Is pvc pvc T&E soon to be written off ?

[Dustydazzler]

I made a very rare trip to my local wholesalers today (I usually buy stuff online now and have it delivered) and was speaking to the manager who I have known since college.
He reckons in the coming amendment to the regs , grey pvc pvc twin and earth cable will be written off and we will be required to use LSF / LSOH cable domestically...

anyone else heard this ?

 

[Dartlec]

If your going to ban pvc pvc cables then surely you need to ban pvc trunking / conduit ?

I believe pvc trunking won't be allowed in specified 'escape routes' if the proposed AMD changes come in, so maybe this is related to that? (or maybe it's horseshit....).

 

[Dustydazzler]

Typical, I'll be left with loads of PVC that I've just bought, to go with a couple of reels of 'old' colour wiring that I've still got kicking around - my hording will not allow me to throw away or scarp for a pittance. The joys of only doing a few jobs a year for friends and family. Maybe I should start a cable museum?

Of course if I paint my PVC white I should be okay no matter what?

get that stuff on eBay pronto , a few years ago I sold a drum of 4mm old colours for £150

 

[Dustydazzler]

I believe pvc trunking won't be allowed in specified 'escape routes' if the proposed AMD changes come in, so maybe this is related to that?

good , can’t stand mini sticky trunking anyways,
nothing smacks more of a diy job than cables run in sticky back trunking

 

[Dartlec]

get that stuff on eBay pronto , a few years ago I sold a drum of 4mm old colours for £150

What would the market for that be? Surely anyone planning to use it to somehow bypass current regs by claiming it was done 20 years ago wouldn't care enough to pay that much for it?

 

[Dustydazzler]

What would the market for that be? Surely anyone planning to use it to somehow bypass current regs by claiming it was done 20 years ago wouldn't care enough to pay that much for it?

I know a sparks with serious ocd who won’t wire new colours to old colours , he buys old colours off eBay anytime he has to alter / add on to old red black wiring...

 

[Dartlec]

I know a sparks with serious ocd who won’t wire new colours to old colours , he buys old colours off eBay anytime he has to alter / add on to old red black wiring...

I guess it avoids that god awful "two colours" sticker that should die a death....

 

[Risteard]

I made a very rare trip to my local wholesalers today (I usually buy stuff online now and have it delivered) and was speaking to the manager who I have known since college.
He reckons in the coming amendment to the regs , grey pvc pvc twin and earth cable will be written off and we will be required to use LSF / LSOH cable domestically...

anyone else heard this ?

This happened in the 5th Edition National Rules for Electrical Installations in the south of Ireland. All cables now need to meet the new standard, which basically translates to LSF insulation being required as well as sheath. The cost of cable has skyrocketed as a result.

To be more accurate, the minimum requirement is that they are to Dca, s2, d2, a2.

100m of IS201B/2.5 2.5mm^2 T&E recently cost me €84.14 ex VAT.

 

[pc1966]

I guess it avoids that god awful "two colours" sticker that should die a death....

That is probably the single most useless label of them all. If you don't know the cable colours, and cant be bothered to even look them up, then you have no ef'n business working on electrical installations.

 

[Vortigern]

Personally I often specify low smoke cable. As to colours couldn't agree more @pc1966, often working on three phase with the old phase colours being used so you get red, yellow and blue with black with the new colours where extending said circuit. In theory I should sleeve all those different colours brown or blue so that the next electrician (presumbaly?) knows how to connect the wires (really!) correctly. I do not do it. If they don't know what's what they should not be working on the installation.

 

[Marvo]

Maybe pyro will come back into fashion...

 

[UNG]

Don't think I've ever seen PVC wiring that has failed other than damage or a loose connection at a terminal - even the 60s stranded stuff.

I was installing stranded 2.5mm T&E in the early 1980's, I believe the only company manufacturing it at the time was AEI. Pilkingtons Glass specified it for parts of a big new factory project they were building at the time, I went to AEI in Leigh and collected 4000m every fortnight or a couple of months

good , can’t stand mini sticky trunking anyways,
nothing smacks more of a diy job than cables run in sticky back trunking

So what do you use for the non diy look then
There is nothing wrong with properly installed minitrunking the problem is a lot of so called electricians can't

Maybe pyro will come back into fashion...

I wish

 

[DefyG]

South of England generally sees the use of white T&E

I was (perhaps incorrectly) informed back around 2005 (coinciding with harmonisation of cable colours) that only LSF came with 'White' sheath, the 'normal' T&E was in now Grey sheathed!

 

[Dustydazzler]

Maybe pyro will come back into fashion...

NO CHANCE , 5 day domesticated installers wouldn't have a clue how to wire new lights in Pyro

 

[Dustydazzler]

I was installing stranded 2.5mm T&E in the early 1980's, I believe the only company manufacturing it at the time was AEI. Pilkingtons Glass specified it for parts of a big new factory project they were building at the time, I went to AEI in Leigh and collected 4000m every fortnight or a couple of months

So what do you use for the non diy look then
There is nothing wrong with properly installed minitrunking the problem is a lot of so called electricians can't

I wish

Galv Conduit

 

[Rockingit]

Don't think I've ever seen PVC wiring that has failed other than damage or a loose connection at a terminal - even the 60s stranded stuff.

I have, and most bizarrely! I'll have to dig through the archives to find a pic but 2-3 years ago a mate had a new problem in their (old) house that they'd been in for years and after some testing I'd narrowed it down to one cable that I could see both ends of, about 5m long and in visually perfect condition, not disturbed since installation many years earlier. After some headscratching and guestimation I peeled open a section of sheath to discover that there was a manufacturing break in the conductor, clearly a good couple of mm. There must have been enough of a bend or whatever at that point to have made the ends make contact and 'work' for the twenty odd years it had, but there was no signs of arcing etc. Most bizarre.