Unobtrusive outdoor electrics

[Chris Green]

We have just erected a 'permanent' (i.e. steel box frame and polypropylene roof) gazebo. We had to move a small summer house as a consequence of this and, as a further consequence, I will have to relocate some outdoor wiring and I'm trying to come up with the least obtrusive way of doing this.

Having removed the summer house the feed wire (underground from a small sub-consumer unit in a tack room) just emerges from the ground a couple of metres from the new gazebo. There are also a couple of SWA cables emerging at the same point which go underground to some pond electrics.

So, I need to do several things:-

Re-connect the 'incomer' to the pond feeds, this is just on bare, sloping ground. I guess I need to bury it or at least partly bury it so strimmer/mower can go over it. It's all fed by a 16A MCB (with RCD protection further up the tree) so can I use Wago connectors in a small[ish] weatherproof box and make it 'inaccessible'? I could crimp things but I'm not quite sure how one can crimp more than two wires together.

Add a new feed from the buried box above to a corner of the new gazebo. Is it mandatory for this to be buried or is there any way to run SWA on the surface that would be acceptable? It'll be awkward to bury. If on the surface SWA could run along the edge of the paving on which the gazebo is standing, I could P-clip it to the concrete edges.

Finally I need some sort of neat and tidy way of providing a couple of sockets by the gazebo. This could be anything from a wooden post with a pair of outdoor sockets on it to a purpose made, elegant (?) supply as used in marinas etc. (but it does have to have standard BS1363 sockets). Any suggestions for what would look reasonably civilized?

[Steve Walker]

Jointed in a box and then epoxy filled?

As for burying it - there are requirements about depth, warning tape, etc. that you'd have to look into.

Industrially, I've previously specified using Unistrut

to route one or two cables through. Using it on it's side, with the base fastened to the edge of the paving would provide good protection from being stood on, impacted, etc. You can even get a plastic capping to close off the open side and so protect the cable from the sun.

I have a simple, two-gang socket, in a plastic housing, with a latching lid on the front of my (back garden) garage. I'd just go for one of those on a post.

[Chris Green]

On further research it seems to me that inaccessible SWA glands are not allowed because they have nuts to tighten which must be checked. Is this right? I.e. one can't bury any sort of SWA interconnection.

I suppose the answer therefore is to part bury the box with the lid at ground surface level so it can be mowed over etc. but is still accessible.

[John Rumm]

[Chris Green]

A 4-way Pratley is quite expensive though. It's not quite clear how it avoids the 'accessible' requirement either as there appear to be nuts to tighten that provide the earth continuity.