I am a retired time-served mechanical engineer and would not dream of provoking anyone for sharing their much vaunted expertise with me, even regarding syntax and punctuation. What I would like to provoke on this forum is the answer to the question, ‘is it ‘illegal’, in IEE Wiring Regulations 17th Edition and BS 7671:2008 terms, to route a 6mm2 SWA cable across a flat non-combustible garage roof?’ I don’t wish to ask for 'further and better particulars' regarding the routing of my cable just the ‘legality’ of the proposal. Regarding punctuation, my favorite example for showing its importance is: - ‘The apprentice’, said the electrician, ‘is a fool’. Or The apprentice said, ‘the electrician is a fool’! And while we are quoting mottos this is might suit someone with a persecution complex. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
NO. You will not be breaking any laws as the IET Wiring Regulations (BS 7671:2008+A3:2015) are non-statutory. However, should anything bad happen as a consequence of your installation, you may need to demonstrate that your installation was installed in accordance with the regulations 114.1 The Regulations are non-statutory. They may, however, be used in a court of law in evidence to claim compliance with a statutory requirement. The relevant statutory provisions are listed in Appendix 2 and include Acts of Parliament and Regulations made thereunder. In some cases statutory Regulations may be accompanied by Codes of Practice approved under Section 16 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The legal status of these Codes is explained in Section 17 of the 1974 Act. To answer your specific point - the regulations are silent on your proposed installation method. So an assessment would have to be made by the designer of the circuit as to the suitability of this method, taking into account all available information including an onsite risk assessment. Should you wish to check then copies of the 'Regs', these are available from the IET. You should read Chapter 52 and Appendix 4.
Wise words indeed....if only people would abide by that axiom.....and she does a lot of work for Charidy...but doesn't like to talk about it !...... RS
Hi Olpedagog, You appear to be an intelligent and practical person so just go ahead and do it. You will find that forums generally invoke a plethora of smarty pants responses just, for the most part, for their own entertainment. Nothing else better to do it seems. The Wiring Regulations do not specifically state what you can't do. They never have. What they do stipulate is what you should do and running a SWA cable across a non-combustible roof is not specifically referenced. Of course you can do it but you should be aware of the dangers of asbestos, I am sure you are, and you should be aware of supporting the cable so that it doesn't slide or become dislodged, I am sure you know. I don't know from your post how the decision to use 6mm2 SWA was arrived at; I hope you would have a calculation from an electrician, I am sure you have. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
Personally I wouldn't just have it lying on a roof. Will it not be sitting in pools of water on a regular basis? I would go for along the garage and other wall ... bury where you can .... tack to walls where you can ... It's going to look ugly all above ground I imagine ....
SWA is designed to be tough and it can sit in 'pools of water', thats not the issue. It can be supported in a variety of ways, one of which is concrete blocks sitting on the roof at regular intervals with cable tray bolted on to it. That method is used extensively on high rise buildings to support cables across roofs. The concrete blocks anchor the tray down. May be too heavy in this particular case but it can't be fully answered on a forum.
Here's one with some chunky cabling for a 4G antenna: Bolted to paving slabs on the roof. The black cable is a reference to the size, its standard RG59 shotgun. And It was cable tied down after this picture was taken.
Hi, I got a quote for the job from an electrician who said he would use 6mm2 SWA. The deal was that I would do all the donkey-work I was capable of. Thank you for your reply and support.
Hi Olpedagog. I have the same query regarding routing a 6mm or 10mm SWA cable over / on a corrugated garage asbestos roof. I would value your opinion and be interested to know how you ultimately did this.