Burying a Cable?

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Mr Celine

Discordian
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.

Asking for advice on a cycling forum would suggest that the op does not have the necessary technical knowledge or experience to be considered 'competent' as defined in your quote.
 
D

Deleted member 26715

Guest
Asking for advice on a cycling forum would suggest that the op does not have the necessary technical knowledge or experience to be considered 'competent' as defined in your quote.
The OP never suggested he intended to terminate the supply only to dig the trench & lay the cable which most sparkies I know would be grateful for they don't like physical work like digging holes
 

PaulSB

Legendary Member
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.
Might I suggest the thing to do is find the electrician first. Tell him what needs to be done and that you are prepared to dig trenches etc.

I have no idea about the regulations but if you employ a quality electrician he should only allow you to carry out work which it is safe for you to do. If he has to certify the work he will need to be satisfied your contribution is up to standard.

Personally electricity scares the life out of me. I wouldn't do anything other than dig and back fill the trench.
 
OP
OP
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oldworld

Guest
Back in the days when you could I've rewired houses I've owned. I never had training but used to help a mate at weekends who was a qualified sparks. Things like ring mains. lighting circuits and immersion heaters are simple when you're shown how and get it explained to you in simple language.
Life as we knew it has changed and whilst my ability to wire things up hasn't changed the rules have.
As I may have said, I'm happy to dig the trench, lay the wires and even wire up the lights and power.
That's it though and it'll be over to the electrician to check the work, connect to the mains and provide a cert for the work.

My friend told of a time when as an apprentice he was completely rewiring a terraced house. The power had been turned off at the fuses and the first job was to strip out the old wiring, this was his beer money.
Working in the loft he used his cutters on a cable and it turned out to be live although the house's power was off. It must have been a live feed from next door. Maybe next door was paying for the electricity?^_^.
Apart from giving him a shock he said this taught him a valuable lesson, never assume you've isolated everything, always check.
 

irw

Quadricyclist
Location
Liverpool, UK
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.

Not strictly correct I'm afraid- you're referencing the Electricity at Work regs. Work carried out in a domestic setting is covered by Part P of the building regs, which I think is what @sheddy had in mind. This is why I, as a competent theatre electrician (in the eyes of my employers) can do what I do at work without any particular electrical qualifications, but can't, strictly, do certain jobs in my house, that I'd probably do to a higher standard than your run-of-the-mill domestic sparky. (Based on what I've seen/fixed/corrected since I had the house rewired when we moved in four years ago...)
 
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