Underground or Overground (nothing to do with wombles!)

D4G:

Hi All, another quick question:


I need to run a supply from a house to a detached garage, about 1.2m apart.

If underground does it really need to be 0.6m deep?

If overghead, can I ignore the minimum height if fixed to something substantial rather than just bridging the gap?

522.8.10.


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522.8.5.


Z.

Zoomup:

522.8.10.


Z.

So SWA under a concrete paving slab is ok.....

Chris Pearson:

What do you regard as the minimum height? If it is simply a walkway, about six-and-a-half feet will do, less if like in our house, you are all vertically challenged.


At home, there used to be a galvanised conduit between the house and the outbuildings. It was attached to a wooden beam, all reasonably secure. The only thing was that it tended to be a bit of a nuisance if one needed to pass under with a ladder or some such. ?

? I'm the opposite, will brush my head every time I walk under it if fixed at 6'6"!


Underground will be a better option.

D4G:

Chris Pearson:

What do you regard as the minimum height? If it is simply a walkway, about six-and-a-half feet will do, less if like in our house, you are all vertically challenged.


At home, there used to be a galvanised conduit between the house and the outbuildings. It was attached to a wooden beam, all reasonably secure. The only thing was that it tended to be a bit of a nuisance if one needed to pass under with a ladder or some such. ?

? I'm the opposite, will brush my head every time I walk under it if fixed at 6'6"!


Underground will be a better option.

Three years or so ago, we had the concrete at the back of the house renewed, partly because the drains were defective. I cannot explain why I didn't have a duct put in beneath it. It would only have been a few inches, but perfectly compliant. Damn and blast! ?

mapj1:

I suggest in a domestic setting, you will be fine if you bury an offcut of  of scaffolding pipe or similar  pole under your paving slabs and do not worry about it too much, if someone digs up the path, they will ding the  pipe before they chop the cable. And if it is on its own spur or MCB then even if the worst happens, you can isolate it and keep the lights on in the rest of the building. The alternate to go down 2 feet in flexiduct and then go about the same sideways, and then come up again is more trouble than its worth, cannot easily be rethreaded, and will just sit filled with muddy water .

Mike

Sounds like a plan, it will be obvious the cable is there as it will be visible up the wall on eather side.

D4G:

Zoomup:

522.8.10.


Z.

So SWA under a concrete paving slab is ok.....

Yes. I normally cover any buried S.W.A. cable with warning tape "DANGER BURIED ELECTRICAL CABLE" and fix small yellow and black coloured P.V.C. warning signs at each end of the run, on the walls above ground.


Example of small warning sign in rigid plastic, fixed by two small cable clip nails, removed from 2.5mm2 T&E plastic cable clips.

Danger 230 Volts Electrical Warning Sign | eBay


Z.