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During today's continued renovation of an old building for a charity, I helped to install some of these...
https://www.screwflix..com/p/sabref...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CNaEmprxutsCFQ0S0wodjuYKtQ

This, plus completion of my water supply piping and insulation qualifies me as a builder's mate!

However, the real builder, Roddy, hoisted the 1.8m lintel onto his shoulder, climbed the trestle and placed it singlehandedly...

...meantime we installed the first fix for the lighting and kitchen circuits, and drank lots of tea!

The Boss told us we had plenty of time to finish everything, as the lease is 25 years!

I love being retired! So much time to learn! Just signed up for a 6 weeks' Spanish language course too.

Dies metros de dos punto cinco milimetros cuadrado con tierra por favor...
actually, they use singles mostly, but hey...they also use screw-nuts...

My lawn is about a foot high now...
anyone got a goat for hire?
 
During today's continued renovation of an old building for a charity, I helped to install some of these...
https://www.screwflix..com/p/sabref...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CNaEmprxutsCFQ0S0wodjuYKtQ

This, plus completion of my water supply piping and insulation qualifies me as a builder's mate!

However, the real builder, Roddy, hoisted the 1.8m lintel onto his shoulder, climbed the trestle and placed it singlehandedly...

...meantime we installed the first fix for the lighting and kitchen circuits, and drank lots of tea!

The Boss told us we had plenty of time to finish everything, as the lease is 25 years!

I love being retired! So much time to learn! Just signed up for a 6 weeks' Spanish language course too.

Dies metros de dos punto cinco milimetros cuadrado con tierra por favor...
actually, they use singles mostly, but hey...they also use screw-nuts...

My lawn is about a foot high now...
anyone got a goat for hire?


sounds like the sat nav of the spanish guy i work with metros, 100metros of twin and earth por favor
 
Now seriously, I need some help here. The first fix for lights,sockets and kitchen water heater are in, but I have to turn my attention to the cooker circuit now.
I know I have to show my workings before I'll get the right answer, so don't be too cruel. please!
Here we go:
1. the cooker is a monster! 5 electric rings, and 2 ovens and a grill, and the rating plate says 13950W, so let's say 14KW, coming in at, say, 60A.
2. If I take the first 10A, plus 30% of the remaining 50A, that's 15A plus 10A =25A (I'm not having a socket outlet on this circuit).
3. The cable run from DB to cooker is 15 metres.
4. I have a choice of cable fixing methods. The cable can be clipped direct to the joists, above the plasterboard ceiling, rather than lying on it, but the architects drawings show that 2 layers of 150mm rockwool will insulate the attic area, so the cable will be buried anyway. However, part of the attic will be floored, and I could clip the cable on top, but I would want to protect it in a conduit if I took that route. An option is to route the cable above the insulation, in free air, so to speak, clipped to the roof timbers.
5. I was hoping to take the easiest option, 10mm cable clipped in free air, for ease of installation, but I expect I will have missed something here?
6. What RCBO rating should be provided at the DB?
7. What would you recommend as the connection unit between the end of the cable run and the cooker?

To make it abundantly clear, I will only be installing the wiring and CCU, and our tame sparks will be doing the terminations and testing. This is a charity, and he is doing his work free of charge, but I naturally want everything to be right before he calls to do his stuff.
Yes, I could ask him direct, but I would like the opinion of you experts on here, and wherever I have gone crazily wrong, I can correct things and make sure I buy all the right gear. Before you ask, no...he is not an electrician friend who is currently on holiday! None of that rubbish! I would just value your input, so I can buy and fit accordingly without making a total idiot of myself...for once!
 
6.0mm T/E run above insulation. 32A RCBO/MCB. sorted. .
 
ElSparko, you are 100% correct! We have had fab weather here, and there are many brown baldies on site!
Tel, thanks so much for your input on this, I feel very comfortable with that...I was surprised to see a "tail" of 6mm t&e on the cooker, but thought we might need to go to 10mm due to the distance.
Best option for for the CCU?
 
i was in a loft for a brief period today removing 2 layers of insulation from ontop of halogen downlights

lots of it got stuck in my hair, its a double edge sword
 
Ive had loft work yesterday and today - I had no laughter in me come 5 pm as I was ITCHY!
@pirate have you been befriending us all this time so that you could ask your DIY’r cooker circuit question - I for one feel used, dirty and used!
Sounds like a good project and sounds like you’re enjoying yourself.
You haven’t really just got one leg have you? You’ve mentioned it a couple of times! (Or is it pirate talk)
 
