Hi

I would like to add a new radial circuit to our kitchen for a cooker and I
just want to make sure
the sighting of the control and connection units are in exact accordance
with the updated
regs so I thought I'd invest in a book. My gut reaction is that something
like The " Which?"
Book of Wiring and Lighting would be a little too low level since I at least
know the basics
of electrical work, whereas the 16th Edition Regs themselves, the On-site
Guide and
Inspection, etc would all be a bit OTT. Therefore, I was thinking of buying
The Electrician's
Guide to the 16th Edition of the IEE Wiring Regulations BS7671.

My question is, is this still very much choc-a-block with tables etc or does
it outline in
plain simple language that the cooker switch should be Xmm & Ymm from the
hob, that
when routing the new radial circuit there should be Zmm separation between
it and
another radial circuit feeding the shower running through the same bit of
box work etc.

Basically my plan is to bring our new house up to spec then get a NICEIC
registered
electrican to come out and perform a PIR.

Thanks

Ross

On Tue, 9 Sep 2003 00:08:01 +0100, "r.galvin"
wrote:

Hi

I would like to add a new radial circuit to our kitchen for a cooker and I
just want to make sure
the sighting of the control and connection units are in exact accordance
with the updated
regs so I thought I'd invest in a book. My gut reaction is that something
like The " Which?"
Book of Wiring and Lighting would be a little too low level since I at least
know the basics
of electrical work, whereas the 16th Edition Regs themselves, the On-site
Guide and
Inspection, etc would all be a bit OTT. Therefore, I was thinking of buying
The Electrician's
Guide to the 16th Edition of the IEE Wiring Regulations BS7671.

I think that the IEE Wiring Regulations book (BS7671) itself is a good
reference which doesn't set out to be a practical guide. The OSG is
a useful short reference guide which does cover most of the salient
issues that you would need, but I have found issues that it doesn't
cover. The Electrician's Guide is pretty good and most of it is
reproduced on TLC's web site in the technical section. It does give
good illustrations of issues like cable runs for concealed cables, but
again does assume reasonable knowledge.



My question is, is this still very much choc-a-block with tables etc or does
it outline in
plain simple language that the cooker switch should be Xmm & Ymm from the
hob, that
when routing the new radial circuit there should be Zmm separation between
it and
another radial circuit feeding the shower running through the same bit of
box work etc.

There are certainly a number of tables as there are in the other books
as well. Unfortunately, to be able to be sufficiently generic, this
is how the standard is written. The alternative would be to have far
fewer approved wiring methods or to have page upon page of
combinations which would just get unwieldy.
The Whitfield book does at least give some worked examples on how to
group cables using the tables and derating multipliers.

To some extent, the complexity that you will need to get into will
depend on the techniques you choose to use.

Among the important issues are

- Service and equipotential bonding,

- Getting wiring, wiring accessories and devices correct for the
bathroom to account for the zones

- Correct use of circuits and placement of their circuit breakers
relative to RCDs


All of this assumes that you know the basics of the correct type of
cable for given situations, how to organise ring and radial circuits
and obvious stuff like green/yellow sleeving for earths.
If you are comfortable with those then I think that Whitfield's book
will give you pretty much everything else. It is not a step by step
guide, but I am not sure that comprehensive step by step guides exist



Basically my plan is to bring our new house up to spec then get a NICEIC
registered
electrican to come out and perform a PIR.

Thanks

Ross


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Is this any good to you :

http://www.diynot.com/pages/el/el027.php


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Yes is thanks, it did confirm what I intended to do but the discussion on
cable size was very interesting. Currently we intend to get a dual fuel
model
and although I don't know the rating of the oven yet I was still quite
surprised
that it suggested 4mm^2 was OK for runs under 12m.

My own personal feeling is that this may be OK for a fan assisted oven now
but in future years we may go for slot in all electrical model so I intended
to
install at least 6mm^2 if not 10mm^2 to cover future eventualities.

I must admit I am concerned that the meter tails are still the old 60Amp
cables and having read the user guide for the electric shower it says it is
a
high power model requiring a 45Amp fuse/MCB although who ever
installed it used a 30Amp fuse. I've contacted our electricity supplier
and asked if they will upgrade the tails, however, I haven't received
any reply yet.

Ross

"BigWallop" wrote in message
...
Is this any good to you :

http://www.diynot.com/pages/el/el027.php


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- Service and equipotential bonding,

Well the gas pipe on 'our side' is bonded to the main earthing terminal
right next to it but its hard to tell whether the water main is since all
but the stopcock is boxed in. There is no equipotential bonding in the
kitchen or in the bathroom so I'm planning to correct all this.

- Getting wiring, wiring accessories and devices correct for the
bathroom to account for the zones

Some of the bathroom has been recently rewired by a 'professional'
before we bougth the house but I am very surprised they didn't earth
all the plumbing. Doh!

- Correct use of circuits and placement of their circuit breakers
relative to RCDs

The lowest rated MCBs furthest away from the isolation switch/RCD,
correct rating for the cabling, ring mains and radials under RCD protection,
but not the lighting since the consumer unit is tucked away under the
stairs.
I don't want to be flailing about in the dark if it trips.


All of this assumes that you know the basics of the correct type of
cable for given situations, how to organise ring and radial circuits
and obvious stuff like green/yellow sleeving for earths.

Indeed, in fact it was interesting to note when I asked a couple of local
electricians to pop round and basically tout for any work that needed
doing before we bought (as a kind of poor man's electrical survey if you
will, but mainly to confirm what I had already ascertained) that one of
the indications to them that previous work was probably DIY was the
lack of rubber grommets in the mounting box holes.

If you are comfortable with those then I think that Whitfield's book
will give you pretty much everything else. It is not a step by step
guide, but I am not sure that comprehensive step by step guides exist

Thanks I think that pretty much confirms what I thought.

Cheerio

Ross

"r.galvin ntlworld.com" wrote
| Indeed, in fact it was interesting to note when I asked a couple of
| local electricians to pop round and basically tout for any work that
| needed doing before we bought (as a kind of poor man's electrical
| survey if you will, but mainly to confirm what I had already ascer-
| tained) that one of the indications to them that previous work was
| probably DIY was the lack of rubber grommets in the mounting box holes.

No, I've seen that on "professional" installations too :-)

Owain