Cable trays in domestic installation

[slartybartfast]

Having house rewired, and thinking of making use of 600mm wide horizontal galvanised cable tray secured between joists in ceiling. Can the cables simply be layed in the tray or do the regs. require that each cable is secured to the tray & what sort of fixings are allowed?

 

[Andy78]

Next point to debate: Earth the tray or not?
I'm throwing my hat in the earth bonding corner, but I also quite like yellow/green wire.

Use the tray as main bonding conductor. It just needs painting green and yellow its entire length ?

 

[davesparks]

Its part of the core cabling for the house and will likely need to run additional cables in future. This run joins consumer unit at one end with main riser to floors 2, 3 & loft at other end. The cable tray will run parallel with joists, and beneath will be a sections of ceiling that are designed to be easily removed. Will make things super convenient and helps with future proofing.

600mm tray will completely fill the gap between joists, if it fits at all.
So access from ceiling panels would require the tray to be installed upside down and so fixings would be required for all cables.

Without knowing the size of the house or the size of the installation required it is very hard to comment on this plan.

Have you had quotes from electrical contractors yet? Or had anyone look at it yet with a view to quoting the job?
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IMO regarding the fixing of the tray worries me, in the event of a fire wood burns, the fixing will be to that wood (CORRECT) , a lot of weight there with cables attached.!!

By the time the joists have burned enough for the tray to drop the house will be gutted, anyone inside long dead and burned to a crisp and the fire brigade certainly won't be going inside.

 

[pc1966]

So access from ceiling panels would require the tray to be installed upside down and so fixings would be required for all cables.

My take was a false ceiling, so the tray might be hung down from the joists using M10 stud or whatever in the usual "lips up" style to allow cables to be laid on top. But hopefully the OP can clarify this.

 

[ipf]

2 ft. wide tray in a house? that's more overkill than Roger Rabbit.

Why? 2ft tray's ideal for breakfast in bed..

 

[telectrix]

customer: "i want all my underfloor cables on 600mm tray. what steps will you takee
electrician: "bloody great big ones back to the van".

 

[Pete999]

Yes I know, but as the idea was to use unnecessary methods I thought I'd stick with the plan.

You would need to lift a hell of a lot of flooring to work to your plan Mate, and what about cutting notches in the joists? your method would destroy most of the joists.
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customer: "i want all my underfloor cables on 600mm tray. what steps will you takee
electrician: "bloody great big ones back to the van".

Girt big ones with a smirk on my face.

 

[slartybartfast]

Having house rewired, and thinking of making use of 600mm wide horizontal galvanised cable tray secured between joists in ceiling. Can the cables simply be layed in the tray or do the regs. require that each cable is secured to the tray & what sort of fixings are allowed?

Edit - I meant 600mm spacing on the joists. Tray would narower, depending on whats available.
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You would need to lift a hell of a lot of flooring to work to your plan Mate, and what about cutting notches in the joists? your method would destroy most of the joists.
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Girt big ones with a smirk on my face.

No as ceiling above is exposed and will be accessible.

 

[Pete999]

Edit - I meant 600mm spacing on the joists. Tray would narower, depending on whats available.
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No as ceiling above is exposed and will be accessible.

What? a sketch of your plan would help in understanding your ideas.

 

[NDG Elecs]

I've only installed tray and galv conduit in a domestic situ once. But that was in a garage and was to create an industrial look. Only benefit in a loft space is that it could make it easier to access cables in the future for additions etc, rather than having to hunt around under a foot of loft insulation..

 

[plugsandsparks]

Ditto, only used tray in a loft which was ideal for 2 X vertical 150mm trays , one for data, one for power. I did think 600mm tray was a little wide, lol but who knows nowadays.

 

[Markyd]

Why? Just Why?

 

[radiohead]

If there was a long void between joists which was to be a main run of wiring then I can see some logic in using two separate trays secured one to the side of each joist for mains and data. In practice though many cable runs will be across the joists and will require drilling and pulling wiring through, no chance of using tray.
I think if this idea goes ahead it will eventually be filed under 'seemed like a good idea at the time'.

 

[cliffed]

Definitely would not install cable tray in this situation.
Years ago cables were pushed to the perimeters & Tidied up to finished positions.
Theres plenty of timber in the loft area,& usually you get a nice route above the insulation too.