Screw cable clips

[Brian Gaff]

Many moons ago there used to be some kind of zinc or lead strips that you could put around cables then drill a hole and secure them. They don't look that nice, but who looks in a loft? Brian

[John Rumm]

Something like perforated banding can be used - effective with bundles of cable as well (where the de-rating permits it)

The fire rated clips designed for use in trunking would also work without the trunking:

Saddle clips would also do it:

Or just a screw on cable tie base, and then use with whatever style of zip tie you fancy.

[John Rumm]

Also spotted these:

Drill a hole, loop clip over cable, and push the legs into the hole.

[Mike Humphrey]

Metal cable trays?

Not cheap, but you can fix the trays with screws and either lay the cables in them or cable-tie them if they need more securing.

Mike

[GB]

Probably no problem at all. The rating under insulation is 10A, compared to 20A if on top of the insulation. So, I guess you changed the MCB when you heaped the insulation on top? ;)

We used to have a combined heat and light unit in the bathroom, so a couple of those, together with tungsten lights, might have come to 10A.

[Theo]

If it's lighting, it's typically on a 6A circuit so the derating doesn't matter.

Anyway, this is cabling to fixed lights (rating 4W apiece), aerial, network, etc. I'd be more careful about 32A rings.

Trunking does have an advantage though: 120mm joists with boarding over, so I can fit 100mm celotex and then have space for trunking on top (with maybe a little notching of the celotex). All the cabling is easily accessible and modifiable without having to disturb the celotex.

One nice thing about trunking is you can potentially arrange for a little airflow through the trunking, which helps the derating a little (although probably not enough to put it in a different category)

On the lighting circuit?

Theo

[Theo]

I'd love to sort out the random jumble of loft wiring and junction boxes into a nice vertical(ish) cable tray across the rafters. Alas, that is OCD scope creep a little too far :-)

(I think stainless would be somewhat OTT though - steel would be fine)

Theo

[Robin]

They are 6A.

I've been tempted to sub a 10A for nostalgia's sake: still remember how plugging the iron into an adapter in the ceiling light was a great way of keeping the flex out of the way :)

[GB]

Yes, one of these.

They were quite common when this house was built 50 years ago. They are only 3A, so it was feasible to hang them off the lighting circuit.

I agree that you'd have to have a few to cause trouble with a 1.5mm2 lighting circuit. :)

[Andrew]

Adam has previously said that 1.5mm lighting cable with a 6 amp MCB will satisfy any installation method, at least I think that's what he posted.

[Owain Lastname]

People here do (smiley)

Owain

[ARW]

That is correct.

Even more correct when with LED lighting you are very unlikely to get anywhere near 6A

[jkn]

A slight detour here, but I'd appreciate some informed opinion. I laid celotex + OSB on top of our joists in the loft some years ago. I confess that for the existing lighting wiring I simply brought the junction boxes and cabling above the OSB - they are currently loose on the 'floor' - pending 'a better time to get round to it'.

I'd like to make a better job of this at some point. Would self-adhesive PVC trunking on the floor be 'acceptable'? The loft is only used for storage.

Thanks, J^n

[Fredxx]

Is there any reason why you didn't clip the cable to the joists at the time?

I might suggest that self adhesive trunking wouldn't afford any mechanical protection on a floor.

[jkn]

Hi Fred

Because I didn't want to enclose them under the Celotex.

That's why I'm asking...

J^n

[Reentrant]

Late to the party but I remember someone on Dragon's Den showing a cable stapler. A quick Google and it's on the market:

Maybe overkill for your needs, but it's quick and quiet.

[alan_m]

A dewalt version

[Theo]

I'm not sure you can actually buy them?

Those look quite nice, but they are somewhat pricey (£220 for the unit). If you could get one for the price of a regular electric stapler that would be quite interesting...

Theo

[alan_m]

All these things look easy to use when demonstrating. Start going into areas with limited spaces such as lofts and you may find that large tools are more of a hindrance.