On Fri, 21 May 2004 15:46:37 GMT, in uk.d-i-y "BigWallop"
strung together this:

Any external wiring should be protected as much as possible, so I'd personally
advise you to use the RCD side of the CU.

Ignore this bit, it is unneccesary and adds to the nuisance tripping.

It's also best and safest if you can make the SWA in a single run all the way
between the two points. Joints in anything, by nature, make them less
efficient. And I'd also go for 6 mm csa' SWA on that full length to make sure
that supply is adequate enough to take any fault currents.

Somewhat excessive that is. 4mm is plenty adequate, and as for the
joints, 1 mid point connection isn't going to have any influence on
the current carrying capacity of the circuit or its reliability.

Relying on the Wire Armour is never a good thing really. So I'd advise that a
seperate local spike be driven. You should then be using a separate CU in the
shed and make your individual circuits from that.

He never asked if he could use the SWA as an earth, just whether he
can use an external earth rod. If he uses 3 core SWA cable then the
third core is the earth.
--

SJW
A.C.S. Ltd.