New tails - wire type?

[mattylad]

Hello, can someone please advise what wire type should be used (according to the regs) for new tails from the meter to the CU ??

I have 16mm Brown/Blue/Yellow available, single insulated & am wondering if this is OK as what is currently there is single insulated.

Cheers,
Matty

 

[KEW]

The minimum size to be used for your earth is 16mm, but what you have for your live/neutral meter tails is too small as a minimum of 25mm needs to be used.

 

[mattylad]

OK I'll get 25mm, but does it have to be double insulated or will single insulated be OK?

And is it OK following the Brown/Blue colours?
I see a lot of pics where its only Grey.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

DI.

And the grey you see is the outer sheath. Soe people like to expose a small bit of the inner insulation to identify the tails (i.e. outside the enclosure) but that's a bit naughty, or you can use something durable, e.g. cable ties or sleeving.

If you can get DI tails with the outer sheath brown & blue that will be fine.

 

[mattylad]

Will the meter terminals be able to accept 25mm even though its really old?

Looks like I need a trip down to a supplier that sells by the metre as we dont have double insulated at work.
OR, is there something else I can do to insulate single insulated cable to meet the regs?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Put it in conduit?

 

[mattylad]

Will that be allowed? & if so will plastic conduit be OK?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Don't see why not - plastic conduit will provide better protection than the outer sheath of a DI cable.

If you're concerned that plastic won't be enough then no way should you be considering ordinary tails in the first place.

 

[RF Lighting]

It's still going to end up single insulated where the tails exit the conduit to connect to the meter.

I've never yet met a meter which will not acommodate 25.0mm² conductors.

Modern meters will accept 35.0mm² conductors.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's still going to end up single insulated where the tails exit the conduit to connect to the meter.

Could probably butt the conduit up to it...

 

[JohnD]

cut lengths of insulated and sheathed 25mm are only about a two pounds a metre, I don't see a problem.

I think the coloured cable ties are a really good way to identify grey-sheathed tails, but coloured sheathed are also slightly available.