wiring regs

Aug 08, 2006 27 Replies

What's the best reading material nowadays for info on wiring regs e.g. a guide to best practice and the regs, part P etc. for intelligent but non specialist DIYer? Just about to embark on a re-wiring project.



cheers Jacob



Frinstance there's a list here.

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do I need? The 'Which' guide is not enough i feel. It's a chapel conversion with 3 phase.

cheers Jacob

Personally, I just get it from the horse's mouth. i.e. I just bought the BS itself and the OSG.

Christian.

Er thanks. What's the "BS" and "OSG"?

cheers Jacob

British Standard BS7671 16th Edition Wiring Regulations

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and "OSG"?

IEE On Site Guide to BS7671

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I should say that neither of these books are particularly hand holding.

Christian.

This is pretty good and not too expensive. Most wholesalers should have it.

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Thanks Christian Righto - in for a pound etc. They're =A3100! Any particular recommendations for primers, guides, as starting points?

cheers Jacob

Well, 63.55.

Christian.

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Which do I need? The 'Which' guide is not enough i feel. It's a chapel

Horses for courses I think. As a primer my pick is Whitfield and the latest edition has a small section on part P. Happen to use Scaddan for testing. While I do have the OSG (several colours in fact) I don't particularly rate it as a "site guide", the limited tables extracted from the BS are fine if they cover your design, otherwise you will need to refer to the full BS which contrary to your misleading listing costs a lot more than £9.49. Personally I've never justified buying the full BS and restrict my cable design and instatallation method to tables in the OSG which I use as a design guide not a site guide.

Jim A

Ooh yes ~ I was adding one to the total. I've ordered them and also Dave's suggestions from TLC. Plenty of holiday reading for the beach! Thanks

Jacob

hell out of me because of its crap index - if I want to find the answer to a specific query, I can never find it without having to browse.

Keep meaning to buy an OSG actually - never having seen one, is it worth having in addition?

David

The main advantage over the regs is that it has all the tables of standard pre-calculated circuits. It also describes the recommended testing regime.

I have no idea if the other book you have already has this information, but I would presume so.

Christian.

As Christian says, OSG very good. It's not that inaccessable, though it's not "electricity for idiots" either. Electric Wiring Domestic, Brain Scaddan is a bit more basic, and does cover good wiring practice, which the OSG doesn't.

Thanks - the other book (ie which I have) is Whitfield in fact; yes it does have that info. What's the OSG like for looking things up (ie it's indexing)?!

David

On 8 Aug 2006 02:34:48 -0700 someone who may be "normanwisdom" wrote this:-

The BS is a fairly thick document that is laid out in an "international" format that was obviously designed by at least one committee. One of the reasons that there are a number of books on the subject is because of the way the "real" document is so badly laid out, one needs to understand the whole thing before it is useful. However, it can't really be read as it is more a reference tool.

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that I would suggest one indulges in such naughty behaviour, but the set of three scadden books are frequently available as a dodgy download in PDF format (file sharing nets etc). Might be handy if you want to review more carefully before purchase.

Not too bad, although its many piccies, and ring bound format lead you into (falsely) believing it is easy to find the bit you want just by flicking through it! After ten mins of flicking and not finding it can get frustrating. ;-)

It is interesting that treatment of installation techniques and methods is not covered more fully in most books. It could almost do with one all of its own.

Anyone got a copy of:

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does it cover, and is it worth having?

Yes, and it is usually indexed as being the "British Standard" In the interests of research (and preferring an electronic copy of the BS as well as a paper copy) I downloaded this pdf only to be disappointed. Bit of a bugger really when you already have a full BS electronic subscription to the module that *should* have BS7671 but then find it's only available from the IET by paying extra.

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