Wiring

[Rick]

Knowlegable People

I am looking for a book on how to wire a house, one that covers the new regulations, with suggestions about dealing with problems. One with pictures and diagrams, one that won't send me to sleep but does contain all the detail I am likley to need.

For example, I am told that I can't run horizontal wires in walls. I have a solid floor (with UFH), and an exposed beam ceiling, which means the wires end up in the insulation of one or the other - not exactly easy to get at in future.

Example 2, is that I have an exposed rubble stone wall, with "shelfs" reset into it. I want to light the sehelfs. What I would have done was run the wire inside the pointing, in a sort of wiggle accross the wall, I guess this is not allowed.

The current plan to avoid junction boxes is to run all the wires for each socket/switch/light as a star from a single "join the whole lot together" point.

I will likley be getting a sparkie in as a consultant, but as I am now doing floows and roofs, if I need to put wires into them, I have to do it soon ......

Thanks Rick

[bigcat]

contradiction in terms Im afraid. Any bookshop will sell you a guide to the 16th edn regs. Well, any technically oriented one.

not true, but there are restrictions as to where.

Not the usual approach, though radial circuits are permitted. But you'll need to fuse it at lower current. Rings are usually preferred.

You cant join socket and light ccts together. Nor can you connect everything as one circuit!

Sugegst talking to us here, this beats books.

NT

[Andrew Chesters]

Just as a general pointer, you might consider doing some or all of your wiring in Mineral Insulated Copper Cored cable (MICC or Pyro). This can be run surface and worked into the profile of your walls. It can be painted in to match or left to age naturally. Sure it costs, but if you really have no way to run pvc it might be a way forward. There are special tools and techniques, but it's not impossible for a competent DIYer.

Andrew

[Newshound]

Agreed.

Or Amazon; IEE On Site Guide. Scaddam 16th regs guide. Whitfield "Electrician's guide".

[Owain]

"Rick" wrote | For example, I am told that I can't run horizontal wires | in walls. I have a solid floor (with UFH), and an exposed | beam ceiling, which means the wires end up in the insulation | of one or the other - not exactly easy to get at in future.

You can run concealed unprotected wires horizontally or vertically from visible accessories. You can also run them horizontally at the top of a wall (cornice) but not at the bottom (skirting). Any wiring in other locations must either be visible or protected. You could look at skirting trunking for example, although most variants are either white plastic naff or rather industrial looking.

| Example 2, is that I have an exposed rubble stone wall, with | "shelfs" reset into it. I want to light the sehelfs. What I | would have done was run the wire inside the pointing, in a | sort of wiggle accross the wall, I guess this is not allowed.

Not allowed for mains wiring. But you could probably use low voltage lights for the recesses with the transformers mounted separately.

| The current plan to avoid junction boxes is to run all the | wires for each socket/switch/light as a star from a single | "join the whole lot together" point.

That will result in much more cable and work than is really needed. You should not need many junction boxes on a lighting circuit anyway as you loop in/out at the ceiling roses (or the switches if you prefer). You should also not need junction boxes on power circuits in most situations.

If you need to run surface cables over stone walls, MICC (mineral insulated copper clad) is considerably neater and less conspicuous than PVC. It is harder to install and has to be done well, but it may be an elegant solution for a socket ring circuit.

Owain

[andrewpreece]

You can, within 6" of the floor or the ceiling. I believe you can also run cable horizontally across a wall if it is going to a fixture on that wall, but not if you have to traverse another wall to get there. I think, for example, this means a wall light on the same wall as its switch could have a wire buried in the wall horizontally between them.

Andy.

[John Rumm]

Yup, go along with those... on Amazon here:

"On Site Guide":

[Gel]

Try

[Rick]

I see a market for such a book. For example, TCP/IP (what your PC is most likley using to talk to my PC) is defined by the various RFC's which are almost impossible to read. There are a number of usless book that try to explain it, and there are one or 2 notably very good ones, which use pictures (or diagrams) and plenty of explination. OK you still need some knowedle to read the better books, but you have to know how to use a screwdriver to wire a house .....

[Dave Stanton]

Well somebody read and understood, otherwise the internet would not be here !!

Dave

[Bob Eager]

RFCs are definitions, not tutorials. They are there to define the fine detail, not to teach you TCP/IP. Having said that, I've just sent some students off to read a few....starting with RFC 527 and RFC 1149....

[John Rumm]

Somewhat OT, but if really need to know how TCP/IP works in detail and in an understandable way then you need the set of books by W. Richard Stevens:

[Rick]

the mumbo jumbo in thr RFCs readable, and expanded on the subject to cover all the extra bits. Its rather a shame Stevens died before he wrote a decent book on IPv6.

Rick

[bigcat]

Either you have a really smart idea hidden up your sleeve, or the phrase 'contradiction in terms' passed you by. Lets see: how do you make large quantities of technical data into abook that a) wont send ytou to sleep b) wont completely waste your time by padding it out with tons of crap.

NT

[Tim S]

To my mind, you'd need a hyperlink supporting medium for this, done

*well*.

Like this, for example:

is straight to the point without pointless pontification and unnecessary explanation, but terms and related material are cleanly linked.

Something perhaps like the following structure:

(...)

Sockets:

Radial circuits (with diagram)

(...)

Ring circuits (diagram)

Cable used - usually 2.5mm2 "T+E PVC(=link to cable types section)" subject to "derating(=link to explanation and IEE regs +table)" or "grouping(=link to explanation and IEE regs + table)"

A spur - you can have x spurs done like blah (=links to IEE etc)

and so on.

Bit like a merger of Whitfield's diagrams, going through a level of two of concise English, finally leading to the quotes of the pertinent IEE regs.

Each paragraph is written in full on technical (but concise) language, but the links make it easy to understand the terms and conditions.

It would be a hell of an undertaking to write, but, hey, it's just an idea.

Tim

[:::Jerry::::]

Bad comparison, a wonky TCP/IP network is very unlikely to kill, a wonky elecritcal instalation is...

[bof]

In message , John Rumm writes

One of the best written text books I've found on any subject, not just TCP/IP.

[bigcat]

section)"

language, but

woud be very useful. I cant see anyone doing that much work though - but maybe one day it'll happen.

NT

[Stefek Zaba]

nope

yup

yup. Visible electrical fixtures are accepted as Clues that a buried cable might be running vertically or horizontally to/from them.

But if it's an older 'cottage-style' property, and you have the time and willingness to learn the skill, then surface-run MICC can look rather good, as Andrew C suggested (but *not* if it's covered in bright red insulation, as it is for fire-protection related circuits ;-). You'll find this done in churches, castles, and similar solid-stone-built places where sinking cable into plaster Just Isn't On.

Stefek

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I had a struggle to find bare copper clips for bare 2L1. You can strip the PVC off the cable, so that's not a problem - apart from it being a waste. But removing PVC from clips and drilling a new hole is a bit of a pain. :-)