Extending a ring main

[daveyhb]

Hi everyone
I would like to add another socket in my dining room. An existing socket already exists in there that is part of the ring.

I would like to extend the ring so accommodate the new socket. However, as the room is completely decorated, I do not really have the option of knocking out a large area to accommodate a junction box.

My question is; Can I crimp the existing power cable to a new length of cable that I can then connect to the new socket and loop back to the existing one?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards
Dave

 

[rebuke]

It's not ideal, but you can bury a crimp (as long as it's made by an appropriate compression tool, i.e. one with a ratchet mechanism, not a cheap one), however, the cabling must still be in safe zones (horizontally and vertically from an accessory, and a few others). Can you get under the floor, as if so you could extend it with crimps there?

 

[daveyhb]

The floor is concrete so no luck there..

I am intending to run the cable behind the skirting board that runs around the room.

Thanks for your help.

Dave

 

[rebuke]

Unless you have accessories on your skirting board (which I'm fairly sure is against the current regs so you shouldn't), then that isn't a safe zone, so unless you can bury your cables at more than 50mm (unlikely as that's normally too far in to a wall), or you use earthed metal conduit or something such as SWA, you can't run your cables there...

 

[daveyhb]

I understand. Thanks for the heads-up.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Taylortwocities]

Rebuke is right. The reason is that people fitting skirting tend to use 3 inch clasp nails - and thats where your cables will be!!