240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Othen]

What a daft chap am I sometimes.

I damaged a SWA cable whilst fixing a gate today - more speed, less haste Alan.

No matter, I'll pick up a resin joint in the morn and have it fixed in a jiffy...

... and the moral is: look behind what you are cutting or drilling.

Ho hum :-(

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

What a daft chap am I sometimes.

I damaged a SWA cable whilst fixing a gate today - more speed, less haste Alan.

No matter, I'll pick up a resin joint in the morn and have it fixed in a jiffy...

... and the moral is: look behind what you are cutting or drilling.

Ho hum :-(

That was a silly thing to do Alan!

Still, fixing it will keep you out of mischief for half hour or so, more of you have to hold the joint level until it sets!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

That was a silly thing to do Alan!

Still, fixing it will keep you out of mischief for half hour or so, more of you have to hold the joint level until it sets!

Yes Dave... one of those 'why did I do that' moments - I suppose we all have them from time to time. I've isolated the garage so everything is safe for tonight, and by good fortune the local Electricfix had just one resin joint in stock. I'll pop up in the RB and collect it at 07:30 in the morn.

The electrician that installed power to the garage (on a new house) had kinked the SWA under the gate to the back garden, so it got a bit of a whack every time it closed, the sheath was already flattened (by 12 years of being bashed) so I'll re-route it more sensibly when I have it in two parts tomorrow.

I don't know why (well I do, to save money), but the electrician used 2.5mm^2 conductors so it can only be a 16A supply to the garage - I'm sort of tempted to replace with 4mm^2 tomorrow - it would be a bit difficult to get round a tight bend in SWA though, so I'll sleep on that idea.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Yes Dave... one of those 'why did I do that' moments - I suppose we all have them from time to time. I've isolated the garage so everything is safe for tonight, and by good fortune the local Electricfix had just one resin joint in stock. I'll pop up in the RB and collect it at 07:30 in the morn.

The electrician that installed power to the garage (on a new house) had kinked the SWA under the gate to the back garden, so it got a bit of a whack every time it closed, the sheath was already flattened (by 12 years of being bashed) so I'll re-route it more sensibly when I have it in two parts tomorrow.

I don't know why (well I do, to save money), but the electrician used 2.5mm^2 conductors so it can only be a 16A supply to the garage - I'm sort of tempted to replace with 4mm^2 tomorrow - it would be a bit difficult to get round a tight bend in SWA though, so I'll sleep on that idea.

:-)

It sounds like the original sparky has made more than one mistake thre Alan! Needs his ar5e kicked in fact!
Why did he kink it round a gate knowing it's likely to get whacked by the gate? Should have run it above the gate on a catenary wire.

I assume it's a radial circuit and not a ring, hence the 16A breaker? Do you have or are you likely to have a welder in the garage? If so i'd strongly recommend replacing it with 4mm 3-core SWA, running it as a catenary wire support to minimise accidental damage and upgrade your MCB to a Type C 32A breaker to cover the welder.

As a general rule of thumb, any sharp bends are a big no-no with SWA and it's good practice to make a drip-loop below the cable entry point to the building.

[Stephen Edwin]

Othen. You will know whether your proposed work to household electrics needs local authority approval unless done by a qualified sparks.

And you will know that if you go ahead with your plan to move, a diligent surveyor would quite likely spot the possibility of electrical alterations.

To coin a phrase. Take care. Stay alert.

Comrade Stephen Edwin




This household has memories of a seller, suddenly undoing a not approved loft "conversion" when they sold.

A few years later I bought the that house and the rest is or will become history.


(The family goes back only to 1918 in the street, so far as I know.
And currently we "own" a very small chunk of the street.)


.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

It sounds like the original sparky has made more than one mistake thre Alan! Needs his ar5e kicked in fact!
Why did he kink it round a gate knowing it's likely to get whacked by the gate? Should have run it above the gate on a catenary wire.

I assume it's a radial circuit and not a ring, hence the 16A breaker? Do you have or are you likely to have a welder in the garage? If so i'd strongly recommend replacing it with 4mm 3-core SWA, running it as a catenary wire support to minimise accidental damage and upgrade your MCB to a Type C 32A breaker to cover the welder.

As a general rule of thumb, any sharp bends are a big no-no with SWA and it's good practice to make a drip-loop below the cable entry point to the building.

