How should I gland this swa?

[Devonsparks]

Hi,

Did an Eicr on this property. The steel wired armoured supplying the consumer unit in the meter cupboard is not earthed.

Unable to gland from board side as is hidden behind the wall.

was thinking of putting it in some sort of metal adaptable box. And glanding it that way but i know it’s going to be a pig.

just wondered if anybody had anything similar to this And what they did?

cheers

also not sure how to insert image.

 

[Devonsparks]

Hi,

Did an Eicr on this property. The steel wired armoured supplying the consumer unit in the meter cupboard is not earthed.

Unable to gland from board side as is hidden behind the wall.

was thinking of putting it in some sort of metal adaptable box. And glanding it that way but i know it’s going to be a pig.

just wondered if anybody had anything similar to this And what they did?

cheers

also not sure how to insert image.

 

[kerching]

Possibly a constant tension /compression spring clamp like in a BICCast joint
How are you going to get around the single insulated cores going to the isolator? Over sleeve doesn't ( well,it didn't use to ) comply as 'double sheathing' , like tails. Some call it double insulated, they are wrong

 

[Devonsparks]

Possibly a constant tension /compression spring clamp like in a BICCast joint
How are you going to get around the single insulated cores going to the isolator? Over sleeve doesn't ( well,it didn't use to ) comply as 'double sheathing' , like tails. Some call it double insulated, they are wrong

Hi,

This is also one of the issues.
Thats why I was thinking of putting it in some sort of adaptable box butt it right up to the isolator so then I don’t have to worry about the single insulation and then earth the gland but this will be difficult as there is no pull at all on the swa. So just have to deal with what I got.

someone did suggest putting through crimps in the adaptable box but personally wouldn’t want to do that.

cheers for the advise.

 

[binky]

have they used the swa for the earth or is that 3 core?

Daft question but has it been earthed at the board end, you only need to earth one end.

 

[Andy™]

rip it out and start again

 

[mort2376]

have they used the swa for the earth or is that 3 core?

Daft question but has it been earthed at the board end, you only need to earth one end.

If its not used as an earth then its just extraneous metal work, so as Binky said earth it at the board.

Doesn't get over the non double insulated cables though, but might make it easier to deal with that.

 

[Murdoch]

have they used the swa for the earth or is that 3 core?

Daft question but has it been earthed at the board end, you only need to earth one end.

Yup agree 100% and it doesn't matter which end either ............

 

[truffle pig]

Just a question - don’t shoot. IF the armour is not needed for mechanical protection along its length, does it have to be connected? I guess it’s not introducing a potential
Obviously it’s best practice and you would if you could

 

[binky]

Just a question - don’t shoot. IF the armour is not needed for mechanical protection along its length, does it have to be connected? I guess it’s not introducing a potential
Obviously it’s best practice and you would if you could

debatable if you can't touch it, but it's classed as an 'extraneous conductive part' so should be earthed in case a nail does peice the cable somehow. Biggest issue here is that the aromoured has been stripped back, meaning it only has a single layer of insulation in the meter box, although it looks like some heat shrink has been applied over the conductors. There is enough space in the box to have fitted an encloure between the bottom of the isolator switch and the cable, which would have allowed termination of the SWA with a gland and earth tag. Would have been a bit of a pig to do, but, that's no excuse for not doing it. The other option would have been meter tails to the consumer unit, depending how far it is from the meter box.

 

[poni]

could he not fit an 80A metal clad Switch-fuse to the SWA and use D/I tails to feed the switch fuse, at a guess the consumer unit is more than 3m from the meter anyway

 

[binky]

could he not fit an 80A metal clad Switch-fuse to the SWA and use D/I tails to feed the switch fuse, at a guess the consumer unit is more than 3m from the meter anyway

certainly could.

 

[Sparksfly]

Earth clamp or heavy duty hose clamp...better than nothing. Note it as non-standard...simples.

 

[Andy™]

Earth clamp or heavy duty hose clamp...better than nothing. Note it as non-standard...simples.

earth / hose clamp onto SWA like that is simply as much of a cowboy job as the original install

 

[kerching]

You could possibly mitigate the use of a hose clamp if you fit a collar underneath the armour....same as in some makes of underground joint
Still doesn't address the issue of the single insulation though

 

[binky]

You could possibly mitigate the use of a hose clamp if you fit a collar underneath the armour....same as in some makes of underground joint
Still doesn't address the issue of the single insulation though

Looks like heatshrink has been applied to me?

 

[Fleeting]

Does heatshrink provide sufficient mechanical protection. Heatshrink will never correctly enclose the conductor as you cannot pass it into the bedding of the cable, the insulation tape does not provide a suitable barrier as it can easily be removed.

 

[poni]

Heatshrink will never correctly enclose the conductor as you cannot pass it into the bedding of the cable

what about the type with adhesive on the inside?

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Only just had a quick skip-read of this thread after a few days away from home...
and pondering possible options with a bit of brain lubrication (that may cloud judgement)..


So.... Thinking outside-the-box...
And/or poking with a big-stick from a long-distance...

Could it be claimed that ALL of these joints are already INSIDE an enclosure that can only be opened with a tool.... (AKA meter box key)..

Such that the mechanical protection offered by cable sheathing is not the same as that required for cables fixed outside of enclosures?

Debate?
(just running down the bunker whilst trying to find hard-hat!!! )

 

[binky]

I wouldn't regard a meter box key as a tool, as it's designed for any member of the general public to use.

Not quite sure where that leaves a screwdriver