Wiring Sockets on an exposed stone wall

[sparkwright]

I certainly agree copper pipe and it's compression glands look like MICC, and give a good effect.

Also, seen it used in olde worlde pubs for wall lights.

15mm pipe, if painted, can even look like the old slip tube used in old houses with old wiring.

I suppose even microbore piping looks even more like MICC, yet getting conductors down that could be a problem.

However, since many on this site would understandably go beserk about using a blue water pipe to house cables underground, how different is this scenario?

 

[mwatsonxx]

although I admit that paint exists.

Thanks for the advice, do you think that's what is inside those big tins in diy sheds?

 

[JohnW2]

I certainly agree copper pipe and it's compression glands look like MICC, and give a good effect. .... Also, seen it used in olde worlde pubs for wall lights. ... 15mm pipe, if painted, can even look like the old slip tube used in old houses with old wiring. ... I suppose even microbore piping looks even more like MICC, yet getting conductors down that could be a problem.

All agreed. Those are the points which some of us have been making.

However, since many on this site would understandably go beserk about using a blue water pipe to house cables underground, how different is this scenario?

Are you talking about the situation in which the cables concerned could have been buried underground without being inside anything (e.g. SWA). If so, then the only objection to blue water pipe would presumably be the fact that it could be mistaken for a pipe carrying water, and I would suggest that, with few exceptions, the same potential problem does not really exist with visible surface mounted copper pipe which is clearly connected to surface-mounted electrical accessories. Indeed, if that were your concern, I would have to ask whether you are happy with surface-mounted galvanised steel conduit, which could easily be mistaken for galvanised steel water pipe (of which there is still some {not in service} in my house, waiting to be ripped out, maybe with use of an angle grinder!)?

If, on the other hand, you were talking about a cable that could/should not be buried without mechanical protection, that would obviously be different from surface-mounted T+E on a wall, since mechanical protection is required in the former situation, and would probably not be adequately provided by blue water pipe.

Kind Regards, John

 

[sparkwright]

No one really mistakes copper or steel plumbing pipework from galv or black enamel electrical conduit, even if painted.

It could be argued a homeowner who has rustic brickwork in his house may want to run a cable up from the floor up to the ceiling. So no accessory, just a cable running vertically, perhaps in a corner.

Could he use copper pipe intended for plumbing?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/...ive-cable-lighting.383231/page-3#post-2940158

 

[JohnW2]

No one really mistakes copper or steel plumbing pipework from galv or black enamel electrical conduit, even if painted.

One would hope not ('context' is usually enough) but, as i said, some of the galvanised steel pipework in dusty corners of my house waiting for the angle grinder look remarkably similar to galvanised electrical conduit. However, i would hope that no-one would make that mistake!

It could be argued a homeowner who has rustic brickwork in his house may want to run a cable up from the floor up to the ceiling. So no accessory, just a cable running vertically, perhaps in a corner. Could he use copper pipe intended for plumbing?

You're scraping the barrel a bit! Anyway, I'm not aware of any regulation that would preclude that. More to the point, I would hope that anyone contemplating cutting into such a pipe would take steps to ascertain where it came from and went to, and what it contained, before 'cutting into it' ... it might not be as 'dangerous' as the situation in which the pipe contained live electric cables, but cutting into a pipe which contained mains-pressure water is not something that most people would want to do!

Kind Regards, John

 

[sparkwright]

I do have to agree some older pipework can look like both plumbing or electrical.

 

[JohnW2]

I do have to agree some older pipework can look like both plumbing or electrical.

Quite - and whether it is old or new, and regardless of what it looks like, only an idiot would cut into a pipe of any sort without first ascertaining exactly what was in it - cables, water or whatever (hence whether it needed to be electrically isolated, drained of water or whatever)!

In the more common case, as being discussed in this thread, of copper pipes visibly clearly connected to electrical accessories, it would take a whole new level of idiocy for someone to do something 'dangerous' to it.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I do have to agree some older pipework can look like both plumbing or electrical.

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/upstairs-lighting-re-route-of-cable.292985/page-3#post-2768829

 

[ban-all-sheds]

In the more common case, as being discussed in this thread, of copper pipes visibly clearly connected to electrical accessories, it would take a whole new level of idiocy for someone to do something 'dangerous' to it.

Also, any argument that you shouldn't use copper tube as conduit in case someone thinks it's a water pipe would rule out the use of MICC, in case someone thinks it's a microbore CH pipe.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I suppose even microbore piping looks even more like MICC, yet getting conductors down that could be a problem.

according to my trusty Casio, 3 x 1.5mm² singles 35% fill a 10mm microbore tube. Can't help thinking it would be a PITA to get them in, though.

 

[sparkwright]

I can vividly remember, nearly 30 years ago, having a microbore gas pipe that was clipped round an architrave with the round cable clips you would typically use for .75mm2 3 core flex. 7mm clips are they?

After turning off the gas and water, do plumbers have to consider there may be live electric cables in pipes before cutting into them?

 

[JohnW2]

I can vividly remember, nearly 30 years ago, having a microbore gas pipe that was clipped round an architrave with the round cable clips you would typically use for .75mm2 3 core flex. 7mm clips are they? ... After turning off the gas and water, do plumbers have to consider there may be live electric cables in pipes before cutting into them?

I would think that it would be very unusual for a plumber to be contemplating cutting into ('the middle of') a piece of what he/she thought was a microbore gas pipe without having sight of connection(s) of that pipe to a gas source and/or gas appliance.

If you feel that, despite what I've said, what you have suggested is a real risk, then the answer to your question presumably has to be 'yes', because I'm not sure that one could rely on all plumbers being able to confidently distinguish between microbore pipe any pyro of a similar size.

One can get stainless steel electrical conduit and stainless steel 'plumbing' pipe. Do you feel that one of them should be 'banned' - or, at least, not used?

Kind Regards, John

 

[sparkwright]

Aren't they clearly different sizes though, as today's standards go?

 

[JohnW2]

Aren't they clearly different sizes though, as today's standards go?

Do you think that you could (without measuring) confidently distinguish between 20mm S/S conduit and 22mm S/S pipe?

Kind Regards, John