Getting Power to sofa in middle of lounge

Paulgwat · Feb 14, 2016

Hi all,

a customer has bought some new sofa's where the reclining mechanism is electric and has asked me to sort a supply.

easy except the sofas are sat slap bang in the middle of a large square carpeted lounge! Floor is concrete with hot water UFH.

the house is also ultra minimalist and having a cable on show is not an option the customer wants to entertain.

the two ideas I have thus far are

1. Some kind of low profile steel trunking solution to take the place of the underlay

2. Bury the cable in the screed after using an IR camera to find the pipes.

option 1 - I thought would be fairly easy but so far I have found nothing in the uk marketed for the job and my other concern is the thermal issue of the cable being stuck between and insulating carpet and a heating element - although loads is next to zero and was thinking I would use a high temp flex.

option 2 - i am not massively keen on digging around in the screed even though I should be able to trace the pipes pretty well as I am not keen on turning his lounge into a swimming pool!

any other great ideas gratefully accepted, and telling him to get a different sofa not an option.

many thanks in advance

paul

davesparks · Feb 14, 2016

Laugh at them and walk away!

djelectric · Feb 14, 2016

Car battery and inverter lol

djelectric · Feb 14, 2016

Spur in ceiling directly above and invisible cable to the sofa

Leesparkykent · Feb 14, 2016

Sounds like you need a magic wand.

davesparks · Feb 14, 2016

Cutting a slot in the underlay and running a cable in it is, in my opinion, not a viable option. I guess a bit of MICC would be perfectly OK in that situation, but I still wouldn't do it.

Just tell the lazy buggers to get a mechanical recliner as the little bit of exercise will be good for them.

Adam W · Feb 14, 2016

davesparks said:
Laugh at them and walk away!

:iagree:
It might sound unhelpful, but they haven't given you anything to work with - every possible option has some kind of barrier in the way - you can't go under the floor, you can't go over the floor, presumably they won't want you to drop down from the ceiling...
If they'd wanted an electric sofa in the middle of the floor, and underfloor heating, then they should have designed that in when the underfloor heating was going in.

IMO they can either run a cable across the floor, which isn't ideal for a permanent fixture without using a cable ramp, or they can move the sofa closer to a socket, but by the sound of it whatever you come up with they'll have some sort of problem with.

sean_ork · Feb 14, 2016

Wet UFH is more often than not within the lower third of the slab, with a slab depth of 6" so there's room to cut and screed over a conduit - maybe they'll find a builder/plumber brave enough to provide you the route.

But what happens when they want to rearrange the furniture ........

Leesparkykent · Feb 14, 2016

Adam W said:
:iagree:
It might sound unhelpful, but they haven't given you anything to work with - every possible option has some kind of barrier in the way - you can't go under the floor, you can't go over the floor, presumably they won't want you to drop down from the ceiling...
If they'd wanted an electric sofa in the middle of the floor, and underfloor heating, then they should have designed that in when the underfloor heating was going in.

IMO they can either run a cable across the floor, which isn't ideal for a permanent fixture without using a cable ramp, or they can move the sofa closer to a socket, but by the sound of it whatever you come up with they'll have some sort of problem with.

I went to look at a job like that once....wanted a few extra sockets but didn't want to see any cables, didn't want it chased in and didn't want trunking.

Adam W · Feb 14, 2016

Leesparkykent said:
I went to look at a job like that once....wanted a few extra sockets but didn't want to see any cables, didn't want it chased in and didn't want trunking.

What did you do?

Leesparkykent · Feb 14, 2016

Adam W said:
What did you do?

Laughed and told them they need a magician not an electrician lol.

Lucien Nunes · Feb 15, 2016

1) Bare 2L1 is 5.1mm dia. i.e. will fit in the slot cut by a grinding disc. Will take any temp you care to subject it to.

2) If recliner has self-contained ELV PSU, remote the PSU and run copper tape under the carpet to the control unit.

3) RTG. Contact NASA for recommended suppliers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

Resu · Feb 15, 2016

egg67 · Feb 15, 2016

Move sofa to wall, more space between sofa and TV , nice and easy to do will give more room for a bit of A play when kids go to bed
Ps I am drunk

Geordie Spark · Feb 15, 2016

Here ye gan!!!

Just park this behind the sofa & plug it in.

[ElectriciansForums.net] Getting Power to sofa in middle of lounge

Getting Power to sofa in middle of lounge

Paulgwat

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davesparks

djelectric

djelectric

Leesparkykent

davesparks

Adam W

sean_ork

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Leesparkykent

Adam W

Leesparkykent

Lucien Nunes

-

Resu

-

egg67

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Geordie Spark

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