What armoured electrical cable do I need To run from Consumer box to Consumer box?

Question

Hi I aint doing this job myself , so no lectures on Safety and Leccy laws. I just want to run the cable ready for an Electrician to connect all the relevants for me.
I have had a new outhouse built and want its own consumer box in the outhouse will be.
Fridge
Chest Freezer
Plasma
Surround kit
Ring circuit with like 5 double points
Poss Electric heater
Kettle.
Strip lighting

Ok its got to be armoured cos its running along the ground and its the uk i live in have already used 6mm 3 core to go from house consumer box to external wall of house. So i hope thats ok any additional details come back.

Answer 1

Depends on the length of the run, but 6²mm or 10²mm 3 core should be ok for about 35 or 50 amps. Use the 3rd core for an earth connection instead of relying on the armour/glands.

ADDED>> Looks like your max load will be about 30-33 amps including the kettle which will be occasional use only, don't know where the others get 100 amps from!!!! Never use aluminium cable it corrodes in brass terminals!!

ADDED 2) It was obvious to me that you were in the UK based on your text, since other countries do not refer to ring mains/ consumer units or 'Strip' (Fluorescent) lights.

Jeff marrassole - Stick to US rules and regs. Based on information given by the asker, I estimate the load as stated, the UK does not use aluminium cables for any housing or commercial cabling, only for larger sized underground and risers from about 16.0²mm. Copper cored SWA/ PVC insulated cable is made in sizes from 1.5²mm up 400²mm (22 - 683 amps) I take great offence at your comments, as I am an electrician of 44 years experience having had my own business for most of them. Since you appear to have no electrical knowledge of your own, why dont you just shut your gob, and stick to the US site.

Fridge 0.5amps
Freezer 0.5 amps
Plasma 1.2 amps
Surround kit 0.6 amps
Ring circuit 0.0 amps!!!
Electric heater 3kw??? MAX 13.0 amps
Kettle 2kw?? 9 amps
4 x 5' fluorescents 1 amp

TOTAL 26 amps WITH A CONTINUOUS KETTLE
(But this would be 50 amps in the good ole USA!! These American tossers dont even know that we have 230-240 volts in the uk/Europe)

All the consumer unit terminals in UK that I have ever seen have been BRASS. Take a look for yourself. During the 1970's copper shortage aluminium cable was used for about a year, due to it's low current carrying capacity it had to be chosen with care, usually by using the next size up, ie, ring circuits were wired in 4.0²mm instead of copper 2.5²mm It was called 'COPPERCLAD' as it had to be coated in copper to prevent corrosion or oxidisation against the brass terminals in accessories. There were many faults due to this problem as some pinching screws scraped off the coating and the connections later failed.

This is the only refererence I can find to Copperclad, the fifth letter down also mentions corrosion and reminds me that there was a special paste available to inhibit this. http://www.theiet.org/Forums/forum/messageview.cfm?FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Threaded&catid=205&threadid=13827#93454

Answer 2

Not armored- 100 amp (minimum) rated sheathed aluminum service cable. Anything else isn't going to support the load you need. Your Electrician should have told you this already.

If you trust the guy below me that is telling you otherwise, you will dangerously overload the wire and possibly cause a fire. Service wire is what you should be using because it can handle the electric load. If the guy below me was an actual eletrician he would know that they don't make any copper wires in the size range needed to handle this load. I can tell he isn't because he talks about how you may "occassionally use" certain items. A real Electrician would know that doesn't matter. You plan for the times that you will have everything on at once.The lugs on both your service box and the proposed new box aren't always brass. Aluminum does NOT corrode brass....period. The only thing you will have to deal with is tightening the lugs down periodically when you are dealing with aluminum wire. It has a tendency to loosen the connection. I don't know why. They even make lugs that lock down so you don't even have to do this. I'm not an electrician, but my dad is a Master Electrician who has worked on the White House as well as other very prominent buildings across the country. I own a historic home (over130 years) and we just did exactly this for a shop I built next to the garage.

Answer 3

We need to tie down which country you are in. If someone says he has wired the White House, can't spell aluminium, and thinks a 130 year old house is old; then the chances are he doesn't know anything about British electrical standards. You can get copper cored Steel Wire Armoured cable that handle 20 times the load you need, so its not a problem.

Answer 4

jayktee96 is spot on here. These americans must think we have the same electrical systems as they do. My whole house loading is only about 50 amps. So how the hell could a little outhouse reach 100!??

Answer 5

Please be careful with advice from one country to another.

Totally different voltages are used and standards or specifications are different.

Find a local qualified electrician, who is willing to complete the work, ask him what he will let you do.

This shows how true the saying is -
The difference between an Englishman and an American is
An American thinks a 100 years is a long time -
An Englishman thinks a 100 miles is a long way

Answer 6

Sounds like you need to run a new service cable, as the amount you plan on running will require at least a hundred amps.
look at this site they might be able to help

vvhttp://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/electricallighting/article/0,26206,1181197,00.html