Thanks for all your replies to my post "Garden cabling / electricity"
which I have included below. After further study and consideration of
replies to my original post subjected above I have a couple more
questions. These can be found below also. Thanks.

1. My original post insinuated that 240v from the mains would be
carried around the cable. If you read through the thread and posts so
far the general consus is that this cabling is not sufficient for this
purpose. I definately agree this cabling (it is by the way twin and
earth looping around) is not sufficient or safe by a long way if I spur

it directly off a mains - i.e. carrying 240v. However I've done some
further studies and if I spur off a mains, hook it up to a 5A fuse box
then through a transformer down to 12v would this be acceptable? i.e.
the twin and earth that has simply been laid underneath the turf around

the garden would only carry 12v - sufficient enough to power garden
lighting? Please correct me where I'm wrong, I'm still learning about
all this stuff, but as I understand it you can buy garden lighting that

are already connected with thin wire and the plug has a built in
transformer converting 240v down to 12v for the lighting. This thin
wire is usually laid above ground. So again I'm assuming that twin and

earth wire laid a couple inches below ground also carrying 12v should
be safe also?


2. The second question I had related to the water feature our gardener
has installed. The cable to the pump is separate to that cable I
explain above, but it too has also been laid under the new turf, so
again only a couple inches below ground at most. I have inspected the
pump and the cable in to the pump is underwater (along with the pump).
Is this normal? The cable looks like it was already connected to the
pump, it looks again like twin and earth. I wasn't around when the
gardener installed this but he suggested to my wife that a plug can be
attached to the end of the cable so it can be plugged in to the mains
just to test the pump. So my wife did that. We have only ever plugged

the water feature in for a few minutes at most. But obviously this
would mean that 240v is going through this cable, through what looks
like twin and earth, just two inches below ground. I am concerned
about that. So the questions I have about this then are 1. why is cable

in the pump under water, 2. can I do something similar to the lights
and run 12v to the pump instead of 240 and that way I can also use the
existing cable the way it is? If not I'll definately lay armoured
cable 18 inches below ground with warning tape above it etc..


Many thanks for your patience and help!

--- ORIGINAL POST FROM "Garden cabling / electricity" ----
Dundonald wrote:
I contracted a landscape gardner to do a lot of work on our rear
garden
which inolved building a partition wall, filling in with hardcore and

top soil to level everything off, followed by returfing everywhere.
I
requested cabling to be inserted so I can have an electrician hook up

some garden lighting and connect to the cabling to our mains. Thing
is
the gardner has simply laid the cabling underneath the turf so what's

that - about an inch and a half deep at most.

I'm no sparky and I'm concerned this isn't the best idea and when I
do
have a sparky come around to do the legit work and hook everything up

they wont touch it.


Am I being overly sensitive? What are the regs?

"Dundonald" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for all your replies to my post "Garden cabling / electricity"
which I have included below. After further study and consideration of
replies to my original post subjected above I have a couple more
questions. These can be found below also. Thanks.

1. My original post insinuated that 240v from the mains would be
carried around the cable. If you read through the thread and posts so
far the general consus is that this cabling is not sufficient for this
purpose. I definately agree this cabling (it is by the way twin and
earth looping around) is not sufficient or safe by a long way if I spur

it directly off a mains - i.e. carrying 240v. However I've done some
further studies and if I spur off a mains, hook it up to a 5A fuse box
then through a transformer down to 12v would this be acceptable? i.e.
the twin and earth that has simply been laid underneath the turf around

the garden would only carry 12v - sufficient enough to power garden
lighting? Please correct me where I'm wrong, I'm still learning about
all this stuff, but as I understand it you can buy garden lighting that

are already connected with thin wire and the plug has a built in
transformer converting 240v down to 12v for the lighting. This thin
wire is usually laid above ground. So again I'm assuming that twin and

earth wire laid a couple inches below ground also carrying 12v should
be safe also?


2. The second question I had related to the water feature our gardener
has installed. The cable to the pump is separate to that cable I
explain above, but it too has also been laid under the new turf, so
again only a couple inches below ground at most. I have inspected the
pump and the cable in to the pump is underwater (along with the pump).
Is this normal? The cable looks like it was already connected to the
pump, it looks again like twin and earth. I wasn't around when the
gardener installed this but he suggested to my wife that a plug can be
attached to the end of the cable so it can be plugged in to the mains
just to test the pump. So my wife did that. We have only ever plugged

the water feature in for a few minutes at most. But obviously this
would mean that 240v is going through this cable, through what looks
like twin and earth, just two inches below ground. I am concerned
about that. So the questions I have about this then are 1. why is cable

in the pump under water, 2. can I do something similar to the lights
and run 12v to the pump instead of 240 and that way I can also use the
existing cable the way it is? If not I'll definately lay armoured
cable 18 inches below ground with warning tape above it etc..


Many thanks for your patience and help!

--- ORIGINAL POST FROM "Garden cabling / electricity" ----
Dundonald wrote:
I contracted a landscape gardner to do a lot of work on our rear
garden
which inolved building a partition wall, filling in with hardcore and

top soil to level everything off, followed by returfing everywhere.
I
requested cabling to be inserted so I can have an electrician hook up

some garden lighting and connect to the cabling to our mains. Thing
is
the gardner has simply laid the cabling underneath the turf so what's

that - about an inch and a half deep at most.

I'm no sparky and I'm concerned this isn't the best idea and when I
do
have a sparky come around to do the legit work and hook everything up

they wont touch it.


Am I being overly sensitive? What are the regs?

The 12v over the existing cable idea is not good for a few reasons...

It's a mains type cable, so anyone else who discovers it later will assume
mains - and it's not.

The wiring in/out of the transformer will be confusing because of the point
above.

12v is 20times less voltage than mains, but 20 times more currect (amps) for
the same wattage load - in other words the existing cable may not be up to
delivering the load required as 12v, even though it can at 240v.

And as for the pump - it's a sealed unit, and these are fine to be used
underwater in the manor you describe - but the cable should not go
unprotected under turf - ideally to a waterproof junction box nearby then
into SWA - fed from an RCD.

Alan.