Campsite Electric Hook-up connection

dunny1234 · Feb 22, 2011

Thanks for all the comments. I think this job is a bit beyond me, but i'm going to give it a go. Great learning curve as i've never done a job like this. I'll be using 16a electric hookup units (rcbo) Caravan Park Electrical Services - Touring Sites on a ring around the field to connect all 9 units (each suppying 2 caravans, 18 total).

Total length of cable needed will be 250m for the ring and looping in/out of hookup units. The farmer is telling me he has had a design in for the finished park from a caravan site type installation company last year and they proposed to link between caravans with 16mm two core SWA. I reckon 25mm 2core swa would be more adequate allowing for volt drop over that distance. Obviously, I'm worried now because quoting using 25mm swa is going to be a lot more than his previous quote.

Would 16mm be adequate? Help, it's giving me a headache

mattmoo1974 · Feb 22, 2011

Go for 25mm mate. Then explain to the farmer he can add extra caravans at a later point, If he uses 16mm this wont be a option. I sure he ll make the choice for you then

telectrix · Feb 22, 2011

you need to arrive at a sensible max. current, allowing for diversity. i can't see a total load of more than 40% of total i.e. 72A. in which case 16mm XLPE on a ring is more than adequate. someone with better design technical knowledge than myself may disagree. as i said earlier, volt drop may be the deciding factor.

roukel01 · Feb 22, 2011

We've worked on a few sites, where calcs have been carried out by companies that specialise in Caravan sites. That kind of run is usually quoted as 25mm minimum, usually they like to see 32mm but that can be a little overkill! Also is it a single phase supply or 3 phase? if it is a 3 phase supply, would it be better to spread the load over all three?

It is amazing how much power people use in these caravans! I've seen 80amp fuses blow which cover 10 or so pitches. people leaving 2kw blow heaters on all day to keep their awning warm while they're out!

What we did to combat this stiruation was to install prepayment meters at each pitch, the campsite owner could not believe how much money he saved on electricity! and his gas sales went up too.

sparks1234 · Feb 22, 2011

When I did my install, the cable run was protected by a 40 amp circut breaker, it was a 25 mm SWA, then whenever I got to a post I split the armoured cable open, without cutting the cores and attached a 6mm cable to feed each post. So that gives all the cables protection for the size and also you have covered yourself on the volt drop. Much better than cutting the cable and making off into boxes etc. Its really a bit like the supplier would do in the road.

Engineer54 · Feb 22, 2011

Pitty the poor bugger that comes to work on that connection after your gone...lol!!! So what do you do with the SWA??

SilverSaloon · Feb 24, 2011

hi

i was wondering what sort of ball-park figure it would cost to install 40 hookups in a field? starting from scratch. I'm considering getting hookups installed to start a site...

thanks

dunny1234 · Mar 16, 2011

After some thought, I've decided to go with 2 radials. There's a 3 phase, 1 for the toilet/shower block, and i'm going the use the other 2 phases of each radial (1 phase for 9 caravans)

The caravan site require hookup's for 18 touring caravans in a field thats 85m long (9 caravans up one side, and then 9 caravans down the other) . An approx. calculation is that i need 200m of 16mm swa cable. I'm looking at using 16a 2way hookup unit/rcbo's for every 2 caravans. I think 16mm swa is enough, very slim chance that all 9 caravans will be using 16a all at once, and 16mm over 85m should cover volt drop issues Any thoughts? Thanks in advance