Corgi and Part P

Where are the controls?

The normal zone valves, clocks, etc.

Sorry you may have misread me. I said WHERE are the controls not WHAT controls.

If the _new_ controls are in a kitchen, out-building, wet utility room, etc then it comes under Part Prescot. Which means Building Control or 'guild' membership.

If its like for like maintenance or in other locations then it's legally DIY, provided the controls don't render the gas appliance unsafe (hard to imagine how they could for a boiler).

Under Part P, flex 5 core CH cable is not permitted. It has to be flat cable.

Care to cite that regulation?

What a Corgi fitter told me who has just done the course. Permanent cable must not be flex..

Incorrect - and Part P is not the issue. BS7671 is.

Take for example, a light fitting that runs hot, such a 240V Halogen unit. It is actually preferred to terminate any PVC T+E short of the fitting and run the last short leg in heat resistant cable, which usually means HT flex.

Tim

Well either you misunderstood, he misunderstood, or his course was wrong.

Part P has nothing to say on this subject at all.

That's a reliable source of information (heavy sarcasm).

If there were a regulation, it would be in BS7671.

Probably his course is wrong. Some of the crap they tell them is unbelievable.

You mean: like on the zone valves - not.

My understanding is that Pumps, Boilers, Zone valves are fitted with flexes. Fixed wiring (eg. to the wall thermostat) would be in cable.

No need to panic Dribble, use this instead.

What about wiring to zone valves that are pretty far away from the rest of the system - i.e. in airing cupboards? I have always ran cable to a point near the system and then used a junction box or chocolate blocks in a suitable enclosure to convert up the flex attached to the valve.

Come to think of it - I've always done the same with immersion heaters - cable to an appropriate point and then a connection to heat resistant flex into the heater.

I guess that in those cases you can use a couple of runs of 2&E or 3&E with a JB as you describe. If either end was in a Special Location or a Kitchen then the job would be notifiable.

There would be no problem using multi-core flex of appropriate rating for the full run.

Whilst there are situations where it is clearly incorrect to use solid core where cable flexing is expected, there isn't any situation in an installation where solid core cable must be used in preference to flexible cable of the correct rating. Solid core cable is used because it's physically significantly smaller for the same rating, and because when clipped, it sags very much less. If these aren't important in your situation, and you need more cores than are available with solid core cables, then there's no reason not to use multicore flex of appropriate rating. Beware of issues such as earth fault loop impedance, fusing, and disconnection times though, particularly if using long lengths.

Thanks. The loop impedance shouldn't be too much of a problem as the circuit will always be protected with a 3A cartridge fuse and the CPC is of the same csa as the cores.

Each electrical component would need a ternminal oulet box to convert from solid flat cable to to flex.