Discuss Advice please depth of buried cable in the Australia area at ElectriciansForums.net

C

CourtneyDesigns

Hi all
Can anyone tell me is there a legal requirement to bury exterior armoured cable at a particular depth or is it just a recommendation. I am not an electrician but am in dispute with a company.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Stuart
 
If you have a BS 7671-2008 regs book then regulation 522.8.10 is the guide to take. The last sentance is

" Buried cables, conduits, and ducts shall be at a sufficient depth to avoid being damaged by any reasonably foreseeable disturbance of the ground"

A rule of thumb is in a garden below one and half spade length or below 500mm and under drives and such under between 500-750 mm.
 
Last edited:
Just to explain a little further
We were installing a fence for our client on a barn conversion. We hit a swa cable ( for lighting bollard) that was buried approx 4 inches.They new where the fence was to be situated. They are now trying deduct £400 off the oustanding balance.
Thanks
 
Just to explain a little further
We were installing a fence for our client on a barn conversion. We hit a swa cable ( for lighting bollard) that was buried approx 4 inches.They new where the fence was to be situated. They are now trying deduct £400 off the oustanding balance.
Thanks

The regs (which aren't law) just state a suitable depth. Now your version of a suitable depth and theirs may differ. You should have been made aware where the cable was and you should have had a banksman looking for it when digging. If the distributors buried the cable I.E scottish power.... they just lob them in I've seen some 2 inches deep (really).

It is going to be extremely hard for you to get yourself out of this one....
 
But surely as they new where the fence was to be installed they should have taken this into consideration when burying the cable for the lighting bollard, or at the very least marked the cable with sand and or tape. (Buried cables, conduits, and ducts shall be at a sufficient depth to avoid being damaged by any reasonably foreseeable disturbance of the ground)
 
The normally recognised depth for direct buried and ducted cables is 600mm, This is pretty much the cable manufacturers general recommended cable laying depths. Much more than that and you start encountering de-rating factors for the cable(s)...

Under paved or concreted driveways, where it is unlikely to be disturbed in the foreseeable future, this depth can be reduced to around 450mm. In gardens and the like, it is preferable, if not sensible to run cables in heavy duty conduit or pipe, Which also saves on a hell of a lot of sifting of the back-fill soil to get rid of sharp stones, that can penetrate the outer sheaths of cables.


So Courtney Jones, ...What is the arguement with this company on the burial depths of your cable(s)????
 

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