Slightly overpriced....

[martinw]

The lengths 12Mtr for 1.25mm and 15Mtr for 1.5mm, for a 13amp extension, are the max lengths specified in the IEE CoP for in service I & T.

 

Thats interesting. Is this now a legal requirement or just a guideline? If I hire or buy a 20M cable with 13A connectors does it have to be constructed with 2.5mm cable. I'm a bit out of touch with this, but rental companies used to always supply 13A connector cables with 1.5mm cable, right up to 100M. Have they now had to change?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Martin

[Wuddy]

The lengths 12Mtr for 1.25mm and 15Mtr for 1.5mm, for a 13amp extension, are the max lengths specified in the IEE CoP for in service I & T.

 

Thats interesting. Is this now a legal requirement or just a guideline? If I hire or buy a 20M cable with 13A connectors does it have to be constructed with 2.5mm cable. I'm a bit out of touch with this, but rental companies used to always supply 13A connector cables with 1.5mm cable, right up to 100M. Have they now had to change?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Martin

 

No, this is not a legal requirement persay but it is the max length recommended without RCD protection and any extension cable whos earth loop impedance exceeds the max for the protective device (0.4 Ohms for BS1362) should be protected by a RCD.

 

On your 100Mtr 1.5mm extension the volt drop over the length would be collosal, about 3 volt for every amp drawn, so if your load was 13amp volt drop would be about 40 volt, consider the the wall socket may be at its limit of design and the building supply may be at the lower end of the allowed spread.

 

So worst case scenario, you could have only 198 volt at the wall socket and then 40 volt drop in the extension, therefore at the working end you'll only have 158 volt.

 

Mmmmm.. I thought the lamps looked a bit dim.