Moving sockets 6 inches

[Jim]

Hi all

I need to move a couple of sockets by about 6 inches but there's no spare cable to play with.

Is there an approved method for extending cables if the 'extension' is to be plastered over.

Cheers

Jim

[The Wanderer]

No, no, don't even think about it - this where the true amateur bodger, sorry DIYer, will resort to chocolate strip, some pvc tape and a foot of flex buried in the wall......

As it happens I've corrected similar in my present house, amongst quite a few other nasties.

[Jim]

What did you do to correct :)

[NOSPAMnet]

Go to the next socket along and replace the existing cable with a piece the correct length .

[Andy Hall]

Yes.

You need to have some crimp connectors and a decent crimping tool. Cut the outer jacket from the end of each cable to a length of about

40-50mm, then cut the conductors, staggering them. The idea is not to have the crimp connectors all in one position. Put green/yellow sleeving on the bare conductor of each and then crimp each conductor into a barrel connector of the correct size.

Finally take some heatshrink sleeving, ideally with hot melt glue already inside and then shrink it onto the cable assembly with a heat gun.

This meets the electrical and mechanical requirements.

[John Rumm]

There is indeed. Described here in some detail:

[Tim S]

Andy Hall coughed up some electrons that declared:

May I just add for the OP: "Decent" means a proper ratchet crimper with compatible crimps.

Cheers

Tim

[Andy Hall]

Yes it does indeed. Looking at web sites such as TLC, it's about £20 for a ratchet job vs. £13 for without. The important point is getting consistency. Crimps are about £3 for 100.

There are kits around with a tool plus assortment of crimps. The trouble is that most have the simple, basic squeeze tool and the crimps are not always that great. RS et al. do some decent ones with several hundred crimps, but prices are gtting to the £100 range, which unless one is going to use the crimps probably aren't worth it. Nonetheless, I think that an electrical wholesaler like TLC or WF would be the place to look for both the tool and the crimps as opposed to a DIY store which will tend to sell the cheap non-ratchet kits.

[The Wanderer]

Did away with the particular socket, which had been installed for an aquarium which the previous owner had.

And the outside lights that had been wired off the back of a 13A socket in flex.

And the two-way switching to a pool light that had connector strip in an old plastic paint tub set into the paving around the pool and that was actually full of water and still alive.

And the bare end of live cable I found in the loft that had been stripped, the cores separated and then just left.

I could go on......

[Jim]

Thanks to all

I have a ratchett crimper, connectors and heat shrink in the garage so looks like I'm good to go.

Cheers

Jim

[Andy Hall]

Obviously test before you bury in plaster, but yes.

[Bruce]

So you don't believe that crimping the cables is a viable option, as several others have suggested?

[Andy Wade]

One final point - is the circuit RCD protected? Where a circuit is extended the 17th edition wiring regs now apply to the new section, even if it is only 6 in. long!

RCD protection (30 mA) is now required for all general-use 13 A sockets and also for unprotected cables buried less then 50 mm deep in walls. If the circuit is part of an older installation with no RCD then one should, strictly speaking, be added.

[jgharston]

If the supply is RCD protected, does that count?

-- JGH - who doens't waht to throw away his well-thumbed 16th Ed.

[Andy Wade]

What do you mean by "the supply"? If you mean the supply to the circuit in question, i.e. there's an RCD in the consumer unit then yes, that's exactly what's needed.

If you mean that there's whole-house 30 mA RCD, then that will satisfy the requirements I mentioned for additional protection but it's non-compliant in other respects, viz. the 314 group of regulations (division of installation for safety and convenience, etc).

[The Wanderer]

Did I say that? I think you're trying to put words in my mouth.

I have a personal aversion to joints in cable runs if its at all possible to avoid them. All right, my experience is in power distribution, but u/g cables per se don't go faulty, it's invariably the joints that fault.

[jgharston]

An RCD between the meter and the consumer unit, as per

[Bruce]

You certainly implied that. Mine was a genuine question, not an attempt to put words into your mouth. Next year I will be renewing our kitchen, and one of the issues I am facing is how best to relocate some of the power points.

[Andy Wade]

some emergency lighting provision it might be judged as compliant.

[The Wanderer]

Bite the bullet and rewire for the kitchen. That's what I did, got all the sockets where SWMBO wanted them, rehashed the lighting. Now I *know* it's a good job.