Garden wiring - I'm confused.....

[Dunworking]

a.

 

[LearningSpark]

How have you earthed the steel armour?

 

[Dunworking]

b.

 

[EFLImpudence]

I'm now being told this represents a permanent connection to the house wiring and requires 'Part P' documentation.

It's obviously NOT a permanent connection but that is not the criterion.

This is what you must notify -
“special installation” means an electric floor or ceiling heating system, an outdoor lighting or electric power installation, an electricity generator, or an extra-low voltage lighting system which is not a pre-assembled lighting set bearing the CE marking referred to in regulation 9 of the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994(1);

Do you consider what you are doing as such?

I will leave you to make up your own mind.

 

[Dunworking]

c.

 

[GaryMo]

How have you earthed the steel armour?

Yes.
I had two opinions on this - one said not to bother and the other said do it so I took what looked like the safer choice.

He asked how you had earthed it, not if you had.
I'd also be interested to hear how you earthed the armouring too.

 

[flameport]

There's also the question of how armoured cable has been attached to a 13A plug.

 

[Lectrician]

I don't think he did earth it.....

Why try to circumvent the Part P?

Why not bring the installation upto the correct standards and have it certified one way or another?

A bodge is a bodge.

 

[Dunworking]

d.

 

[flameport]

Incidentally, 1.5mm armoured cable fits into a 13amp plug with no problems and the earth is taken off the stripped steel armour running into a ground spike at both ends.

Unbelievable.

This is exactly why you should have the cable installed properly by someone who actually knows what they are doing.

 

[Lectrician]

Incidentally, 1.5mm armoured cable fits into a 13amp plug with no problems and the earth is taken off the stripped steel armour running into a ground spike at both ends.

So, as I suggested, a complete bodge. The whole reason why we have Part P (as crappy and worthless as it is).

To the last poster - why should I pay something like £150 (or employ the services of a professional electrician, which I suspect is what you are suggesting) to do what I've been doing without any problems for the past year?

Err, perhaps to ensure you comply to the regs, have a safe and compliant install, and someone to complain to should something go wrong?

It seems that the law encourages the bodge, which is running a simple extension lead to the shed, by putting any other option outside the reach of DiYers. That doesn't make sense.

Your SWA with no earth (earth spikes, what the feck?), is no safer than a PVC extension lead - you are misleading yourself. If anything, it is more dangerous thanks to your odd earthing beliefs.

I am always happy to advise people here, and am not a huge fan of Part P, but here, you should be advised to disconnect (unplug) your crappy install and bin it. Get a pro in you pillock.


As a point of interest - editing your post AFTER someone has "quoted" it does not remove your comments in those "quotes". Too late mate.

 

[Lectrician]

I guess Mr DunWorking realised he was himself a bit of a prick, and has decided to delete all his post. ABCD - hey ho.

I don't for one minute belief he will actually rectify his cockup of an installation.

As he said himself "it hasn't cause me a problem in the past year". Why do some tits believe that because something "works" it is safe? Part P does cause issues, and is meant to stop these types of fools from messing.

 

[GaryMo]

Well that was a waste of time wasn't it?
He had a chance to take some professional advice onboard to ensure the safety of his family but no, he chooses not to. Shame really.

 

[Dunworking]

I've reported the use of the word pr**k to the moderators - it rather confirms my feelings that these forums, rather than being a source of useful advice, are the province of mindless trolls.

Just to wrap this up. Thanks to one comment and some research based on it this seems to be the situation -

1. I can run a £20-£25 extension lead from the house to the shed and leave it there as long as I like but nothing at either end can be determined to be 'installed' within getting involved in 'Part P'. So the lead has to be loose and things like lights must not be attached to to the structure. Simple, isn't it?

2. I can get (as was tacitly suggested by some of the replies) an electrician in to do the work. The estimates I had in May for the work were all around £400 and bear in mind the cable does not have to be buried - this is a straight wiring job.

3. I can do what I did - put the wiring in myself (total cost for parts under £60) but because it might be deemed to be an 'installation' I then have to get it documented for Part P compliance at a cost of around £150.

I'm going to cut my losses (I can always resell on the components on ebay) and revert to Option 1 rather than give people my pension money for doing something that I can do myself for free.

Sadly, all this kind of nastiness does is reinforce the general opinion that all electricians, plumbers and other tradesmen are crooks. My landlord just had a lot of work done on the property by a well-known local electrical contractor - they left lights not working, bare wires, sockets not properly installed and a load of other faults that I had to correct. Even simple things like routing cable to storage heaters was bodged - rather than using the little 'P' clips Dimplex provide the guys tacked the leads to the skirting boards with cable clips.

 

[GaryMo]

I've reported the use of the word pr**k to the moderators

Bet you were a popular lad at school!

3. I can do what I did - put the wiring in myself (total cost for parts under £60) but because it might be deemed to be an 'installation' I then have to get it documented for Part P compliance at a cost of around £150.

You can't, certainly not how you described you did anyway and you certainly wouldn't get it passed by Building Control.