Help required with my pond and pump wiring… (no plug)

[Wontdothatagain]

I am going to phone the supplier in the morning and ask for clarification as i have some issues with the instructions.

I am ready to be corrected but in my eyes, this is an appliance not part of the fixed wiring of an electrical installation and therefore it would not be notifiable.

I have the 9000 model of this pump in my pond and i did not notify it but there again, would it be under the control of a compertent person so i would not have to

 

[JohnW2]

I am ready to be corrected but in my eyes, this is an appliance not part of the fixed wiring of an electrical installation and therefore it would not be notifiable.

Provided it didn't involve a 'new circuit' (subject to interpretation!) or replacement of a CU I don't think it would be notifiable under the new rules' (post April), even if it were regarded as 'fixed wiring'. However, I wonder why you are thinking that it is 'not part of the fixed wiring'. Particularly if it is hard-wired (via an FCU or 'power controller' such as you have mentioned), I think there would probably be a reasonable argument that it was 'fixed wiring' - although, as I've said, that no longer really matters.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Wontdothatagain]

Think a new post is required

 

[Wontdothatagain]

Untitled

• Wontdothatagain
• 14 Jul 2013
• 1

You can just see the pump on the left in the center, i have a blanket weed problem at the moment, to much direct sunlight, the yellow fish in the center is 12", 2 others just a little smaller in there as well.

 

[JohnW2]

Think a new post is required

Indeed - I'll respond in the new thread.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Duplicate deleted.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Ask any pond owner and they will all say that a point i isolation/switching at the location is essential.

View media item 63674

If at a later date the OP wants to add some lighting, a UV unit, a larger filter, a pump, then you have the power there ready to go and will not have to pull more cables through the duct/conduit.

What ducting or conduit do you envisage being used for the pond pump, and where, which would require extra cables to be drawn through for other items if that 4-gang switch were not present?

Ok, my pond is a bit beyond a little puddle with a waterfall, i have 2 of these switch units powering and they are essential unless you want to keep going back and forth to the switch when cleaning/maintance

It will run run over the wall of the pond between 2 of the paving slabs into a raised mound of soil that is level with the wall height. You can see on one of my photos where i mean- there are 2 rocks currently covering the gap for the cable. It will run into the mound and then run down it to the socket.
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We are basically talking about 1.5m of cable that will be out of the water running to the power point.

Wontdothatagain - how much nearer than 1.5m to the edge of the pond would you propose installing that switch?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I am ready to be corrected but in my eyes, this is an appliance not part of the fixed wiring of an electrical installation and therefore it would not be notifiable.

Nobody has suggested it is, apart from the maker in his now-out-of-date instructions.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

This kind of makes it difficult to use a submerged pond pump at all. Once the cable disappears under water, it probably can't be seen and may or may not be covered with pond soil.

Flexible/pliable metal conduit.

http://www.kopex.co.uk/productpage.asp?a=213

http://www.kopex.co.uk/productpage.asp?a=3

http://www.kopex.co.uk/productpage.asp?a=215


Other makes are available.

Not going to be useful unless it terminates correctly onto the pump. It isn't going to do that, and the mains cable is almost always integral to the pump; and rarely replaceable. Either immersible pumps cannot safely be used, or they can be treated as appliances.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Not going to be useful unless it terminates correctly onto the pump.

Not so - it will still provide mechanical protection.

Either immersible pumps cannot safely be used, or they can be treated as appliances.

Appliance status is irrelevant - if you bury cables they need to be protected.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Appliance status is irrelevant - if you bury cables they need to be protected.

Do you mean from a common sense point of view or are you thinking of a particular regulation number?

 

[JohnW2]

Appliance status is irrelevant - if you bury cables they need to be protected.

Do you mean from a common sense point of view or are you thinking of a particular regulation number?

... a question which, of course, will bring you back to the subject of the 'spin-off' thread about what constitutes 'fixed wiringand appliances' - since if you decided, for example, that we are talking about the power cable of a 'portable appliance', you'd then have to try to work out which particular regulations applied to it, buried or otherwise.

Like many others, I am aware of the way in which leads to submersed pond pumps are often dealt with - but I will not even mention them, because of the near inevitability that I would then be accused of 'giving dangerous advice'. Those commonly-used methods are, in practice, IMO pretty 'safe' (in common sense terms) but I'm sure that they would not comply with any regulations!

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Do you mean from a common sense point of view or are you thinking of a particular regulation number?

522.8.10

740.521.1

 

[ban-all-sheds]

... a question which, of course, will bring you back to the subject of the 'spin-off' thread about what constitutes 'fixed wiringand appliances'

Why? Is that a factor of relevance to what the Wiring Regulations say about buried cables?

since if you decided, for example, that we are talking about the power cable of a 'portable appliance', you'd then have to try to work out which particular regulations applied to it, buried or otherwise.

If buried they would be 433.1.4, 522.8.10. 523.3 & 740.521.1.

(Subject to any Amd 1 renumbering)

 

[JohnW2]

... a question which, of course, will bring you back to the subject of the 'spin-off' thread about what constitutes 'fixed wiringand appliances'

Why? Is that a factor of relevance to what the Wiring Regulations say about buried cables?

since if you decided, for example, that we are talking about the power cable of a 'portable appliance', you'd then have to try to work out which particular regulations applied to it, buried or otherwise.

If buried they would be 433.1.4, 522.8.10. 523.3 & 740.521.1. (Subject to any Amd 1 renumbering)

You may be right. However, as I've said and implied, I'm not actually sure whether any of those regulations (or, indeed, any part of BS7671) apply to the cables of portable appliances - at least, in the minds of those who decided that such is what we're dealing with and who consequentially decided that they should not be regarded as being part of the 'fixed electrical installation'.

Kind Regards, John