Cabling to external shed

skywanderer

I have a digger coming next week to do some work on the farm and I will be opening a trench back to the dwelling house; I'm putting power into 2 outhouses and also into a new build double bay shed.

I haven't got an electrician involved yet because the same lad promised me several times to call over the last year and I'll just have to get a different electrician to wire it all up. I plan to do as much as legally possible of it myself. And I decided to hell with him as the summer will be gone and nothing done and I like an eejit with flash-lights falling over in the dark again next winter.

On the new build shed I want to run a heavy capacity cable as this is to be permanent job with no shortcuts taken. The shed is 10m X 10m double bay and I will be digging a trench out, I plan to sink the cable 15000mm down (1.5m), I think 600mm is the required depth but I'll go deeper as I'm always a believer if something is worth doing I'll do it right. I will also be adding Water pipe with a water supply out to the shed and shielded cat5 for to deliver broadband for a wifi hotspot in the shed and for CCTV telemetry.

What I really want is recommendations for the type of cable to lay? I want something with plenty spare capacity as I want to be able to illuminate the shed brightly (over illuminate really) as nothing is more annoying than somewhere that the lights are half useless and my father is elderly and his eyesight isn't as great so I want to have powerful lights within the shed. I want to be able to run a welder or a large air compressor should I ever decide to buy them in the future; basically I want to future proof it now rather than have to spend again in the future if I'd ever need more power.

Also I want to put up a good strength floodlight switched from the house so I could walk out to the shed at night, turning on my light before leaving and switching it off after returning. I think I'd need to run a smaller capacity cable for this as this would be just powering the light alone, maybe 1kw halogen.

The other two outhouses are more simple lighting and basic socket affairs with another remote switched floodlight also. I wonder if its possible to put the heavy dutycable, sheilded cat5 and light cable into the same red plastic ducting? or should I run separate ducts?

I want to get the cables ran inside the duct and buried underground with the digger to close the trench afterwards as I'll be burying water cable in the same trench alongside the red electrical ducting, I think I might run plastic warning tape after the first foot or two of infill covers the ducts before finally closing and sealing the trench. I'm not sure if this is necessary but I like to over-engineer and do things to outlast me. I'm a bit OCD like this.

hufpc8w3adnk65

This really isn't a DIY project and you'll have to call a REC to survey this before beginning and to see if those extreme additions can be made to your current installation. You may need to run additional bonding cables for each shed aswell as mains power swa. Forget about 5 and run cat 6E also

http://www.reci.ie/ConsumerServices/FindanElectrician.aspx


Anyone listed at that link (location dependent) will be much better served to help you.


Halogens aren't installed any more. Much better LED models but again your REC can talk you through the options available to you.

skywanderer

Yeah I completely agree but the last lad refused to call out despite several phonecalls and the other local RECI charged a friend of mine over €1,000 to fix a few faulty sockets which kept tripping and didn't fix it fully and only spent around 3 or 4 hours at the house.

I'm afraid there is alot of chancers at this and the RECI does not exactly in-still alot of confidence in me. My old regular electrician gave it up due to RECI regulations and basically they forced alot like him out of the industry so they could corner it for themselves.

Risteard81

I couldn't possibly agree with your negative view of RECI, but ultimately you have no choice but to contact a RECI Registered Electrical Contractor as that is the law.

2011

@ skywanderer

Although RECI have a few "bad apples" like any large organisation the vast majority of members provide an excellent service. If you are unlucky enough to suffer from substandard work there is nothing stopping you from shopping around, there are plenty of quality Registered Electrical Contractors out there.

RECs can be expensive, however in my view this is justified mainly for the following reasons:

1) Electricians need to be technically skilled, training starts with a four year apprenticeship. Most RECs have many years experience and have had to complete several (expensive) training courses. Some are mandatory, others are required to remain competitive and keep up with new technology. Understandably electricians are reluctant to work for minimum wage following this amount of training coupled with the responsibility of working with a lethal voltage.

2) Overheads are high, insurance, wages, keeping a van on the road etc...

3) The cost of cable has soared, due to the exponential increase in the cost of copper over recent years.

4) The regulations (National Rules for Electrical Installations, ET101:2008) are extremely onerous and therefore expensive to comply with. By the way these are not "RECI regulations" they are ETCI regulations.


My advice would be to find a good REC and see how you can assist (perhaps by laying the supply cable) to reduce the cost of the work.
Laying the cable starts with buying the correct cable, which means sizing the cable correctly.

Dardania

Would a workaround for OP to run out a cable duct with a draw wire, and then at his (or electrician's) leisure, install correctly sized wire at that stage? Maybe a 50mm duct - or two 35mm ducts (to put the ELV stuff like CAT5e ) in later?

OP, is there any need for heat or hot water in the shed? Might a well insulated flor / return, say 3/4 inch piping be of use too?

Stoner

Dardania wrote:

Would a workaround for OP to run out a cable duct with a draw wire, and then at his (or electrician's) leisure, install correctly sized wire at that stage? Maybe a 50mm duct - or two 35mm ducts (to put the ELV stuff like CAT5e ) in later?

Yes certainly it would.
Two ducts with two draw wires is the right job.
Make any upcoming work very handy.

hufpc8w3adnk65

Dardania wrote: »

Would a workaround for OP to run out a cable duct with a draw wire, and then at his (or electrician's) leisure, install correctly sized wire at that stage? Maybe a 50mm duct - or two 35mm ducts (to put the ELV stuff like CAT5e ) in later?

OP, is there any need for heat or hot water in the shed? Might a well insulated flor / return, say 3/4 inch piping be of use too?

Great idea but again I'd consult the REC first as OP may not know where to start/finish ducting/conduit. The location an unskilled person thinks the mains cable should enter may not be the same as the REC who he asks to carry out the work. Like wise from the existing board final connection . If the ducting he installs first day land satisfactory to the REC he'll need to return to the site with the digger again to complete which is a needless cost for the sake of an hour or two with the REC on site.

Calahonda52

Op: if you are digging 1.5m you need to be careful with the risk of trench collapse, depending on soil conditions and where the water table is.

In passing: does RECI publish any of its disciplinary findings when complaints are made?

My experience of it has been abysmal: the problem IMO lie here:

For contractual and practical reasons the Safe Electric complaints procedure is normally only applicable to completed electrical work, not to work in progress, and to work completed less than three years from the date the complaint was first registered with Safe Electric.To enable Safe Electric to implement it's complaints procedure, the complainant must permit the registered contractor to be present at any inspection carried out by the Safe Electric Inspector and be willing to allow reasonable access for the registered contractor to carry out any necessary remedial work.

So let it be fixed and then implement the "move on now, nothing to see here" approach.

Have any RECI's ever been jailed for breaches?

Re this:
The regulations (National Rules for Electrical Installations, ET101:2008) are extremely onerous and therefore expensive to comply with.

The same can be said about the TGD's which are publicly available and not blackboxed to fully paid up members only.

2011

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Re this:
The regulations (National Rules for Electrical Installations, ET101:2008) are extremely onerous and therefore expensive to comply with.

The same can be said about the TGD's which are publicly available and not blackboxed to fully paid up members only.

I don't understand your point.
The National Rules for Electrical Installations are "publicly available".
Anyone can purchase a copy, here is the link:

http://etci.ie/publications/onlinestore.html

meercat

2011 wrote: »

I don't understand your point.
The National Rules for Electrical Installations are "publicly available".
Anyone can purchase a copy, here is the link:

http://etci.ie/publications/onlinestore.html

I think that he means there are a lot of regulations and to fully comply will reflect on the cost per job.