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Caravan hook up

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hi I am fitting a caravan hook up on the wall next to  the dno incomer box. No wires exposed. Do I still require an earth rod. The earth bond will be prob 1 ft long inside so not exposed. I know if I fit the box away using swa then yes earth rod would be used.
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    Having seen the state of some peoples hedge trimmer cords you do wonder if they would have survived better hung around their necks.


    How many people actually run their fingers along power cords and check for damage BEFORE plugging them in?


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    I do it with a hedge trimmer (plugged into the SRCD by the back door). Mind you, box blight is slowly bringing the task to an end. ?
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    Sparkingchip:

    Some years ago “experts” on TV gardening shows and the like advised people to mow their lawns with the flex of their electric mower hung around their necks, so it wouldn’t get caught in the mower.


    At lot of people still do it, I did it for a while many years ago, then thought better of it.


    One of my neighbours does it and I find myself looking out of the corner of my eye to see if he’s still standing.


    Anyone in favour of doing it?


    I do it with a strimmer.  I haven't strangled myself yet.

    The flex goes over one shoulder, round the front of my neck, then under the other shoulder to the strimmer.


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    Nice one Sparkingchip.

    Reminds me a bit of the fact that many people actually still use the mains tester screwdiver even today and that includes many electricians (in the 60s 70s and 80s we were brought up on them. I remember the commect by our C & G 2391 tutor years ago  "Who in their right mind would make themselves part of an electrical circuit?")
  • 0
    Some years ago “experts” on TV gardening shows and the like advised people to mow their lawns with the flex of their electric mower hung around their necks, so it wouldn’t get caught in the mower.


    At lot of people still do it, I did it for a while many years ago, then thought better of it.


    One of my neighbours does it and I find myself looking out of the corner of my eye to see if he’s still standing.


    Anyone in favour of doing it?
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    Ukpn appoligies, not April 1st yet but I feel that a very high precentage of caravan/motorhome and campers don't actually know the dangers of connecting to their homes. I don't think they care much when ordering a new 25m orange cable from China or that they can buy an adaptor to plug the leisure vehicle into there home. Not even the manuals for vans have anything in them about the dangers. It comes down to education for consumers. Not anyone in this fourm as you all know. If they sell that adaptor they assume its safe. The times I have seen people on sites removing the plug from the caravan and starting to coil it up whilst still connected to hook up. Anyway I have gained a vast amount of knowledge about cables now, but I think with tech like the new devices for ev chargers someone can sell this as a safety feature at the right price to consumers, but the regs are slow to bring in new tech for use in this area. The first thing that should be done is to ban the adapter which allows them to connect to a house and make sure more caravan manufactures and dealers sell a caravan with a home hook up as part of the deal, everyone is a winner in the end.
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    There are standards for testing that cables are waterproof enough to be immersed,  - both ANSI and EN, and the EN would be 60811-501 (more info on the Elend website here  ) I guess in due course after the Brexit dust settles well have a UK standard  as well.


    I'm not sure that many makers of PVC cables report  test results  to any of these standards however, but in an ideal world we could say 'any cable passing the waterproof test XYZ'

    Mike

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    AJJewsbury:


    I still think we've ended up swapping a mearely theoretical problem for a real actual one - I'm not at all surprised that the caravanning community are collectively ignoring the requirement to use black rubber. It doesn't do BS 7671's standing much good though.


      - Andy.


    BS 7671 does not mandate black rubber. There is no requirement for the rubber to be black (or orange for that matter).


    BS 7671 can only specify standards that exist ... if there's a need for a standard for arctic flex, then the relevant committee should be lobbied ... it's not different to the ongoing discussion on SY and CY cables, is it?


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    AJJewsbury:

    I still think we've ended up swapping a mearely theoretical problem for a real actual one - I'm not at all surprised that the caravanning community are collectively ignoring the requirement to use black rubber. It doesn't do BS 7671's standing much good though.


    The average owner will not have heard of BS 7671, but the manufacturers must surely know their obligations. So what happens to all those rubber flexes which are supplied with caravans?


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    Is the problem again the lack of a harmonised standard for what's probably "arctic" flex and similar? (e.g. BS 7919 Table 44 as was) - which I believe was fully intended for outdoor use and as far as I can tell hasn't causes any problem when used for caravan hookup leads despite probably millions of metres of it being thrown across camp sites in all weathers for decades. As the harmonised standards don't directly recognise arctic it's had to be lumped into the same category as the poorest bedside-lamp flex and assume the worst for its outdoor wet weather performance. I presume the PVC formulations must be at least slightly different since they have quite different mechanical properties over temperature (i.e. arctic remains flexible where other types of H05VV don't).


    I still think we've ended up swapping a mearely theoretical problem for a real actual one - I'm not at all surprised that the caravanning community are collectively ignoring the requirement to use black rubber. It doesn't do BS 7671's standing much good though.


      - Andy.

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