The original job certainly isn't what I would have done Dave, I suppose he was a contract sparky and just wanted to get any old job done and paid by the builder as quickly as possible. It would have cost next to nothing more to use 4mm^2 SWA to start with.

I've just had a look at the cable again - there is no way I could get 4mm^2 SWA round tightly enough. For today I'll fix the cable with a resin joint and re-route the cable under the gate, burying it to give a larger radius curve.

In the fullness of time I'll change it for 4mm^2 and run it as a catenary (it is only about 3' from the house to the garage), that way I could change the MCB to a B20 (the internal circuit in the garage is already a 2.5mm^2 ring, but the SWA to it is a radial, hence the 16A MCB). That is a job for another day though.

This could only be a 20A circuit - the current carrying capacity for 4mm^2 CU is 33A, but the rating factor is 0.75, so 25A for the radial part. It would be useful to have 20A to the garage though.

Many thanks Dave. I'll be more careful with the recip saw in the future - what a prune I was.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

Othen. You will know whether your proposed work to household electrics needs local authority approval unless done by a qualified sparks.

And you will know that if you go ahead with your plan to move, a diligent surveyor would quite likely spot the possibility of electrical alterations.

To coin a phrase. Take care. Stay alert.

Comrade Stephen Edwin

This household has memories of a seller, suddenly undoing a not approved loft "conversion" when they sold.

A few years later I bought the that house and the rest is or will become history.


(The family goes back only to 1918 in the street, so far as I know.
And currently we "own" a very small chunk of the street.)


.

Well, Stephen Edwin:

a. Repairs and like for like replacements are not notifiable works (see the building regulations part of your On Site guide).

b. I am a qualified electrician.

Ho hum.

PS. I have no idea why we are using random bold characters, but I've included a few anyway.

[Stephen Edwin]

Othan

Thanks but I don't need reference to regulations. You have explained clearly. Init. I suspect you plan more than repair but your qualifications include sparks.

Anyways it sounds as if you will not have problems re the electrics if you do move home. Kushti. That is what matters.

I suspect original sparks either followed or ignored the specification they were given. I shall not lose sleep guessing which it was.

I might be random but rarely bold. LMAO.

Why have you dropped the fraternal or affectionate title that you awarded to me? Gosh. And to think I mistook that for pejorative. Sorry olde chap. g,d,rlh....

Comrade Stephen Edwin




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.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

The original job certainly isn't what I would have done Dave, I suppose he was a contract sparky and just wanted to get any old job done and paid by the builder as quickly as possible. It would have cost next to nothing more to use 4mm^2 SWA to start with.

I've just had a look at the cable again - there is no way I could get 4mm^2 SWA round tightly enough. For today I'll fix the cable with a resin joint and re-route the cable under the gate, burying it to give a larger radius curve.

In the fullness of time I'll change it for 4mm^2 and run it as a catenary (it is only about 3' from the house to the garage), that way I could change the MCB to a B20 (the internal circuit in the garage is already a 2.5mm^2 ring, but the SWA to it is a radial, hence the 16A MCB). That is a job for another day though.

This could only be a 20A circuit - the current carrying capacity for 4mm^2 CU is 33A, but the rating factor is 0.75, so 25A for the radial part. It would be useful to have 20A to the garage though.

Many thanks Dave. I'll be more careful with the recip saw in the future - what a prune I was.

Alan

All done, if it had not been for the rain half way through the job would have only taken 40 minutes.

Power is restored to the garage, which is nice. I did a Z(s) and polarity test before I poured the resin and everything is as it should be.

I still feel like a bit of a prune for being so clumsy.

:-)

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

Othan

Thanks but I don't need reference to regulations. You have explained clearly. Init. I suspect you plan more than repair but your qualifications include sparks.

Anyways it sounds as if you will not have problems re the electrics if you do move home. Kushti. That is what matters.

I suspect original sparks either followed or ignored the specification they were given. I shall not lose sleep guessing which it was.

I might be random but rarely bold. LMAO.

Why have you dropped the fraternal or affectionate title that you awarded to me? Gosh. And to think I mistook that for pejorative. Sorry olde chap. g,d,rlh....

Comrade Stephen Edwin




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My name is still Othen; but of course you know that already :-)