Joining / Extending cable

Forty_Two · Feb 2, 2022

I want the CU moved to the other side of the wall (which is inside the garage) and have it at head height. There are 7 x 2.5mm and 1.5mm cables which will not reach far enough (they will get through the wall and have about 30cm the other side but will not be long enough to have the CU at head height).
What is the best way of extending these cables?

Dustydazzler · Feb 2, 2022

DPG · Feb 2, 2022

Isn't this the same job as you posted about before? Are you doing the work?

Forty_Two · Feb 2, 2022

DPG said:
Isn't this the same job as you posted about before? Are you doing the work?

It's the same CU but a different question and no I am not doing the work

Forty_Two · Feb 2, 2022

I included the pic and info to put it in context but the question stands alone . . . . is there a device that will take multiple T&E cables IN and extensions of those cables OUT?

I presume I can't be the first person in the world to want/need to do this and presume someone somewhere has invented a solution? Searching google and yotube found me nothing.

DPG · Feb 2, 2022

Forty_Two said:
I included the pic and info to put it in context but the question stands alone . . . . is there a device that will take multiple T&E cables IN and extensions of those cables OUT?

I presume I can't be the first person in the world to want/need to do this and presume someone somewhere has invented a solution? Searching google and yotube found me nothing.

Yes there are various well known ways of doing it. DIN rail terminals for one.

westward10 · Feb 2, 2022

I think you need to ask the electrician doing these works.

nicebutdim · Feb 2, 2022

Forty_Two said:
I presume I can't be the first person in the world to want/need to do this and presume someone somewhere has invented a solution? Searching google and yotube found me nothing.

Your electrician won't need you to tell him how to do this. Tell them what you want done and they'll get on with it.

Dustydazzler · Feb 2, 2022

Forty_Two said:
I included the pic and info to put it in context but the question stands alone . . . . is there a device that will take multiple T&E cables IN and extensions of those cables OUT?

I presume I can't be the first person in the world to want/need to do this and presume someone somewhere has invented a solution? Searching google and yotube found me nothing.

I literally posted a video a few posts above of a qualified electrician extending the cables from a consumer unit

brianmoooore · Feb 2, 2022

Dustydazzler said:
I literally posted a video a few posts above of a qualified electrician extending the cables from a consumer unit

A video showing a bad practice!
He's used green/yellow DIN connectors for all the cpcs, and these typically connect electrically to the DIN rail, effectively paralleling all of them between the joint box and the CU.

Risteard · Feb 2, 2022

brianmoooore said:
A video showing a bad practice!
He's used green/yellow DIN connectors for all the cpcs, and these typically connect electrically to the DIN rail, effectively paralleling all of them between the joint box and the CU.

How is this bad practise? The advantages of connecting cpcs together outweigh the disadvantages.

brianmoooore · Feb 2, 2022

Confusion/problems when testing for a start, and a possibility that, in the future, you could end up with 10mm2 T&E connected to the earth bar by a 1.0mm2 cpc which still tests OK.
Biggest cpc only on a green/yellow DIN connector.

littlespark · Feb 3, 2022

I’m now getting adverts for the WAGO 221 inline connectors.

Forty_Two · Feb 3, 2022

westward10 said:
I think you need to ask the electrician doing these works.

I've had 3 in so far and all were sucking in air and scratching their heads and they all spoke of a separate box foe each cable.

Dustydazzler · Feb 3, 2022

Forty_Two said:
I've had 3 in so far and all were sucking in air and scratching their heads and they all spoke of a separate box foe each cable.

If they start sucking their teeth and suggesting putting cables in connector block and putting each one in a choc box then I would get another electrician

Forty_Two · Feb 3, 2022

Dustydazzler said:
If they start sucking their teeth and suggesting putting cables in connector block and putting each one in a choc box then I would get another electrician

Oh how I wish that this was that easy !

westward10 · Feb 3, 2022

Dustydazzler said:
If they start sucking their teeth and suggesting putting cables in connector block and putting each one in a choc box then I would get another electrician

Like this.

[ElectriciansForums.net] Joining / Extending cable

Forty_Two · Feb 3, 2022

westward10 said:
Like this.View attachment 94631

Indeed . . . . . and to my untrained eye that looks awful

Forty_Two · Feb 3, 2022

Dustydazzler said:

Thanks for this video clip - I missed it earlier, I thought it was an advert. To my untrained eye this look looks like the solution. They could put that box where there CU is currently and run new cable through the wall (in my case 30cm cavity wall in the same way as in the video. (That Bundy guy does rabbit on a bit). I wonder of the electricians I've had out would feel insulted if I sent them a link to this clip?

TJ Anderson · Feb 3, 2022

It's your house, you're the homeowner, you're responsible for complying with building regulations, you do what you like.

There is no way that a qualified electrician, let alone 3 would be sucking air through their teeth not knowing how to extend some T&E cables. You have a few posts like this now, instead of the stories that just insult peoples intelligence, just say want you want to do.

pc1966 · Feb 3, 2022

The DIN rail option has the advantage of being neat and ordered, but that example uses the green/yellow earth blocks for the CPC which joins them all together at that point.

While that is not an issue for normal operations it makes testing far harder as you cannot isolate a circuit's CPC at the CU, and very confusing for anyone who is unaware of such a common'ing of conductors.

Also most DIN terminals are screw fixing and not maintenance-free so they need to be accessible and checked occasionally in case they loosen. You can get some that are spring loaded and don't suffer from loosening due to vibration or thermal cycling (a bit like Wagos), but off hand I don't know part numbers.

timhoward · Feb 3, 2022

pc1966 said:
Also most DIN terminals are screw fixing and not maintenance-free so they need to be accessible and checked occasionally in case they loosen. You can get some that are spring loaded and don't suffer from loosening due to vibration or thermal cycling (a bit like Wagos), but off hand I don't know part numbers.

Places like cp farnell / RS sell Wago-like ones. CEF sometimes have Wago ones in.

partplonker · Feb 3, 2022

pc1966 said:
The DIN rail option has the advantage of being neat and ordered, but that example uses the green/yellow earth blocks for the CPC which joins them all together at that point.

While that is not an issue for normal operations it makes testing far harder as you cannot isolate a circuit's CPC at the CU, and very confusing for anyone who is unaware of such a common'ing of conductors.

It's not exactly a big deal though, you could just use yellow DIN rail connectors for your CPCs instead. It doesn't really matter what colour they are as long as, as you said, you don't use the green/yellow ones with the central screw and metal clips that link them to the rail.

I'm also wondering why they used grey terminals in the video instead of brown or red for the lines, that really triggers my OCD. Must have been what they had at the wholesaler that day.

UNG · Feb 3, 2022

Forty_Two said:
I wonder of the electricians I've had out would feel insulted if I sent them a link to this clip?

If they didn't come up with that solution at the first viewing then they were clearly not electricians and also couldn't be bothered to search the internet or ask on a group like this

It shouldn't be that difficult to find an electrician that can do what you want but listing your location as North West puts you somewhere in an area of approximately 5,500 sq miles do you want to narrow that down a bit as you may be close enough to someone on here

Forty_Two · Feb 3, 2022

UNG said:
If they didn't come up with that solution at the first viewing then they were clearly not electricians and also couldn't be bothered to search the internet or ask on a group like this

It shouldn't be that difficult to find an electrician that can do what you want but listing your location as North West puts you somewhere in an area of approximately 5,500 sq miles do you want to narrow that down a bit as you may be close enough to someone on here

I'm in LIverpool