SWA Depth?

[Sparky83]

Hello all,

Hopefully just a quick question really, i need to quote to install some cable to go around the outside edge of a large rounded driveway, it will be sunk into the ground but at what depth?

Ive looked online but see different depths quote, some 450mm some 600mm and some completely different.

Just want to make sure be any work starts.

Thanks,

Sparky83

 

[pblec]

cheers mark sorry resolution isn't good enough to read which is a pity if its not too much trouble can you quote the relevant domestic section.

cables well covered, storage heater brick, back fill, tape, back fill, sand, back fill, instalation cert has attatched drawing showing run, both sides of run are visable going up walls

as i said i could quite easily stand up in a court and justify my actions of being well above the current regulations but the main thing is i can quote the reg to which it applies

 

[Engineer54]

ok granted in your opinion the lawn may get dug over, in the homeowners opinion he has no intention of digging over that lawn - i asked when selecting the route.

still not provided a regulation to cover it though, granted as i said your instalation is safe but my risk assesment for the reasonable and forseable still hasn't been proven wrong.

as i just said we've always done it that way isn't an argument.

Your obviously not getting the gist of what i and others are saying to you!!

For a start, How can you have a meaningful risk assessment of safe depth, based on the foreseeable future?? Even your customer, can't tell you how long he will be living in that property!!! If you need to find regulatory safe cable burial depths, then look on the internet, the DNO's are duty bound by these depth's, so as a starting point look for The DNO burial depths. They will be set out in voltage bands and location types... But i do assure you they exist, they are NOT my personal idea's on cable burial depth's..... But i have been working to them for more years than i can remember!!!

''we've always done it that way isn't an argument.'' That is NOT what i'm saying to you at all!!!

 

[pblec]

cheers mark sorry that says new developement sites and i beleive applies to the main supply and not as this post is the supply to an outbuilding

my cables well covered, storage heater brick, back fill, tape, back fill, sand, back fill, instalation cert has attatched drawing showing run, both sides of run are visable going up walls

as i said i could quite easily stand up in a court and justify my actions of being well above the current regulations but the main thing is i can quote the reg to which it applies

 

[Silly Sausage]

my cables well covered, storage heater brick, back fill, tape, back fill, sand, back fill, instalation cert has attatched drawing showing run, both sides of run are visable going up walls

NOW he tells us!!!

Is this a Monty Python sketch?

 

[pblec]

E54 your not getting the point i'm not a DNO i have to abide by BS7671 i have told you what the safe depth is acording to that and have been waiting for you to prove me wrong.
you keep saying my way is wrong but cant prove it just because you err on the side of caution doesn't mean i'm wrong

 

[pblec]

sorry archy i thought it was pretty standard to bury and mark them that way after all its always been done like that so must be right!!

 

[Engineer54]

I give up mate, You obviously know best, and know much more about direct burying cables than i will ever know, because i would never even contemplate burying a cable at 30cm. You have even been given a table, giving you an idea of the depths the regulatory bodies will be working too, but even that's not good enough for you!!! ....As i've said twice now, make sure that insurance is kept up to date, sooner or later your going to need it!!! ....

 

[pblec]

no i don't know best if i did i wouldn't keep asking you to prove me wrong if i did, now would i.

we all know this job isn't subject to DNO regulations its subject to 17th ed. if you look at the lovely picture mark provided it says so.

all i am waiting for is for someone to put there money where there mouth is and prove me wrong using the regs us domestic installers have to work too

 

[Silly Sausage]

sorry archy i thought it was pretty standard to bury and mark them that way after all its always been done like that so must be right!!

If you've covered it with tiles and tape, good, should've said so in the first place. Good work!
I'd still go a little deeper though. You just don't know which idiot will come along later.
There's so much talk on here about covering your behind...

If it'll make you feel any better, I've buried SWAs less than 300mm under a concreted, then paved garden, on the assumption if that's going to get dug up, who cares

 

[Engineer54]

Your the guy doing the job, you go find the information you need for it to comply!! Your in the UK, i'm not!! Your a dammed sight younger than me and will know your way around the internet far better than i.

I suggested checking DNO burial depths because in the main, they follow the standard recognised depths used throughout the industry, and i know there wouldn't be any at 30cm, just to give you an idea... That lovely table as you put it, didn't apply to what you are doing though, did it, as it didn't specifically pin point your garden installation, and it didn't say anything about 30 cm, ...so of course it doesn't apply to your installation, ...Right??

Geezus your hard work mate!!!

 

[pblec]

sorry but if you wish to say i'm wrong then surely its up to you to prove me wrong. i did my research by checking the standard i have to apply to.

i think we can safely say domesticaly the maximum depth 'is a depth to which the cable will avoid being damaged by forseable and reasonable disturbance of the ground' as per 522.8.10 and the only way to work out this depth is by carrying out your own risk assessment.

we have to sy that because to date no one has proven otherwise, yes we know the DNO have a set of guidlines they have to abide by but that was not the question from the OP now was it.

 

[Mark_Burgess]

I strongly suggest you get a copy of GN1 and read page 77, 5.7 Buried Cables and the 5th paragraph down, then lets see how well you stand up in court against that against your method.

 

[Engineer54]

You understand nothing do you, ....exactly how long have you been in this industry??

 

[pblec]

28 years and still working in this country, applying this countries regulations and ensuring i stay current with all the relevent practises

 

[Engineer54]

I strongly suggest you get a copy of GN1 and read page 77, 5.7 Buried Cables and the 5th paragraph down, then lets see how well you stand up in court against that against your method.

Would a domestic installer need a copy of GN1 as i'm sure he said ''he doesn't need it being a domestic installer'' somewhere here??