On 21/11/2010 11:06, harry wrote:
On Nov 21, 10:54 am, Ron wrote:
On 21/11/2010 10:46, harry wrote:

On Nov 20, 7:44 pm, wrote:
If our consumer unit is moved by about a metre/3' 3" the upstairs
circuit cables would be too short to reach the CU. Would all the
upstairs cables have to be replaced or could the cables be extended by
jointing cables?

Or they can be extended by twisting togeter in a proper manner and
soldering (with a blowlamp and using suitable flux.) They can be re-
insulated with heatshrink sleeving. This is actually far better than
crimps. Takes longer but you won't need the expensive crimping tool.

A blowlamp and flux?
For the cable sizes used in a domestic CU?
I don't think so!

We're not trying to solder the bus-bars in a national grid switching
station here.

A proper soldering iron and regular cored solder is the order of the
day. Additional flux is not required.

You need to cut the wires to a sensible length, and I prefer to twist
them together. This is to provide mechanical strength, and hold the
joint still during soldering.

I prefer to 'stagger' the join, so that the Phase, N and E are joined
about a cm apart. It makes the job neater. I also use a double layer
of heatshrink on each conductor, and then an overall single layer of
heatshrink.

--
Ron

A soldering iron has not the heat to penetrate to the centre of a
stranded cable. This method works fine. Cored solder will work but
there's not really enough flux.
With small cables it takes seconds to heat the cable up with a
blowlamp.
This was at one time the only way to joint cables. There is no
possiblity of cables or screws loosening in any way. There is a
system for twisting the cable strands in larger cable obviously
unknown to you but it was all part of standard knowledge when I was an
apprentice. Crimps are inferior in every way apart from saving time
and money.

But we're not talking about 'larger cables'.

A proper soldering iron ( eg 50W Temperature Controlled ) has plenty
capacity to solder the cable sizes used in a domestic CU.

--
Ron