Rpa07, I can assure you that this charity project is indeed good fun, but it is hard graft, 9 - 5 most days, and it was 10 - 6 on Sunday, because I had to keep out of the way of the brickie on Monday, so was working in the attic all day...no insulation in there yet, but as the building was inhabited by pigeons for 25 years it is a bit "musty"...
No, I wasn't building up to getting free advice! I have just landed in a position where most of the guys have other skills, but we have no plumbers or electricians, so amateur versions have to suffice to do the donkey work. I am very comfortable with plumbing, and very comfortable with wiring stuff for the experts to check and terminate, but I am extrememly conscious of the fact that this is a charity open to the public, mainly elderly and in some cases infirm, so it may not matter if my plumbing leaks (It Doesn't) but the electrical installation has to be top class, not a "home job", as folk will be coming to the Shed to try their hands at wood-turning, furniture making etc so lots of electric tools in use...we simply must have a high-integrity electrical installation, and I believe I can install ok, given guidance as to the proper kit, but the experts have to check it and test it. However, I will admit it is a lot of fun, and a very rewarding project, and once the renovation is complete it will provide a wonderful facility for all ages to benefit from, whether for hands-on learning, teaching or just providing a forum for lonely people to find company and a new interest. We have had so many donations of tools, mainly traditional hand-tools of the old school, wonderful quality, we are overflowing with them. it is our intention to refurbish the excess ones and donate them to other projects for teaching and even to deprived areas in other countries where a good
saw or drill might make a man make a living...far better than seeing those old brace and bit sets going to landfill.
Sorry, lesson ends!
(Fortunately, I do have two legs...just as well, as I've been up ladders and crawling in that attic for weeks now)
Chap arrived today, 82 years old, widowed, bored...picked up a box of tiles someone had donated...sat and sorted them in the sun, then tiled a wall in the kitchen...slow, steady and kept up the chat all the while...he's coming back on Friday, can't wait...but he gets his chemo tomorrow so it takes him a couple of days to recover...
Some great characters involved, and it's amazing to be able to feel you can give something to the common effort.
 
top of myhead. 15m 6.0mm @ 25A will give you a VD of 3V. well within limits. ref. method C gives max. current 47A, again well within limits. even derated by 50% (worst case), that comes out @23.5A, so close.
 
Thank you all for your kind comments and Tel thanks for that extra input!
I have run all the cables clipped direct 400mm above finished floor (insulation) level, well into the eaves space, and I am labelling them as I go, every 5m. For me, with no time constraints, it is great fun...but I do appreciate what you professionals have to do,day in day out!
Today, I fitted 2 water heaters. They are on a ring, but I haven't tested them yet as the spark has to terminate the cables to the DB. I was thinking...if I wago the "return" end, to isolate it, I could treat the circuit as a radial, spur it off a socket temporarily, and run the heaters for a test, just to make sure they work? They are POU 2kw units. The DB has an islolator, and I am ok to test for dead at the socket before connecting.
Talking of eaves space, many years ago I was into estate agency. I would visit the house, take the measurements and photographs, and record a narrative for the secretary to type...
The draft schedule for one house came back to me for checking, and this is what it said:
"The Master Bedroom has a comprehensive range of built-in wardrobes, with access to Eve's behind"...
Ah, those days...
 
Last edited:
Thank you all for your kind comments and Tel thanks for that extra input!
I have run all the cables clipped direct 400mm above finished floor (insulation) level, well into the eaves space, and I am labelling them as I go, every 5m. For me, with no time constraints, it is great fun...but I do appreciate what you professionals have to do,day in day out!
Today, I fitted 2 water heaters. They are on a ring, but I haven't tested them yet as the spark has to terminate the cables to the DB. I was thinking...if I wago the "return" end, to isolate it, I could treat the circuit as a radial, spur it off a socket temporarily, and run the heaters for a test, just to make sure they work? They are POU 2kw units. The DB has an islolator, and I am ok to test for dead at the socket before connecting.
Talking of eaves space, many years ago I was into estate agency. I would visit the house, take the measurements and photographs, and record a narrative for the secretary to type...
The draft schedule for one house came back to me for checking, and this is waht it said:
"The Master Bedroom has a comprehensive range of built-in wardrobes, with access to Eve's behind"...
Ah, those days...
 
Sorry, 100mm above finished insulation level, so 400 above floor level that the insulation will lie on.
 

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