Armored cable ...

[Perleman10]

I have just taken armord cable from an RCD protected small wall unit in my house to my new gazebo.
I didn't read up on armourd cable and didn't do the whole thing where you use a proper gland kit with an olive at one end. I did take about 4-5 strands of the armoring strands itself, twist it round itself, and earth it at both ends of the run. Is this safe / sufficient?

 

[Risteard]

I have just taken armord cable from an RCD protected small wall unit in my house to my new gazebo.
I didn't read up on armourd cable and didn't do the whole thing where you use a proper gland kit with an olive at one end. I did take about 4-5 strands of the armoring strands itself, twist it round itself, and earth it at both ends of the run. Is this safe / sufficient?

No. Absolutely not in any way whatsoever.

 

[Perleman10]

Thanks, I can redo it no problem but why is it not sufficient? The armoured strands are all so tight together do they not act as a single conductor?
I have no issue redoing it & will do so ASAP but would like to know why please?
Also do I need to earth it at both ends (run is about 10m) or is supply end sufficient?
Thanks

 

[John D v2.0]

I think you need to start from scratch designing this circuit correctly. This is mains electricity we are talking about which can easily kill or cause a fire.
What is the protective device, what is the cable csa and length from the cu, so will the protective device trip in the event of a fault towards the downstream end?
What are the earthing arrangements at each end? If you're exporting the earth from indoors is that safe?

 

[John D v2.0]

No. Absolutely not in any way whatsoever.

Compared with not bothering to earth the armour at all, it's not a bad effort

 

[Risteard]

The OP should contact a competent Electrician to do this. It is clear that (s)he is not competent to be undertaking this work.

 

[Risteard]

Compared with not bothering to earth the armour at all, it's not a bad effort

Rubbish.

 

[Perleman10]

Hi thanks for your help, it is as follows:
The house's main consumer unit is RCD protected for mains power
Then inside the lounge on the wall there is one of these connected to the mains:

13A 30MA DOUBLE POLE PASSIVE RCD CONNECTION UNIT

This has a wire that runs through the wall of the house behind it directly into an IP65 single plug socket outdoors, which I have used as a junction to join to the 1.5mm armored 3 core (including earth) cable
I stripped back the armoring & twisted together about 4-5 strands and connected this to the earth. I did also use one of the cores of the 3 core armored cable as an earth too.
It then runs under 10 metres to an IP65 socket well protected in the gazebo that is used to run a Sonos 1 & maybe charge phones, nothing more.
At that end I did the same thing with connecting the strands

There is also a similar arrangement for the lighting - an armored cable running from a separate lighting IP65 junction box outside the house, with the same thing - separate earth cable and also some of the armoured strands twisted together and additionally earthed. At the gazebo end of this cable I added a separate external IP65 RCD as the lighting circuit doesn't have an RCD at the consumer unit end, just standard trip switches

Please let me know your thoughts on this, happy to carry out any neccesary work

 

[Risteard]

Hi thanks for your help, it is as follows:
The house's main consumer unit is RCD protected for mains power
Then inside the lounge on the wall there is one of these connected to the mains:

13A 30MA DOUBLE POLE PASSIVE RCD CONNECTION UNIT

This has a wire that runs through the wall of the house behind it directly into an IP65 single plug socket outdoors, which I have used as a junction to join to the 1.5mm armored 3 core (including earth) cable
I stripped back the armoring & twisted together about 4-5 strands and connected this to the earth. I did also use one of the cores of the 3 core armored cable as an earth too.
It then runs under 10 metres to an IP65 socket well protected in the gazebo that is used to run a Sonos 1 & maybe charge phones, nothing more.
At that end I did the same thing with connecting the strands

There is also a similar arrangement for the lighting - an armored cable running from a separate lighting IP65 junction box outside the house, with the same thing - separate earth cable and also some of the armoured strands twisted together and additionally earthed. At the gazebo end of this cable I added a separate external IP65 RCD as the lighting circuit doesn't have an RCD at the consumer unit end, just standard trip switches

Please let me know your thoughts on this, happy to carry out any neccesary work

It's very poor. For a start dissimilar metals will cause corrosion and you will end up with no earth. Also all of the strands of the armour of the SWA must be connected to earth. Proprietary glands should and must be used. The installation you have described is extremely poor.

 

[Perleman10]

No there is still an earth, one of the cores is used as an earth. Doubt much corrosion will take place between now & tomorrow when I will fix it
if that's all that is wrong with it then it's a not going to be a big deal to fix over an hour or so

 

[Risteard]

No there is still an earth, one of the cores is used as an earth. Doubt much corrosion will take place between now & tomorrow when I will fix it
if that's all that is wrong with it then it's a not going to be a big deal to fix over an hour or so

Strangely most installations are there for more than one day. Corrosion does happen and can have serious consequences. I don't have confidence that you know what you are doing, and therefore I would strongly urge you to employ the services of a competent electrical contractor.

 

[Perleman10]

I don't have the confidence that you understand how to interact with other people on forums and would strongly urge you to **** off

 

[EFLImpudence]

Is the gland not made of the same material as an earth terminal?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And I strongly urge you to find out everything you need to know about electrical installation jobs before assuming you know everything and go ahead and do it.

You didn't install this cable properly because you didn't take the trouble to find out how it should be done.

And what of the questions John D asked?

• What is the protective device, what is the cable csa and length from the cu, so will the protective device trip in the event of a fault towards the downstream end?
• What are the earthing arrangements at each end? If you're exporting the earth from indoors is that safe?

Are these other factors which you have failed to consider because you simply had no idea they even existed?

Unknown unknowns are a real problem - for example protective devices don't stop not working properly if the fault loop impedance is too high simply because you didn't know that there was such a concern as fault loop impedance....

 

[ban-all-sheds]

it's a not going to be a big deal to fix over an hour or so

If you've enough slack in the cable.