Burying a Cable?

[oldworld]

I have an idea to build a workshop/bike store in the garden.
The site is about 40 metres from the house. I'd need electricity for lighting and heating so I'd need a cable run from the house.
What are the rules on doing this? If I buy armoured cable and bury it would this meet requirements?
If I would be allowed to do this, what depth would the cable have to be buried at?
I don't have a fence or wall to fix a cable to.
I'd do the cable laying but get an electrician to wire the workshop up.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

18" to 2' or 450mm to 600mm in those new fangled things

 

[Chislenko]

If it's an easier option I ran mine in protective trunking down the fence about six inches above ground when building at the bottom of our garden.

 

[sheddy]

Garden work needs sparky.

Correction: regulations have changed.

 

[Deleted User]

Garden work needs sparky.

To bury a cable?

 

[Randomnerd]

I’ve laid suitable conduit in a two foot deep trench and let the trade do the rest. They get armour cable cheaper and job is be indemnified

 

[Drago]

Garden work needs sparky.

The regs say "competent person"...


"The Electricity at Work Regulations clearly define a competent person as a person having the necessary technical knowledge and/or experience to avoid danger and injury"


The generally accepted method of ensuring someone is competent is to use a trained and accredited sparky, but I do all my own. Daughter #3's feller is a pro rugbyist but hes also a trained sparky and I get him to eyeball all my work.

Personally I'd bury a conduit well hnderground and feed the cable up that.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

The regs say "competent person"...

Yes this is what a lot of trades prey on, "You can't do that you have to be certified" Nope sunshine I'm competent. It's the Doodle way, with all their regulations & coding, it's a money making scheme.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I laid my own cable when going to the house to the garage, then got a sparky in to wire it up each end, and he also fitted a consumer unit in the garage. My partner's garden was a total electrical nightmare; her ex had spent over 20k on illuminating the garden with wires (underground) going everywhere. After 6 years nothing worked, and we spent ages pulling it all up because no electricians could figure out why it kept malfunctioning. All I'd suggest is, maybe route it down the side of the garden instead of down the middle; it's easier to find if theres a problem, and stands less chance of being stuck into or dug up in the future.

 

[T4tomo]

as no fence or Wall then armoured cable down conduit at a suitable depth.. personally, having dug the trench, I'd run the armoured cable down some plastic drain pipe or similar, that way its dead easy to get back out again, or run something else down - if you're super anal, leave a run of string down it for future use. You only want to dig a 2ft trench once!

 

[Sterlo]

I got a sparky in to do some kitchen work (to be honest it was basically a full re-wire so too much for me to do myself) and asked him as the regs say that it needs to be done by a qualified person if it's in a kitchen or bathroom and even he said it isn't. I've always done my own where possible and never had any issues. Personally I would do as much as I was capable of then get a pro to do the final fit to the mains and check over your work.

 

[Drago]

I got a sparky in to do some kitchen work (to be honest it was basically a full re-wire so too much for me to do myself) and asked him as the regs say that it needs to be done by a qualified person...

That's incorrect, as demonstrated by my quote above.

He's either a fibber, or ignorant within his own supposed sphere of expertise. Neither scenario showers him with glory. I wouldn't want him examining my electrics.

 

[Sterlo]

That's incorrect, as demonstrated by my quote above.

He's either a fibber, or ignorant within his own supposed sphere of expertise. Neither scenario showers him with glory. I wouldn't want him examining my electrics.

I would never get him again but was struggling to find someone, he took a long time to finish, didn't do it as I requested and I thought charged too much but wouldn't reduce his bill. I hung on paying it until he really started pushing.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

It all depends if its a new circuit an addition to a existing one or a replacement of an existing one & whether it's being done under building regs.

 

[straas]

Bed a drainpipe on sand, then cover with sand and a line of no dig tape, then fill with gravel to below topsoil level.