Cable colours grrrrr

If there's some on the reel, sell it on ebay, it will almost certainly sell e.g.

Keep it for the jobs that the BCO may 'not be aware of'? ...well it's a thought ;)

=============================== Buy some of these:

You must be the only one in the country paying attention to such tosh - indeed many commercial installations refuse to use the new colours for extending or repairs.

Don't think he's got much option if this is under BCO supervision though...

David

I've not seen any commercial. Post some pictures

Cheers

Richard

================================== I assumed that the OP's house isn't currently wired to the new colour wiring standard. If my assumption is correct it appears from the OP's post that he is about to add wiring of the newer standard to his (presumed) old colour standard installation. He expressed his intention to be legal.

I pointed him in the direction of the labels required to make the mix of old and new legal. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to do in a DIY newsgroup.

Cic.

True as it stands but all new works have to be done in the new colours and as the BCO has his fingers on this particular installation the OP cannot use the old colours. He could use them for non-notifiable work though...

=============================== A bit of c "I assumed that the OP's house isn't currently wired to the new colour wiring standard. If my assumption is correct it appears from the OP's post that he is about to add wiring of the newer standard to his (presumed) old colour standard installation. He expressed his intention to be legal.

I pointed him in the direction of the labels required to make the mix of old and new legal. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to do in a DIY newsgroup."

----------------------------

I wasn't suggesting that the OP should use the old standard cable - only that the use of cables of different standards requires a warning notice to indicate the use of two standards.

Cic.

It was perfectly clear to me.

Dave

Why would a mixture of colours need a warning label? I assume the cables are the same spec, just different colours?

What I'm asking is how could a mixture of colours be a hazzard? Or is it just the regs?

=============================== It is to conform to regulations.

This is the relevant text taken from, "Modern wiring practice", by W.E.Steward & T.A.Stubbs.

"In any installation, whether single- or three-phase, where two different colour standards are present, a warning notice must be affixed at or near distribution boards worded:

CAUTION This installation has wiring colours to two versions of BS7671. Great care should be taken before undertaking extension, alteration or repair that all conductors are correctly identified."

Not any more. You cannot get the old colours wunless you order 10km of cable, so customer now have to put up with it.

=============================== It appears from information in, "Modern wiring practice", that the OP could have used the old colour coded cable if he'd been prepared to argue the point with his BCO.

This sentence, "IEE Regulation 514-03-02 states that every core of a cable shall be identifiable *at its terminations* and preferably throughout its length and IEE table 51 specifies the alphanumeric and colour identification to be used." (My emphasis)

This seems to suggest that correctly colour coded identifiers can be used at the *ends of cables*, but I'm not an electrician so it may mean something quite different.

Cic.

We're just having an additional 1MVA supply and generator and transfer switch put in at work, and all the offcuts of the larger new cables are red/yellow/blue. When I'm back in the office next week, I'll ask the electricians if they are still using the old colours throughout.

A former employer had banned mixing of the colour schemes on all sites, as had a number of their customers (wiring closets all had notices affixed saying use of the new colours was not permitted anywhere on site). Apparently, a few sites have been using what became the new colours for many years to distinguish UPS or clean supplies from regular supplies (hospitals in particular that I've heard of).

At a practical level I agree with you, if you don't know the difference between the old and new colours without a reminder sticker you probably shouldn't be doing the job.

Alas, it's the regs.

Take a look at the new three phase colours.

Well, I may be wrong but in the old colours black is the neutral but in the new colours, black is a phase colour and 3-core and earth as may be used to wire a two-way lighting circuit has a black conductor, so some unsuspecting character could think he's dealing with a neutral when in fact it may be live - maybe?

John.