Small Caravan

[Clitheroe]

Very soon I am going to have a small caravan (roughly about 6 by 3 metres) given to me.

It has a fridge in it and some lights.
However I will probably have an electric heater in it,a TV and a radio.
I am not going to travel around in it anywhere so I would like to know if an extension lead will be satisfactory or whether it should/could be wired in permanantly.

I know that it should not be connected to a PME earth from the house but my house is TT with all the necessary RCD protection.

If more information is required I will explain more when I have the caravan.

Any advice please.

 

[dingbat]

In other words you have a shed with wheels on it?

Search the forum for 'garage electrics', 'shed power' and similar. This has been answered (and discussed at length) many, many times.

 

[Pensdown]

If you promise to keep the caravan off the road, most people on here will give all the help you need Thats one less caravan to pass this Easter

 

[plugwash]

how close to the house and is it already wired?

if its going to be next to the house and its already wires i'd fit an appropriate socket on the outside wall and make a cable of just the right length to plug it in.

If your going to bury the cable its going to have to be SWA and you'll have to choose between either permanently wiring the caravan in (making it immobile) or putting in a post for a socket.

also how big a heater were you planning on? afaict most caravans are only wired for 16A total so there may be some work to do there if you wan't a heater more than about 2KW.

 

[Adam_151]

Thats one less caravan to pass this Easter

lol

caravan you say, 0.75mm² flex straight of the service fuse seems the way to go, oh and you want a 10.8kw shower

 

[Steve]

if the caravan has one of these:

on it, then fit one of these:

on the house wall, and use these:

with this:

to make up an extension lead.
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_In...l_Index/Plugs_and_Sockets_Ind_240v/index.html

 

[Clitheroe]

Once I have the caravan I am not going to use it for travelling around in, I am just going to use it to sleep in as it will be quiter than in the house (I often have to get up early).

It is already wired with the fridge and a few lights in and it will be placed



at the side of the house about 1.5-2 metres away.

What I have to consider though is cable size if I was to wire it up permantely as in the future I may end up getting a much larger caravan.

Any heater I use wont be more than 500w.

Does this help in any way.

As I said though I will get back if necessary once I have the caravan.

Though the moderator might moan about me replying to old posts!

 

[plugwash]

Once I have the caravan I am not going to use it for travelling around in, I am just going to use it to sleep in as it will be quiter than in the house (I often have to get up early).

noisy family?

even if you don't plan to drive it arround it may still be worth making it disconnectable in case you wan't to move stuff arround

It is already wired with the fridge and a few lights in and it will be placed

ok and with a 16A blue industrial style inlet i presume

any idea how its wired? is there a consumer unit anywhere and if so what breakers are in it?

at the side of the house about 1.5-2 metres away.

right so there is a gap to be crossed which probablly means burried SWA.

What I have to consider though is cable size if I was to wire it up permantely as in the future I may end up getting a much larger caravan.

i'd use 6mm even if its complete overkill for the breaker you put on it initially it will be there should you wan't to upgrade.

easiest solution if the caravan already has a CU is to mount a metal adaptable box next to the CU, disconnect and cap (with terminal block) the wiring from the inlet, terminate the SWA on the adaptable box and then run its cores straight through into the CU.

Any heater I use wont be more than 500w.

probablly no need to upgrade the caravans internal wiring then.

 

[mattio]

Once I have the caravan I am not going to use it for travelling around in, I am just going to use it to sleep in as it will be quiter than in the house (I often have to get up early).

noisy family?

even if you don't plan to drive it arround it may still be worth making it disconnectable in case you wan't to move stuff arround

It is already wired with the fridge and a few lights in and it will be placed

ok and with a 16A blue industrial style inlet i presume

any idea how its wired? is there a consumer unit anywhere and if so what breakers are in it?

at the side of the house about 1.5-2 metres away.

right so there is a gap to be crossed which probablly means burried SWA.

