Fitting Electrical Conduit

[anthony.j.cunningham]

I'm planning on moving a lightswitch in my garage from behind the door to the side you can easily reach inside to when opening the door (Discussion of what kind of f*ckwit puts a lightswitch behind the door will have to wait for another time). The whole electrical installation in the garage reeks of bodgering (As does the actual physical structure but, again that's another thread altogether). In particular the cables carrying power to a double socket, lightswitch and two lamps are all fixed directly to the wall with cable clips.

This looks untidy to me and I'm thinking of putting in runs of 20mm plastic cable conduit to carry the cables. The only thing that I'm not clear on is what to do with the junction box wiring up the lightswitch and the lights. It wont cleanly connect to the cable conduit (It's a flat, rectangular opening rather than a round one) so I was expecting to have to replace it with conduit tee box. However there's no electrical connectors of the type usually found in a junction box in these. Can I lift the connectors from the existing junction box and put them in the tee box or make up new connections with connector blocks?

Have I missed anything else I should be thinking of?

Thanks

Tony

[Christian McArdle]

It is likely that the door has been rehung from the other side for some access reason, but the electrics were never updated.

That is acceptable, unless the need for mechanical protection applies. This might be the case if it is more of a workshop than a garage.

Christian.

[Ian Middleton]

When I moved a light switch and added sockets in my garage I used conduit glued to the wall using no-nails (or similar). I was gluing to exterior emulsion paint painted breeze blcoks. If you use no-nails as a filler, as well, behind the conduit you have a nice smooth edge that vacuums/wipes clean when you clean-up after a massive sawdust generating session as well!!!

[Andy Wade]

A tee is too small to make connections inside. Ideally use a square adaptable box and mount a terminal block inside. Alternatively you could use a round conduit box (aka BESA box) with a small terminal block inside.

[Christian McArdle]

Alternatively, rewire using a metalclad switch box as the junction box as well as holding the switch. There will already be connectors for switched live, perm live and earth. You just need to get a suitably insulated connector to loop the neutrals (or even crimp). This solution is neater, as you don't have a separate junction box sitting on the wall and there's plenty of space in a metalclad switch box.

Christian.

[Andy Hall]

A few things, because I have wired in the way that you describe in my workshop.

There's actually nothing wrong with twin and earth cable clipped to the wall as such.

If you want to use conduit, then take care about using T&E inside it as you may exceed the ratings for the cable.

It would be much better to rewire the whole lot using singles of PVC cable and avoid the need to have joints.

If you do need terminals in the middle of a conduit system, this will do the job

are various ones in the range.

There are 20mm knock outs in them and you fit an adaptor through the holes.

[anthony.j.cunningham]

"# Always use with compression glands & locknuts # Use EK glands for flex and Hituf or SWA glands"

Tony

[Andrew Gabriel]

It means the box only remains weatherproof if you use an appropriately weatherproofed cable seal. It should also probably be more specific in saying CW SWA glands (i.e. waterproof type).

[Andy Hall]

It only matters if you are going to use it outside and is to maintain the IP rating.

If it's used just as a convenient junction box then it's only necessary to knock out the disks and use a regular conduit fitting.