L33 BYT

Evening all.

Wondered if some one could help. I appreciate this is notifiable works and will not be connected up or tested by us however the cable run and logistics and buying of the bits will be done DIY.

Parents have a Static Caravan they have bought back from the coast due to my Dad being long term poorly. They want to use it for storage and perhaps sitting out their in the summer. The would like to run a feed of power to it and would like it done properly. There is a consumer board in the house and the caravan.

I have a shopping list in my head, however would like to know what a sparky would need to do, so I know my folks are not going to get ripped off.

The van has a 16amp male commando socket end on it!

-Armoured Cable with an ambiant (Not buried run of around 30 Metres) What conductive area will each core need to be?
- How many cores will it need to be?
- WIll it need its own earth rod?
- On the house consumer board what size fuse would be needed.

Again just to state the connecting and testing WILL NOT be done by us. Purely the run and hole drilling etc.

Cheers
Lee

St3V3_C

2.5mm2
3 core is best so you don't rely on armour earth.
No earth rod
16A

There is already an RCD there somewhere right?

S3an

will only need 3 core cable. would only get 2.5mm. you could run it off a 30amp breaker if you wanted as you will probably need its own consumer inside the van aswell.

L33 BYT

I'll get some more details however from the quick look I had at the House consumer, there is one main RCD before it goes into the fuse box, which I understand isnt really ideal as if something pop's it takes the lot out. Not sure if this is a problem but there is only a yellow (20 Amp) slot spare so not sure if the Consumer in the house needs a swap out.
The caravan end is slightly newer and think the 2 rings for sockets are on the RCD side.

If its using the house Earth is that suitable?

Cheers
Lee

S3an

you sound pretty competent to me, why not try it yourself. can only try if you get stuck theres always PF to keep you right.

St3V3_C

If you do use 32A ( you mean 32 not 30 right ) then cable will need to be 6mm.

?
He is just installing a 16A socket.

L33 BYT

Im a telecoms engineer by trade, so often come up against power. However I am actually scared of electric and popped on a DIY forum and got shot down saying it must be done by part P person and documented.

cozzy940

earth rod will be needed you shouldnt use earth from house supply as main earth, caravan should be seperately staked

St3V3_C

So the house board is old re-wireable fuse type?

You can go from that, but a new board really is money well spent dude.

House earth is fine as its an outside socket. If you were installing a separate board it would need a rod, as far as I know.

However, if the house stuff is all pretty old, your whole earthing situation will probably want looking at...

L33 BYT

Steve, not sure if fuses are re-wireable, they are the MCB type B (I think by comparason on Screwfix) if that has any meaning to this whole conversation. Also would need to rod in that case as in the van there is a seperate consumer unit, its just been tailed to a 16amp commando which then used to uplink into the carvan park power when it was sited.

So, ideally thinking logically let me think basic.
Say the carvan was designed to trip 20amp, then really it would be better if the house fuse was larger eg 30 amp, this way if the van tripped it wouldnt trip the house. (Hoping my thinking is right here)

30 Amp, will need a 6mm Core - Check,
Earth Stake - Check,

If having its own Earth rod then, does the 3rd core come into account?

St3V3_C

EDIT: I'm not sure enough, so check with the guy fitting it all up though, and let us know what he says!

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Hi fella,the earthing rod is a great system (TT system) but be careful if the ground where the caravans going to be sited is sandy as you may struggle to get a good enough earth,it makes it difficult for the sparky to get good readings to pass it off then and after all it is for their protection.

The readings can be improved by making the ground moist where the rod is inserted but often screwing one rod into another to get down deeper is fine.

6mm cable sounds good to me,2.5 would have been a bit thin IMHO,there's nit a huge price difference either.

There's a lot of shit spouted on forums but people are pretty good on here,I did a caravan live last year by wearing a thick rubber glove to connect it to the mains,I'm still here,common sense really.

The yellow fuse/mcb was traditionally used for immersion heaters which most houses don't really use now hence their usually spare,my garage runs off it in my old house!!!

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Btw,try tlc for electrical stuff as well,their gland kits for armoured are brilliant,everything you'll need and not that expensive either.use a copper pipe cutter to get through the armoured sheathing and metal underneath,only cost you about Ł5,whereas their specialist ones cost about Ł20 and don't really do the job any better.

Also,if you use 3 core as suggested above,remember to get the correct earth and neutral sheathing as the three core colours are brown,black and grey so you'll need to sheath the black and grey in blue and green/yellow to comply with regs.

cjwood555

To avoid Part P notification, and on the basis that you're just laying the cable on the ground anyway, make up an extension lead from a 13A RCD plug to 16A ceeform. 2.5mm^2 will suffice @ 30m / 16A.

Job jobbed.

art411y

iTrader: (1)

without seeing the job i would use a 60 or 100amp henly block from your existing incoming supply.t would be a good time to upgrade your board tails to 25mm and 16mm earth unless already had upgrade.i would not use the home board and ibstall a small garage board with a 60amp main switch and a 40 amp rcbo to the caravan or a 40amp cb if the caravan board has its own rcd.6mm supply would be ample for small to medium sized caravans.had varied results with earthing rods so would prefer to run a seperate 10mm earth along side the 16mm armoured.if glanding off is a problem in either board then a 4mm x4mm ip44 or above plastic or galv box would make life easier

dojj

iTrader: (3)

by adding the caravan to the main fuseboard, will it take it over the rated max?

if the electrics are old anyway, it might be worth getting the whole house done, or at least the consumer unit changed to one that will handle the upgrades

the earhting thing will be taken care of by the guy who wires it up so best to take their recomendations on it as we don't know if the ground is earthable where the caravan is going to be, assuming it'd be hard standing as a static caravan and not letf on 2 wheels and a pole like the top gear stuff?

fraser9764

iTrader: (3)

crikey theres some people on here who like to make a big job of things! you're not pricing for the job, no need to add unnecesary extras to bump up the price a bit!
all you are doing is adding a 16a socket, nothing big or fancy.
i would run the cable in 2.5mm SWA for protection and stick a 16a plug on the end, put a 16a waterproof socket on the side of the house and run the supply back in 2.5mm twin and earth to a new breaker on the consumer unit. job jobbed.
just make sure you aren't overloading the consumer unit and its rcd protected.

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

shame your so far away as i bought a 100m reel of armoured core cable for my garage and used about 20m

L33 BYT

cheers for the replies guys. Ill sort some better details of what the house has already.

Lee

GARETH T

this is the way i would do it!