Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!

[LeeH]

No idea

 

[ipf]

Someone been doing a bit of over reading on 'sub circuits' and forgot everything else?

 

[Simon47]

Just seen a post on about trunking 'rammed'.
Found this from 2015...an old mill split into units.

View attachment 116531

The office building I worked in at a previous job was "interesting". Wish I had some pictures.
Multiple units (IIRC about 40 in the main building), central incomer and meter room - two incomers, each feeding a 3ph, 10 DNO way fuseboard, and walls filled with switch-fuses and meters (and a lot of teleswitches), everything 1ph in this part of the site.
Many of the downstairs units were supplied by MICC. All I can say is I bet that was fun to work with, from memory somewhere between 1/2" and 1" thick - I imagine someone can probably suggest what size it was, assume 63A cartridge fuse at the supply end, and varying from 20 to 50m runs. And "a load" of them stuffed into trunking.

Now, they ran trunking down the corridor once past the central "square" (which had a false ceiling). 6x2, 3 section, one section for the power supplies - and no, some of the lidding didn't fit properly when it was newly built, even well dressed (which they weren't) it would have been a struggle to get that much MICC in a 2x2 section of trunking.
The next fun thing was that you'd look at it, it ran along the corridor until it reached the wall, and on the other side of the wall there was a ceiling void. "That's handy" you might think when asked to pull some network cables in ... until you look and the trunking stops dead against some structural steelwork. If you suggest I had some uncomplimentary thoughts about the architect then you would be right.

And of course, most people who had to go into the trunking c.b.a. to refit the lids properly.

 

[Mike Johnson]

In France certainly, not sure about the rest of the EU, there is Regulation on the percentage of trunking and conduit that must be left vacant after installation of cables, all cables being singles.

 

[nicebutdim]

In France certainly, not sure about the rest of the EU, there is Regulation on the percentage of trunking and conduit that must be left vacant after installation of cables, all cables being singles.

Limits on capacity here also. Problem is some people don't think regulations are worth heeding and then you have the issue of additions made over the years, for which no one wants to point out that new containment is needed.

 

[James]

Limits on capacity here also. Problem is some people don't think regulations are worth heeding and then you have the issue of additions made over the years, for which no one wants to point out that new containment is needed.

when people quote for a job, you will always loose out if your the quote that includes upgrading the trunking instead of squeezing it into the existing. so even if it had 30% spare capacity 20 years ago when it was built, today the spare capacity is in the region of -20% because of all the additions. however many contractors will still quote with the reasoning that changing from -20% spare to -22% spare wont make any difference.

stick to your guns and do it right or it will bite you in the rear some day.

 

[nicebutdim]

when people quote for a job, you will always loose out if your the quote that includes upgrading the trunking instead of squeezing it into the existing. so even if it had 30% spare capacity 20 years ago when it was built, today the spare capacity is in the region of -20% because of all the additions. however many contractors will still quote with the reasoning that changing from -20% spare to -22% spare wont make any difference.

stick to your guns and do it right or it will bite you in the rear some day.

You won't get any argument from me, but the reality is that trunkings at full capacity will be added to on a daily basis up and down the country.