Recycling plastic water pipes for electrical cable conduits

[crissUK]

Hi,

I'm currently redoing my kitchen from top to bottom with new electric circuits going under the concrete floor.

The plumbing changes have left me with some spare plastic water pipes and I was wondering if I could reuse them to protect the electrical cables going under the concrete floor.


So I'm just wondering if any plastic conduit can be used for electrical cables or is there a regulation on the type and dimensions of the conduit used?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There are the conduit factors to consider, of course, but then you know about those as you're carrying out notifiable work yourself.

As you also know you need to consider the depth of the pipes, and whether a cable in then would be deep enough to avoid damage in the future - if not then it won't do.

Finally what color are the pipes? If they are blue then they might be mistaken for water pipes in the future, which would make it unwise to use them for cables.

 

[crissUK]

Thanks for that,

The pipes are blue which I knew that could lead to confusing so I was going to put a white tape a long them and eventually writing on it.

The depth of the pipes will be OK as it's the same depth of the existing circuits, I'm just running along them.


What sort of conduit factors do you mean?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The pipes are blue which I knew that could lead to confusing so I was going to put a white tape a long them and eventually writing on it.

If they're exposed, why not remove them and use proper conduit?

The depth of the pipes will be OK as it's the same depth of the existing circuits, I'm just running along them.

Assuming the existing ones are OK

What sort of conduit factors do you mean?

The usual ones.

You have notified this work, haven't you? And taken the trouble to learn all you need to know to do it properly and legally so that when it's inspected there'll be no problems?

When you notified, what did you say about how you would ensure compliance with the Building Regulations?

 

[mattylad]

Whats the point of proper conduit under concrete?

If they are deep enough then whats wrong with using them?
they are no different to white plastic conduit thats used in so many other places for wiring.

 

[crissUK]

If they're exposed, why not remove them and use proper conduit?

The pipes are completely detached, instead of buying new conduits, I thought I could reuse them if their are suitable as conduit.

Assuming the existing ones are OK

Which I hope so cause I dont want to dig the entire ground floor.

The usual ones.

You have notified this work, haven't you? And taken the trouble to learn all you need to know to do it properly and legally so that when it's inspected there'll be no problems?

When you notified, what did you say about how you would ensure compliance with the Building Regulations?

I'm doing the bulk work myself and an electrician is coming to fit new consumer unit, new circuits and control the work. Perhaps, I should ask him directly about the conduits.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yes - you absolutely should. If the idea is that you work under his direction and supervision and he signs to say he did the work then he must be the one to make the decisions on the water-pipe-as-electrical-conduit plan....