Garden Power Supply

[skybluescooby]

Ok, Had a boiler replacement last year and the electrician made the bolier fuse switch into a plug socket.

Next year I will be installing a water feature in the garden and would like to use this power source as the main feed. I removed the socket and found 1 feed coming in and 1 going out.

What i am proposing is to run a length of cable ( approx 500mm) across from the plug socket to a fused switch which will then run along a further 500mm of the wall and after drilling through the external wall it will come out just behind the drainpipe.

I will then run the cable down the wall, under the footpath and along the fence line to the water feature. As it stands the area of cable run will soon be covered in wall tiles as since the boiler was removed there is some re-tiling to be done.

My question is, Am i ok in using the pond type cable available in most garden centres as the feed from the socket to the fuse and then outside ?

Unsure yet as to wether i will install a single feed to a water feature or run a cable to a double socket which will then feed the water feature and a sapre socket for lawnmowers etc

In terms of Part P and future sale of house, the power supply will be removed and the fuse blanked off if we ever sell.

 

[chivers67]

My question is, Am i ok in using the pond type cable available in most garden centres as the feed from the socket to the fuse and then outside ?

What voltage will the cable outside be carrying?

 

[bernardgreen]

In terms of Part P and future sale of house, the power supply will be removed and the fuse blanked off if we ever sell.

Which suggests you already know what you intend to do is non compliant with the regulations and guide lines set up to improve safety and reduce the hazards to life, hazards which you are about to create.

 

[skybluescooby]

At any one time an electric lawnmower and a standard sized bubbling water feature will be on so not much power i would guess.

And as for Part P- I do not want to get in to any life threatening discussions, compliancy and regulations. In my view its no different than having an extension cable running out of the window. The removal will simply reduce the need for reams of paperwork etc

I just need to know if pond cable will suffice in terms of connecting straight to the internal socket.

 

[bernardgreen]

I just need to know if pond cable will suffice in terms of connecting straight to the internal socket.

NO it will not. Neither will it suffice "under the foot path".[/b]

 

[westie101]

Unfortunately you will fin most folk on here see the only way of controlling any risk associated with what you are doing is by rigid adherence to Part P (which should be legally done) and the guidelines in BS7671.

For what you are suggesting you need to decide what risks you can see and decide on action to reduce those risks.

Remember folks that life is full of risks and hazards, but we control them on a daily basis which is why we all are still alive, it's just that in most cases there are a number of different but equally valid ways of control!

 

[bernardgreen]

Unfortunately you will fin most folk on here see the only way of controlling any risk associated with what you are doing is by rigid adherence to Part P (which should be legally done) and the guidelines in BS7671.

Part doesn't improve safety as it allows bad workmen to self certify their own bad, even dangerous, work as being compliant and how often do building control officers actual check those workmen.

For what you are suggesting you need to decide what risks you can see and decide on action to reduce those risks.

Unfortunately without past experience many people cannot see the hazards and the risks they impose until it is too late and damage and/or injury occurs.

Remember folks that life is full of risks and hazards, but we control them on a daily basis which is why we all are still alive, it's just that in most cases there are a number of different but equally valid ways of control!

But we can only control them if we see and recognise them.

 

[elrobbo82]

this work is notifiable and should be completed by a competent electrician. the circuit will also have to be protected by a RCD and cables run in the safe zones. also burying the cable under the footpath “shall be of sufficient depth to avoid being damaged by any reasonably foreseeable disturbance of the ground." as per BS7671

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I removed the socket and found 1 feed coming in and 1 going out.

Do you know that the socket is on a ring or radial circuit, and not a spur which continues on somewhere else?

I will then run the cable down the wall, under the footpath and along the fence line to the water feature.

No.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/7.13.3.htm

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/7.14.1.htm

As it stands the area of cable run will soon be covered in wall tiles as since the boiler was removed there is some re-tiling to be done.

Will all the rules for concealed cables be complied with?

My question is, Am i ok in using the pond type cable available in most garden centres as the feed from the socket to the fuse and then outside ?

No - outside you should use armoured cable.

In terms of Part P and future sale of house, the power supply will be removed and the fuse blanked off if we ever sell

What about in terms of Part P before then, and the requirement for what you install to be safe?

What are your plans regarding testing your work?

In my view its no different than having an extension cable running out of the window.

Your view is wrong.

 

[westie101]

Well here's an idea, put a vent in the wall big enough to pass an RCD plug through, lay the cable on the surface so it can be tripped over/run over and that will comply as it is an extension lead!
Off course it will be far less safe that what is being planned but will comply.

Jeeez!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Well here's an idea, put a vent in the wall big enough to pass an RCD plug through, lay the cable on the surface so it can be tripped over/run over and that will comply as it is an extension lead!
Off course it will be far less safe that what is being planned but will comply.

But why are you advocating that as the only alternative to doing a proper job?

 

[RMS]

Unfortunately you will fin most folk on here see the only way of controlling any risk associated with what you are doing is by rigid adherence to Part P (which should be legally done) and the guidelines in BS7671.

I would consider this approach to be a sensible one.

For what you are suggesting you need to decide what risks you can see and decide on action to reduce those risks.

People that carry risk assessments are normally trained and qualified to do so. Is that the case here?

 

[westie101]

No, I'm trying to show that a pedantic repetition of it must comply with a non statutory set of guidelines is not fitting of any person that calls themselves a member of any profession! (i realise you BAS are not an electrician/electrical engineer).

Sorry guys if you cannot think for yourselves to find safe means of achieving tasks without recourse to a book - what are you being paid for!

 

[skybluescooby]

which is why i didnt want to get into a Part P discussion.

What difference is there in running an extension lead to a lawnmower than running a cable from an indoor power supply under a garden slab and to a water feature which will then be removed if i ever sold up.

I used to post a lot in here and had some good banter, now i know why i stopped visiting.

As for the outdoors i had considered armoured cable, is this still a good way to connect directly to the inside socket

 

[westie101]

People that carry risk assessments are normally trained and qualified to do so. Is that the case here?

Oh the big risk assessment game, everybody carried out a risk assessment every day of their lives!

Some folk who are trained to do risk assessments do not have the technical knowledge to do those assessments. Which means that the op can do this!
Some who do have that technical knowledge don't do them formally as they are classed as untrained!

Oh and there is no legal need to be formally trained to do risk assessments!