What SWA cable do I need to supply cabin
- Thread starter markzz
- Start date
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Hi amjmfareham
Thanks for your response. Thanks to everyone for your responses.
I will try and answer them all here and also clear a few things.
I am looking to get an electrician to do the work in terms of connecting to electrical supply and installing the MCB's, two way switching and connecting everything to facilities in the
I will be digging the 60meter trench to a depth of 750mm which meets regs.
The cabin size is 5.5 meters by 4.5 meters.
I think the heaters watttage I have listed is a little excessive so I will revist that.
The reason for asking about the cable size and type was because I wanted to supply the electrician with the parts rather than the electrician supplying and fitting and thus charging more for that.
I have had two quotes from electricians but one of them did not specify the swa cable size or type. I will ask him but I want a number of opinions in this area so as to make sure the right cable will cope with future demand.
R.e. facilities - yes a fridge will be included, so thanks for that.
The toilet, shower facilities etc is future project for the cabin and yes I agree it will need approval from a body which I dont know of but if you could let me know which body that would be useful for when I do come to install a bathroom in it.
Thanks again everyone for your help 4o far.
The electrician will have to certify that he/she DESIGNED, INSTALLED AND TESTED the installation.
The term "design" does not include asking spurious questions on a DIY Internet forum.
Most electricians will be buying materials at trade prices and as a result would be charging you not much more than your expectation.
Plus, in my experience, customer-purchased materials are usually more trouble than they are worth. They are often just plain wrong, late or only half of what is needed is actually supplied. I charge penalties for time wasted sorting this sort of things out. Or I just will not do the job.
Are you building it from scratch, assembling a kit from a supplier, or having the supplier assemble it?
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that if the building meets the requirements that it has to for insulation you wouldn't need that much.
What he charges you will be less than what you pay - he'll be able to get the cable cheaper than you. And he'll have to be the one lugging it - joking (above) aside, it is going to be heavy - a 100m reel of 25mm² 3-core (for example) will weigh the thick end of 200kg.
He will have to sign certificates to say he did the design.
And in the same way you need to get an electrician involved, you'll need a HETAS guy for the woodburner, and again sooner rather than later, as I can easily see how you might need to make provision for it in the basic build.
Clearly you cannot (legally) do this work without Building Regulations approval, so one body to talk to is your council's Building Control department. They aren't going to provide lots of free consultancy, but they should be able to offer advice on which regulations you need to comply with.
Planning Permission might be needed depending on where you are, so you should also ask them. No point not doing so - if you do need PP then trying to keep it quiet and going ahead without could go very badly and expensively wrong.
Ditto if you try to keep any sleeping accommodation under the radar, particularly if you have nosey and/or fractious neighbours.
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The problem isn't the size of cable - it's that the existing supply isn't likely to be suitable for supplying it.
Until the supply is confirmed as being suitable for what is effectively an entire new dwelling, there is no point in considering any cable or anything else.
If you supply all the parts, and therefore the electrician or whoever else will make less money, do you think that they will
a. just charge the exact same amount for labour and go home with less
or
b. increase the labour element significantly to cover the small amount they may make on the parts plus an extra 30% or so for the inevitable wrong parts supplied, missing items you forgot about, time wasted etc.
or even
c. not bother with the job at all because they can already see it will be a big pile of problems.
Or
d. Do the job in a permanent state of antipathy.
d. Do the job in a permanent state of antipathy.
It will always be a false economy for the client to supply materials. Apart from aforementioned cost comments, those materials will not be guaranteed by the contractor, so when he instals something and it doesn't work, it will by your problem. And you will have to pay extra for his wasted time, and for sorting out the problem, and even then no guarantees.
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