (DON`T TRY THIS AT HOME)

 

[Steve]

If you buy a 100m reel of 2.5 T & E and roll it out and strech it evenly throughout it`s length to 250m then you can use it as 1.0 T & E just bear in mind the cpc will only be only be 0.6mm2 so you will have to recalculate Zs accordingly and use lower value MCBs/Fuses (or an RCD) to compensate (DON`T TRY THIS AT HOME)

surely you're not serious? Wouldn't the cable just stretch and snap at a weak point?

 

[JohnD]

leg pull

 

[andy]

If you buy a 100m reel of 2.5 T & E and roll it out and strech it evenly throughout it`s length to 250m then you can use it as 1.0 T & E just bear in mind the cpc will only be only be 0.6mm2 so you will have to recalculate Zs accordingly and use lower value MCBs/Fuses (or an RCD) to compensate (DON`T TRY THIS AT HOME)

surely you're not serious? Wouldn't the cable just stretch and snap at a weak point?

go to the shop and ask for some tartan paint.