Water feature pump wiring

[Choccie]

Hi,

I need to wire a new pump into our water feature and am looking at the right way to do it.

Our socket is in the garage and the plug cable goes through the (top of the) window frame so is not easy to change. The 'path' down to the fountain is then round the edge of a shed to the fence, along the fence and down to the fountain, which is about a meter from the fence.

We have some plastic conduit attached to the fence off the ground which was used previously. Is it best to use non-armoured cable in this or to run SWA as close as I can to the garage then as close as I can to the fountain as the fountain cable is not SWA.

Thanks

 

[ericmark]

With the exception of some pre-constructed products most wiring in the garden comes under Part P notification so the cheapest way to do the work within law and regulations is to hire a scheme registered electrician.

Yes you can DIY there is no law stopping you but the LABC charges are so high in real terms not worth it.

Once of course you break the rules does it really matter by how much you break them? Many pumps come with a sealed cable and however much you want to use an armoured cable and for pumps it's not the standard SWA anyway so your forced to use flex.

Using hose pipe and the like is really the only way one can add protection to the cable but often it's not long enough to reach the nearest socket. Putting a 13A plug on SWA is not easy so at least some flex is required between the socket and SWA. There are many ways to join cable from shrink sleeve joint packs to epoxy resin packs plus using boxes either protected from weather or filled with either epoxy resin or re-enterable compound. With so many options it is really impossible to say what would be next best to doing within the law.

However most of these methods need some skill and for a one off job hardly worth the hassle. My pond was wired well before Part P came in and I used SWA to the greenhouse which was close enough to plug in. However in hind sight I did not allow for spiders which have from time to time tripped the RCD.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Using hose pipe and the like is really the only way one can add protection to the cable

I think flexible or pliable metallic conduit would be better.

 

[ericmark]

I can see your point but if metal then it needs earthing and also there it the problem over time it can oxidise and the earth maybe lost.

So it is really 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

However neither of us is doing the job at the end of the day the guy signing the installation certificate and completion certificate has the last word.

Mine goes through nylon braided air line hose and although you could put a spade through it the effort required should alert most that there was something there. Mine runs under the plastic water fall so one would not normally stick a spade through it. Not that it now matters has not been powered for years.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I can see your point but if metal then it needs earthing and also there it the problem over time it can oxidise and the earth maybe lost.

You can get stainless steel, or lead covered steel, and both types can be had with a PVC coating. Properly terminated they should not corrode.

However neither of us is doing the job at the end of the day the guy signing the installation certificate and completion certificate has the last word.

True.

 

[Choccie]

If there are so many regs about fountain pumps how come they don't sell them with the correct cable attached?

 

[RF Lighting]

They sell them with the correct cable to be plugged in to a handy socket.

There isn't a one-fits-all cable so the manufacturers couldn't possibly supply the correct cable for all situations.

BAS, BS7671 does not allow flexible metallic conduit to be used as a CPC, so I don't think it would be compliant for ADS protection of a buried cable.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I don't think that conduit protecting an underground cable needs to be suitable for use as a cpc.

 

[bernardgreen]

Alternative thinking.

Have the electric pump safely in or close to the house ( no mains power in the garden ) and run two lengths of plastic pipe between pump and water feature.

This method has been used and proven.

Is it the removal of the hose pipe ban or have water features suddenly become the new "must have" item. A neighbour has emailed a similar question.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

AFAIK, domestic garden fountains have a submerged pump in the base, which even if it could pump the water from a distance would need to be in a remote reservoir at the same height as the fountain pond, which might not be acceptable or practical in the garden, and (IMO) would certainly be unacceptable and impractical inside the house.

I guess a different pump could be used which could suck water from the fountain and pump it back, but that's extra cost, quite possibly significant, and it would be noisy.


Where's Breezer when you need him?

 

[bernardgreen]

I guess a different pump could be used which could suck water from the fountain and pump it back, but that's extra cost, quite possibly significant, and it would be noisy.

Your guess is correct, a pump that sucks is needed. But some of the submersibles will suck if a tube is fitted to their input and thus a reservoir is not needed at the pump end. The pump need not even be placed below pond level if a no return valve ( or foot valve ) is fitted in the suction line to keep the pump primed with water. But being below pond surface level does make it easier as the pump is then self priming.

Two pipes are cheaper per metre than SWA cable and, you will hate this, the work in the garden is not ( yet ) notifiable to the LABC

 

[ban-all-sheds]

But some of the submersibles will suck if a tube is fitted to their input and thus a reservoir is not needed at the pump end.

Any danger of overheating?

Two pipes are cheaper per metre than SWA cable and, you will hate this, the work in the garden is not ( yet ) notifiable to the LABC

Why should I hate that?

 

[davelx]

I'd have thought the flow resistance of those lengths of pipe (if typical garden hose size) would reduce the flow to much.

 

[Choccie]

It's a fair distance from the house so I don't think it'll work here.

So, from what I seem to get, even weather proof cable in solid conduit isn't ok?