XPost: sci.electronics.repair, uk.rec.audio, uk.tech.broadcast   
   XPost: uk.tech.digital-tv   
   From: dave@davenoise.co.uk   
      
   In article ,   
      Mortimer  wrote:   
   > While we're talking about electrical safety, what is the current (scuse   
   > that unintentional pun) advice on extending the lead of a freezer? I   
   > know you have to use cable that is rated for 13A (1.5 mm^2 wire rather   
   > than 1 mm^2) and conventional extension cables must be unrolled to   
   > avoid inductive heating. But providing you use a cable of the correct   
   > current rating and which is no longer than it needs to be, joined to   
   > the original cable using a proper in-line junction box, is there a   
   > problem? Many internet resources say "don't do it - get an electrician   
   > to fit a socket close to the freezer", probably on a brand-new radial   
   > line, since it is a faff rerouting a ring main to include an additional   
   > socket. But SWMBO's father, a qualified electrician, said it's a load   
   > of crap having a blanket ban, and is only to guard against numpties   
   > trying to use extension cable that is rated too low.   
      
   Simplest way would be to buy a 13 amp extension lead with a single outlet   
   in one of the sheds or whatever and cut to length, re-using the plug   
   supplied with it. Most aren't moulded on.   
      
   > Is it a no-no to have a spur coming off a ring main? When I was fitting   
   > a replacement mains socket in SWMBO's house to replace one whose   
   > faceplate had cracked, I was surprised to find *three* cables (ie 3   
   > live, 3 neutral, 3 earth wires). I duly connected all of them to the   
   > new socket, but should the extra socket (wherever it may be) really be   
   > connected via the ring main? It's a 1930s house, rewired with   
   > red/black/green wiring rather than brown/blue/green-and-yellow, though   
   > I gather the wiring colours are only mandatory for equipment cable and   
   > that it's quite normal to find even modern house wiring (lighting, ring   
   > mains) in the "old" colours, so it's difficult to deduce when the   
   > rewiring was done and therefore what building regs applied at the time.   
      
   You are allowed (current regs) a spur with one double socket maximum. Not   
   two singles.   
      
   --   
   *Heart attacks... God's revenge for eating his animal friends   
      
       Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW   
                     To e-mail, change noise into sound.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)