Thread: A question for sparkies.

Originally Posted by blitz

Hi Ron
when looking at cable size there are 3 factors that need to be considered, current draw, voltage drop and short circuit.

Your best bet would be to talk to an electrician and seeing what they are happy for you to do. minimum standard for underground AS/NZ3000:2007 is 500mm no need to go any deeper

Work out what your max load will ever be i.e. a/c and air comp and then how many gpo's you want or have, how many lights and what sort, then the cable size can be worked out - rule of thumb add 10% extra current for safety margin

Thanks Blitz. Yep. Will do. I just need to find an AULRO eleccie! The previous work was done a long time ago and I can't remember which of my then electrician friends did it.

Originally Posted by warren9981

Easiest way to get a cable through after the conduit is laid is to tie a plastic shopping bag to a builders string line shove it into the conduit and stick a vacuum cleaner in the other end. When the bag comes through use the string as a draw cable.
It is fine to run cat 5e (better to put in cat 6 though) in the same conduit as telephone cable. Make sure you use outdoor cable (black sheath) and not indoor cable (beige sheath). Also, put in a communications pit at each end to make life easier for yourself.

LOL! I like that idea. My existing phone cable is black outdoor stuff. I have a roll of Cat 5e so I'll probably use that. I had better look into domestic comms pits. I didn't know they were available. To be honest, it would be easier to go cordless phone and WiFi - except the cordless phone is struggling with range in the garage.

Where I made a mistake is in that my yard used to have a swimming pool. When it was dug out about 3 years ago, I should have laid new conduits during the backfilling of the hole - ready for future use.

I'm digging 20 metre long drainage trench at the moment and I keep having to use a crowbar owing to the large amount of broken earthenware pipe in the fill. I'm not looking forward to doing another trench for cables. I don't want to use a machine as I am not sure where the existing cables and sewerage lines are.