Running cables under ground floor

[electronicsuk]

Well thank you for your help its much appreciated. On the off chance i don't suppose you'd know how i'd be breaking the law, as one of the previous posters has indicted, in doing this. If like i said it will all be certified.

You can certify compliance with part P of the building regulations and have electrical work notified to your LABC in a couple of ways.

The easiest of those is to use an electrician who is a member of a self certification scheme, who will carry out the work, inspect/test, and submit the necessary documents to the LABC via his scheme provider. An electrician may only submit work through the scheme that he has carried out - he is not allowed to certify the work of householders, and as a minimum risks losing his scheme membership if he is found to be doing this.

Alternatively, anyone may legally carry out notifiable electrical work if they inform their LABC before starting the work, and pay the necessary fees. What should then happen is that you will be given permission to start the work, the work will be inspected after first fix and, if compliant, allowed to continue onto second fix. Building control will then send round an electrician to inspect and test, fill out the necessary EICs, and provide you with a completion certificate.

Sadly, each LABC has their own ideas about how this should work, with many choosing to ignore the approved documents. As a result, you could give £200 or so to your BCO, and they will then expect you to employ an electrician to perform the necessary tests on their behalf, at your expense.

If existing work is being carried out under a building notice then you may not be too late to inform building control of your intentions to carry out notifiable electrical work, but you would have to ascertain their requirements. Chances are they will want to see an EIC as a minimum.

 

[macbac]

So i take it this is what mikhailfaradayski was talking about when he said i was breaking the law, not in regards to any work that was done that is not within regs?

 

[electronicsuk]

So i take it this is what mikhailfaradayski was talking about when he said i was breaking the law, not in regards to any work that was done that is not within regs?

I assume so. You wouldn't be breaking the law by not following BS7671 anyway, as it isn't statutory, although following it is the best means of staying within the law. It would be hard to defend yourself in court should the worst happen and someone die as a result of your work, had you not followed the current electrical installation regulations.

As far as building regs are concerned, you would be breaking the law by carrying out notifiable work without having first informed the LABC. Equally, you would find it hard to achieve compliance with part P without following BS7671.

 

[macbac]

Well electronicsuk thank you very much for your help and being polite in all the answers you gave.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You must have a very sad life, you seem to spend all day on here being a miserable as you can about any question asked. I've just asked a question which i'm quite sure of the answer and have even backed up what i thought was ok with a regulation

No - you quoted some random regulation which has no relevance to running cables under floors or covered by insulation. But you think you know what you are doing?

And it was from a now obsolete edition of the regulations. But you think you know what you are doing?

You said you'd cut a groove in the insulation, but didn't think it mattered how thick the rest of it was? But you think you know what you are doing?

And you clearly aren't familiar with the laws which apply to the work you are thinking of doing. But you think you know what you are doing?

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This is my first post here so sorry that its quite long, but after reading through a few posts thought that a few on here are very helpful and so decided to post this.

On the Voltage drop calculator where it says circuit type then says non lighting circuit or lighting circuit, if its for a sub main then of the CU there will be lights what shall i put?

Also where it says ambient temperature, what would this be for a swa buried underground?

Where it says number of circuits if the swa is only acting as a sub main and won't be run with anything else i take it the number of circuits will be one?

And finally the option for power, i take it that is the max load that will be used?

Sorry to ask so many questions.

Once you have decided the size of cable, and say for example i had a load of 32amps i would then be ok to fit a 32 amp breaker as a 'main switch' even if the cable is say 25mm wouldn't i?

Also what is the formula for working out what size cable to use?

Like I said - why did they ask you to do this work rather than someone who knows what they are doing?

Do me a favour a crawl back under your stone or wherever you came from.

macbac, or bobsmate, or whoever you are - do your customer a favour and stop using him to practice on.

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

So i take it this is what mikhailfaradayski was talking about when he said i was breaking the law, not in regards to any work that was done that is not within regs?

yip, thats what i mean't. Whether you are concerned about that is your call, i'm sure there are lots of contributors here who would argue whether to even consider it as there doesn't really seem to be any consequence to the bodgers for failure to comply.
The only people who get fined are reg.d sparks (every year, about £400)

Have you already made arrangements with the spark who you hope will 'sign it off'? or do you hope to wait until the job is finished before you bother to ask? You may be unpleasantly surprised at the responses you get.

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

Is that normal? Do you mean floorboarding (T+G or chip sheets) or laminate flooring?

i think its chip sheets being layed on top of the insulation

im not a builder, but that sounds poor. The flooring might slide about a bit, won't it?

It's not at all uncommon, although I don't if/how builders secure or bond the chipboard sheets to the insulation.

thats the bit that puzzled me - i'm aware that laminate flooring is designed to 'float' to allow for expansion, but it (generally) has a profile on the T+G edges which cause it to lock together when assembled. However, traditional T+G or even the more modern methos of chip sheets do not lock together and i think they need securing by other means, which could cause a problem?