Capping or no capping?

[Calebp43]

Do you use capping to protect your cables? I recently watched a YouTube video explaining why you should use capping to protect your cables. I personally don't think it's needed for the following reasons;

- it's not in the regs. Although there are things in the regs saying to protect the cable from environmental factors and mechanical protection, it never says to use it. You could make a case for the regs implying too use it but I think it would be a poor case.

- very little extra mechanical protection, if any!

- a lot more time consuming.

- It's more expensive. this can be a real factor for a lot of people. Not a lot of people have the money for a rewire and adding that extra cost could be the difference.

But on the hand it does have its benefits;

- easy to replace cables. If that leg has an issue it's much easier to replace that leg or repair it when the cable has been capped all the way to the box.

- metal capping has more mechanical protection.

- prevents plaster deteriating cables.

All things considered when the choice is mine I think I will put it as an option for the customer for a fee of course, listing the pros of having it.

I'm an apprentice. Should be qualified next year. I would really value your opinions on why I should or shouldn't use capping. I've worked for 3 sparks and neither one have used capping. So I've only ever really heard one side of the argument. Thanks in advance.

 

[DPG]

Oval tubing or plastic capping seem preferable to me. Metal capping can have sharp edges that can damage cable. Also it cannot be effectively earthed.

 

[Intoelectrics]

But conduit is literally for pulling in singles. It's there so you don't have to have outer sheathing.

Doing unnecessary work doesn't mean you're doing more than 'the bare minimum', it means you're wasting your time and money and most importantly the customer's time and money.

Quite often its faster and easier to cap over the cables than clip them direct, (depending on the situation) It also often adds to the benefit of allowing slack to be pulled in the event of a cable being damaged at the accessory, and then left too short for re-termination.

In fact, an apprentice working for me once damaged the cable on the second fix stage of a job, where he had nicked one of the cores leaving the cable too short to re-terminate. Fortunately we were able to pull some slack through the capping saving the job of either creating a joint or re-chopping out the nicely finished new plaster. I also had a situation where there was a faulty cable in the leg of a recently installed final ring circuit. I was able to pull the offending leg out and pull in a new length saving me the job of re-chasing out.

So there is value to the customer and future electricians at a relatively low cost, so not really a waste of time or money.

Conduit has its benefit for future proofing and the addition of some extra protection (even if not required) this is not a bad thing and again depending on the situation a sensible option.

I think its just good practice to try and future proof where possible. Why not do what you can to make things a little better for the person that follows you? If we all did this (including all the other trades as well) then life would be so much easier for both the professionals and their customers.