any domestic electricians??

matt walters

matt walters

Member +
hopefully someone can help here :)

a family friend is doing a house renovation and having a big extension built on to it. the existing meter and db is in the pantry i spose you can call it.

the problem being that he doesnt want it in there as its being knocked through to make a big kitchen. hes been in touch with the electric board and they are going to but the new meter in the white boxes you see on the side of all new houses. this is going to be the opposite end of the house to where he wants the new db to be (which will be in the new extension) there isnt room to but the meter on this side of the house as its on the boundary.

is there any set distance that the board can be from the meter? or if not what cable can he use to go from the meter to the board? and i assume this cable will need rcd protection under the new regs? specially if its going to run around the edge of the house underground?

any help much appreciated :) cheers
 
A

argylefan1985

Member +
If its going to be under ground you will need SWA ( Steel Wired Armoured) Cable.

No there isnt a set destance the meters have to be in relation to the fuseboard.

However the size swa you would require will obviously need to be calculated according to distance. current being drawn thermal influences. etc etc etc.

It will basically be classified as a submain so yeah. You would need a rcd protected main switch 1 gang board or somthing similar at the mains position that then ran to the mains fuseboard
 
matt walters

matt walters

Member +
yeah thats what i thought.

ive got the work to do myself, just havent had anything to do with the meter side on domestics.

thanks alot :)

im yet to test the existing, but he says to keep costs down he'd rather not have a full re wire on the whole house. if the existing is going to be ok (which it should be in all fairness) can the cables be extended from the position of the old db to the new one using an adapt box with terminals or similar? would this pass on regs?

and also seen as the new db will be fully rcd protected will it be regs compliant to put said extended cables into the new board? becuase obv the socket and switch heights etc in the existing arent up to new regs standards
 
A

argylefan1985

Member +
Basically yeah mate u can extend them just using joint boxes and leave it under the floorboards. Obviously make sure the conections are tight and make sure you make a note of where the joins are made, as they need to be accessable for inspection should any faults occour. You can get push fit terminal joints no which is ideally what your ment to use but theyve only recently just come in and pritty much every i know still uses the joint boxes at the moment.

As for the socket and switch hights, Existing wiring wont fall into that catagory and it isnt a failure on the test sheet anyway.

In the new extention for example you should put at new hights but you dont have to! You can put it to match the rest of the property if you wish. Just make a note of it on the test forms. You cannot make someone put them at 450 and 120 if they dont want to its there house at the end of the day. Anyone who tells you otherwise is full of shit. If your not 100% convinced speak to the building control officer that will come round at completion to check everything speak to him before he will tell you the same.
 
toyobaz

toyobaz

Member +
heights of accessories comes under part m (building regs) and only refers to new builds

meter to dist board is generally allowed at a maximum of 2m (check local supplier)
any more than 2m and its classed as a sub main and needs a switched fuse device at the source
no need for it to be rcd protected if its in swa,
best joints are maintenance free (generally push-in connectors) and can be put under floorboards
 
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