In article ,
Mortimer wrote:
While we're talking about electrical safety, what is the current (scuse
that unintentional pun) advice on extending the lead of a freezer? I
know you have to use cable that is rated for 13A (1.5 mm^2 wire rather
than 1 mm^2) and conventional extension cables must be unrolled to
avoid inductive heating. But providing you use a cable of the correct
current rating and which is no longer than it needs to be, joined to
the original cable using a proper in-line junction box, is there a
problem? Many internet resources say "don't do it - get an electrician
to fit a socket close to the freezer", probably on a brand-new radial
line, since it is a faff rerouting a ring main to include an additional
socket. But SWMBO's father, a qualified electrician, said it's a load
of crap having a blanket ban, and is only to guard against numpties
trying to use extension cable that is rated too low.
Simplest way would be to buy a 13 amp extension lead with a single outlet
in one of the sheds or whatever and cut to length, re-using the plug
supplied with it. Most aren't moulded on.
Is it a no-no to have a spur coming off a ring main? When I was fitting
a replacement mains socket in SWMBO's house to replace one whose
faceplate had cracked, I was surprised to find *three* cables (ie 3
live, 3 neutral, 3 earth wires). I duly connected all of them to the
new socket, but should the extra socket (wherever it may be) really be
connected via the ring main? It's a 1930s house, rewired with
red/black/green wiring rather than brown/blue/green-and-yellow, though
I gather the wiring colours are only mandatory for equipment cable and
that it's quite normal to find even modern house wiring (lighting, ring
mains) in the "old" colours, so it's difficult to deduce when the
rewiring was done and therefore what building regs applied at the time.
You are allowed (current regs) a spur with one double socket maximum. Not
two singles.
--
*Heart attacks... God's revenge for eating his animal friends
Dave Plowman
London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.