wiring caravan hookups

[vitoboy]

hi all
just been asked to do 5 caravan hookups for a local park just starting.
just wanted to pick you guys brains
would you generally run one cable per hook up or put them all on one radial circuit with each one feeding the next.
ive a total run of about 80m so its either 5 x 1.5mm armour or 1x 16mm armour then 10mm then 6mm ect.

ta all

vitoboy

 

[Adam W]

... Or you could do a ring circuit. Cable size would depend on volt drop, what size cable you can get into the hookups etc. I'd use the same size cable throughout.

 

[davelerave]

yes- i'd be thinking 'ring main' anyhow if possible

 

[IQ Electrical]

hi all
just been asked to do 5 caravan hookups for a local park just starting.
just wanted to pick you guys brains
would you generally run one cable per hook up or put them all on one radial circuit with each one feeding the next.
ive a total run of about 80m so its either 5 x 1.5mm armour or 1x 16mm armour then 10mm then 6mm ect.

ta all

vitoboy

As Adam says, the limiting factor is volt drop-what is the earthing system ie. are you extending a TN-S earth or creating 1 main or 5 local TT systems?

 

[telectrix]

I thought caravan hook ups had to be TT.

 

[vitoboy]

i was thinking of each hookup being its own tt system.
the layout isnt giving much advantage to a ring main layout...but this could still be the easyest way to do things.
the hookups are just one part..iva 300m run to geta submain to a shower block then from there out to the van sites,
all in all a very long way.

 

[IQ Electrical]

I thought caravan hook ups had to be TT.

No, you can use TN-S or TT to the pitches, the reg's only preclude a PEN conductor to pitch supplies.

 

[telectrix]

thanks, IQ. Volt Drop is the biggest problem, assuming a 10Asupply each point an 80m run would be hard put in 6mm. just for 1 point.( around 12.5V at a guess)

 

[IQ Electrical]

i was thinking of each hookup being its own tt system.
the layout isnt giving much advantage to a ring main layout...but this could still be the easyest way to do things.
the hookups are just one part..iva 300m run to geta submain to a shower block then from there out to the van sites,
all in all a very long way.

At 300M plus 80M on the caravan run, you'll be looking at some nasty CSA to overcome volt drop!

 

[telectrix]

yep. with showers off the sub-main as well. mortgage job

 

[vitoboy]

hell yeh...the 300 meter run will have a max load of about 230A when all is complete.this is alot!

 

[IQ Electrical]

hell yeh...the 300 meter run will have a max load of about 230A when all is complete.this is alot!

Well let us know what you end up using!

 

[vitoboy]

i was thinking it would be 10mm but after a quick look the ring curcuit would be 140m long even for a 40A ring curcuit im looking at 24v volt drop..so ill need 16mm...bugger.
voltdrop does scew things up over these distances..
any ideas welcome..

 

[malcolmsanford]

As it is 5 units run a sub main to a central point and install another DB. Say a 63amp SWA to feed the board, and then 5 septate RCBO's for each caravan pitch and run say a 2.5/4mm cables to each socket for each pitch, which ever size cable is suitable for the load.

You could even feed the shower unit, from this DB board as it may be closer than your original plan.

Also what earthing system have you

 

[telectrix]

for the sub main at 230A you're looking at 400mmsq. cable. unless my calcs. are wrong. sheesh

 

[IQ Electrical]

This is where a designer's experience of applying diversity is literally worth his weight in copper!

 

[telectrix]

exactly, can't see the full load of 230A being pulled. . diversity would bring it down considerably.

 

[Adam W]

Where did this 230A come from? It seems an awful lot for 5 caravans and showers for 5 caravans.
Are we talking about everyone on the site using an electric shower at the same time?

 

[vitoboy]

no there is a 9kw instant water heater a load of outside lighting and a holiday cottage all to run from this....and knowing the owner some more will come along in a while.
the hookups will be mostly using less than 5A most of the time and the instant water heater only running for a min or so at a time.
cottage not yet up but i can assume shower/cooker/ect im alowing 40A for the cottage.
with five vans on site i would think that mornings and evenings both showers could run constant ish for at least an hour or so....as everyone in there vans makes toast!
what do you think guys...how much to alow for all this!

 

[malcolmsanford]

no there is a 9kw instant water heater a load of outside lighting and a holiday cottage all to run from this....and knowing the owner some more will come along in a while.
the hookups will be mostly using less than 5A most of the time and the instant water heater only running for a min or so at a time.
cottage not yet up but i can assume shower/cooker/ect im alowing 40A for the cottage.
with five vans on site i would think that mornings and evenings both showers could run constant ish for at least an hour or so....as everyone in there vans makes toast!
what do you think guys...how much to alow for all this!

Think you a little out on that designing to be honest. You can not hook up a caravan on anything less than a 16amp socket to BS 60309-2, so what would you give them a 10amp supply or go for the 16amp supply.

What supply is there now? I assume single so what size is it, what is the earthing.

 

[Adam W]

Are we talking about touring caravans or static caravans?
Last time I went caravanning pretty much everything ran off calor gas except for the lighting and fridge - toast was made under the grill and water boiled in an old fashioned whistling kettle. In a larger van you might have a small telly as well.

 

[IQ Electrical]

Think you a little out on that designing to be honest. You can not hook up a caravan on anything less than a 16amp socket to BS 60309-2, so what would you give them a 10amp supply or go for the 16amp supply.

What supply is there now? I assume single so what size is it, what is the earthing.

And this is why it's so important to involve the client.

Will the electricity be charged as an extra or 'all in' ?

If it's all in, my caravan site would have a 6A protective device at each hookup and a £25.00 charge to reset the MCB

Seriously, yes you have to use a minimum of a 16A socket but can you imagine the fan heaters etc. blasting away all night in the caravans and tent things that 'they' attach to the caravans to make them larger (book a hotel).

 

[vitoboy]

ive got five caravan hook ups....so applying some dirversity i think a 40 or 50A ring curcuit would be capable of suppling 5 x 16A sockets or am i a long way off here!
if you look at this job with no diversity then the total load is huge...but so is a house and you dont often see a 80A house fuse blown by high load.....well i dont.

 

[Adam W]

I reckon you could run them all off 30 or 32A - small fridge, small telly, maybe 100W of lighting in each van and you're looking at maybe 4A or so for the lot.
People don't have fan heaters in caravans because caravanning is generally done in the summer, or you can light the hob for a bit.
If you started taking kettles, toasters, deep fryers, waffle irons, sandwich toasters etc with you you'd have no room in the caravan to sleep.
OK someone might want to use a hairdrier or hair straighteners, but that's not going to take up 30A.

 

[IQ Electrical]

I reckon you could run them all off 30 or 32A - small fridge, small telly, maybe 100W of lighting in each van and you're looking at maybe 4A or so for the lot.
People don't have fan heaters in caravans because caravanning is generally done in the summer, or you can light the hob for a bit.
If you started taking kettles, toasters, deep fryers, waffle irons, sandwich toasters etc with you you'd have no room in the caravan to sleep.
OK someone might want to use a hairdrier or hair straighteners, but that's not going to take up 30A.

I take your point but my post was based on a PIR that we did at Wansbeck Caravan Park last November when we had the heavy snowfall.

There were 6 caravans on that site, 3 of them owned by 'travellers'.

The 'travellers' caravans were packed with every electrical item imaginable, including fan heaters and the attendant was moaning about resetting the MCB's!

That was my main reason for mentioning consumption, on 'all in' sites, the supply is raped, on pitch-metered sites, caution is exercised!