What I have to consider though is cable size if I was to wire it up permantely as in the future I may end up getting a much larger caravan.

i'd use 6mm even if its complete overkill for the breaker you put on it initially it will be there should you wan't to upgrade.

easiest solution if the caravan already has a CU is to mount a metal adaptable box next to the CU, disconnect and cap (with terminal block) the wiring from the inlet, terminate the SWA on the adaptable box and then run its cores straight through into the CU.

Any heater I use wont be more than 500w.

probablly no need to upgrade the caravans internal wiring then.

I have a caravan with heater 500w, 1000w, 2000w and i can say for sure that the heater is never off the 2000w setting except in summer and our c/van is only 4 yrs old, if thats any help to save buying an under-rated heater

 

[Steve]

500w is a mere light bulb!

What the OP could do is make a circuit in SWA to an industrial socket mounted on a board near the caravan. Then its still disconnectable, but also safe - no trailing wires.

 

[Clitheroe]

I dont actually know if the caravan has a consumer unit in it but the woman who is giving me it said if I remember rightly that there might be a connector and extension lead with it.

I will just wait until I get the caravan.

If I decide to fit an outside socket like the one shown, rated at 16Amp, would this best be supplied from a 16Amp MCB in the house consumer unit (30MA RCD protected)?

The caravan is only be supplied from a makeshift extension lead plugged into an upstairs bedroom run quite a long way through a makeshift overhead conduit, and it looks like a PME system as well !

 

[Clitheroe]

Sorry, talking about the PME and makeshift extension lead, I am referring to the current place it is at.

 

[Steve]

Sounds V dodgy.

Supply as you say. The cable shouldn't trail along the ground - but I cant see a problem with this for the distance mentioned, as long as it is not in the way of cars or people visiting the house etc. In a flowerbed (on the surface, visible) would be good.

 

[Clitheroe]

I have finally been given the caravan.

It has a caravan connector near the front of it with some black lead of the kind shown earlier on.

However the mains installation has, looking at it, obviously been added to the caravan after it was made. The black lead goes underneath a seat and into a cupboard to a double socket. However this installation looks very dodgy so I will remove it and redo it all.

There are several damaged fittings, no mains switch/consumer unit, loose wires everywhere in sockets and junction boxes (I put my hand behind a light switch and a wire just pulled out) and no earth sleeving in some fittings etc etc.

I gather a consumer unit is require so could I have help with the following please:

1 If lighting and socket circuits are seperate, what will the mcb ratings be, lights 6A but sockets 16A? Ive heard MCBs have to be double pole.

2 Is an RCD consumer unit absolutely necessarry as there is already going to be one 30MA protecting the caravan in the house consumer unit and I am not going to travel around anywhere in it.

3 What type of cable is neccessary in the caravan. I know that any wiring must not be less than 1.5mm and I wont be running them through thermal insulation etc or anywhere there is a risk of damage. I might use trunking/conduit if necessarry. This caravan is only for my own use so how everything looks is not that important.

4 Is there a maximum amount of sockets allowed. There are four double at present.

Many thanks for any help.

 

[plugwash]

yeah a 16A breaker would be ok. might be an idea to use a 32A inlet socket and a 20A or 32A breaker for the sockets in case you wan't to plug in something a bit larger in there later.

the double pole breakers are there to provide extra protection in the case of a dodgy supply system. The rcd again is in there for much this reason. while you may not need them now you may as well do the wiring properly in case you change your mind about keeping the caravan static later

personally what i'd do is buy a 4 way rcd unit and take the busbar out, then just use cables to connect to two double pole mcbs. Since the incoming circuit is so low rated theres no need for the cable to be particularlly thick so getting it in the terminals should be no problem

as for wiring in the caravan use either singles in conduit or flex, T&E is too vulnerable to damage from constant flexing (again not such an issue if you really do keep it static but may as well do a proper job)