Cable route - is a dummy cover-plate required?

[js.b1]

Cable layout:

7 cables travel 100mm horizontally out of a CU cupboard, turn 90-degrees & run up the wall to the ceiling 150mm zone.

Cable visibility: Cables visible in 16mm nylon flex conduit leaving the cupboard. Cables turn to run up the wall 4-inches from a door frame. Cables run up the wall outside the 150mm zone.

Q - is a cover-plate required to indicate cable run?

Q - must it be at the 90-degree turn or can it be higher?

The area is covered by irreplaceable italian tiles on board. The board sits on 18mm of plaster within which I have eroded a cavity throughout the route via door frame access (keyhole work). This 18mm depth permits 16mm nylon flex conduit to assist in the spacing of cables, protection in the gap & on CU cupboard exit. Conduit remains 4-inches from the door frame re "big screws".

I am certain a cover-plate is required. However I can see no reason why it can not be at the 90-degree turn at the top (not tiled) which would indicate the turn & drop location whilst the CU cupboard end clearly indicates entry.

Coverplate could be a 1G PVC box sunk with 2 fully-slotted sides, or (perhaps better) a 150x150mm adaptable box cut down in height with nylon posts to permit a flush 160x160mm lid on top. Any cross bonding would be with 4mm ge/ye back to CU in this instance.

Putting a cover-plate at the CU exit seems a bit redundant, it merely says "cable turns up before door 4-inches to the right".

Putting a cover-plate at the top seems preferable, it says "cable runs along false ceiling here and drops down here". Entry at the CU below confirms entry location & purpose.

Thoughts?

[Lurch]

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:30:10 -0700, [e-mail] mused:

Yep.

Could be higher. The CU should be enough to cover the horizontal.

I usually just gripfill a blank plate on the wall.

Yeah.

[js.b1]

It should - so I have put it higher. Cables can be seen entering the bottom from running up the wall, and seen leaving the side to run along the wall under a false ceiling.

That worries me re someone removing it & filling the hole. It would be a useful opportunity for Darwinism, but unfortunately it may not apply to the person that fills the hole so lacks the required precision.

To get sufficient 20mm holes (small once grommeted) would require an MK Grid 6/8 (too big) or double 2G (too big) or 100x100x38mm box (too deep). A requirement to sink an enclosure so close to the chimney arch in a single brick wall with wooden RSJ over a doorway does not seem like a good idea. Plaster is only retained by a prayer, wishful thinking and hessian as it is.

So went with a 1G PVC box sunk with 2 fully-slotted sides. Tried it tonight with with the cables and it works extremely well, very easy to space cables apart and easy to keep slot-fill under 45% - quite spacious.

It is one occasion where a "1.5G 25mm metal box" would have been useful.

Many thanks :-))

-- JS.B