Quote:
Originally Posted by Othen
I'd agree there is a bit of daftness in this area - the sparky's forums are always coming up with anomalies.
The minimum height for a catenary has nothing to do with electricity of course, it probably originated in some other bit of the building code.
I think you will be able to see the situation from this photo:
... the alarm would be at about 3m - and at that height the span to the gable end would be up to about 3m, which would be daft.
Buried SWA might be a solution, but I'm not so keen because the route entails two sharp bends, but I think there might be a cunning way around the regulations. I could fit a lintel above where the gate is now - to the eves end at about 2.2m (and so have a garden door instead of a gate - make it look nice with some wood or bricks). There wouldn't be a span between the house and the garage, so I could just run a 25mm conduit above it - clipped so as to give 32A at the garage - and it could be plastic (lighter and cheaper). This sounds a bit contrived - but then the regulation is a bit daft in the first place.
I'll think about it for a while.
Maybe I'm being a bit fastidious about this - the current (excuse the pun) set up works perfectly well, I can even run my Charke MIG welder (came with a 13A plug) without tripping anything (as long as I don't run anything else drawing more than about 3A at the same time). It is only my almost retired arc welder which can cause a problem (and even then only if I turn the current up over half way). It is a pity the builder only used 2.5mm^2 cable in teh first place, but I'm nit sure it is worth trying to rectify that now.
:-) |
Change your MCB for a Type C, that deals with inrush current better than a Type B, you said you had a B20 MCB if memory serves? Change it for a C20 (or whatever rating after you've upgraded the wiring) and that will cope with the welder.
If you have any big motors that you might run (such as a large compressor) change the breaker for a K type as that is motor rated. Either still protects against prolonged over-current but is more resilient to inrush current (matter of mS) for the motor (or welder) start up.
That said if your propsed move to Norfolk happens, don't bother with anything once you've repaired the existing SWA cable!
