[plug] wiring a house

[Jonathan Young]

On 3/3/2006, "Daniel Foote" <freefoote at gmail.com> wrote:

>> Thanks for clearing that up. So if I used that square conduit that
>> "permanently" attaches to the walls - would I be all right?
>
>Er... I'm not sure... to me, that could be taken either way. You'd
>have to ask ACA (who are now ACMA) if that was acceptable or not - the
>standards don't really go into that.

Good old grey areas!

So as we've covered, cabling that is being added permanently should be
done according to standards and therefore by somebody licenced.  OK.

So what about these:

* Cabling added into a wall cavity with a face plate/socket = permanent
(reasonably difficult to remove without tools)

* Cabling lying on the floor between rooms (so you can trip on it!) =
non-permanent.

*Cabling that passes through a hole in the wall = permanent

*Cabling that passes through a slightly bigger hole in the wall (features
such as half height or portals into study areas or I know, how abour
doorways!) = non-permanent?

What's the rule on how big the hole has to be??  It think it should be
more about what portion of the cabling disappears into the building.

For example, I have a cable running from downstairs to upstairs that
rests in the gap around the edge of the skirting.  That would be
non-permanent.  Unless I tack it down in a couple of places... nah,
that's still OK.  So how is the square conduit any different?  It's
just to cover it up - like putting a poster over it, furniture in front
of it or anything else.

Wall sockets are obviously fixtures and considered permanent - get
someone licenced to do it.

I would think it becomes permanent if you either have to cut an end off
to remove it from where it has been installed (i.e. some
destruction/deconstruction is required) or if a significant portion of
the cabling is actually concealed behind the wall.

If you managed to lay all of the cable without drilling holes I don't
think it should matter whether it is lying loose on the floor, stuck
down with gaffa or tidied up behind a plastic conduit.  It is still not
part of the building or anywhere near electical cabling installed in the
walls as per the ACMA's main concern.

This is all personal opinion though, but I think common sense should be
allowed to prevail.

By the way... are we a little OT for the main list at the moment?


--
Jonathan Young
Director of PC-PHIX
jonathan at pcphix.com

Phone: 0410 455 674
Web: http://www.pcphix.com/