In article ,
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
I've never quite understood why so many US towns seem to have overhead
wiring for mains. It's very unsightly.


Some towns are built on so much rock that you need explosives to dig a
trench. You had to get a blasting permit to set a pole in Cincinnati.
All those poles were tagged. RIP. (Replace In Place.)

That is the only reason?

--
*If PROGRESS is for advancement, what does that make CONGRESS mean?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
No, you poke both wires into the same terminal hole.


Not legal in the US but you do find were some Bozo does it, after the
inspection.

How are sockets connected on a radial circuit? Separate terminals for in
and out?

--
*Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Chris Morriss wrote:
Does not seem to be true. My wire tables say 2.5 mm diameter copper is more
like 10 gauge.


It's 2.5 square mm in area I believe, not the diameter of the core.

My fault for not stating it was the cross sectional area. But then our US
cousins quote gauge as if there was only the one. ;-)

2.5mm² equates to 13 AWG, IIRC. That is the cable normally used for UK
rings, protected by a 32 amp MCB

Lighting radials are normally 1mm² which would be 17 AWG, protected by a 6
amp MCB.

--
*The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:13:31 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Chris Morriss wrote:
Does not seem to be true. My wire tables say 2.5 mm diameter copper is more
like 10 gauge.


It's 2.5 square mm in area I believe, not the diameter of the core.

My fault for not stating it was the cross sectional area. But then our US
cousins quote gauge as if there was only the one. ;-)

2.5mm² equates to 13 AWG, IIRC. That is the cable normally used for UK
rings, protected by a 32 amp MCB

Lighting radials are normally 1mm² which would be 17 AWG, protected by a 6
amp MCB.

1.5mm² which is 15 AWG. My lighting breakers are rated 5A.

d

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:13:31 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Chris Morriss wrote:
Does not seem to be true. My wire tables say 2.5 mm diameter copper is
more
like 10 gauge.


It's 2.5 square mm in area I believe, not the diameter of the core.

My fault for not stating it was the cross sectional area. But then our US
cousins quote gauge as if there was only the one. ;-)

2.5mm² equates to 13 AWG, IIRC. That is the cable normally used for UK
rings, protected by a 32 amp MCB

Lighting radials are normally 1mm² which would be 17 AWG, protected by a 6
amp MCB.

1.5mm² which is 15 AWG. My lighting breakers are rated 5A.

1.0sqmm is perfectly acceptable for lighting circuits, BS7671 rates it at
between 8A and 16A depending on the installation method. MCBs for domestic
use have been "harmonised" to 6, 16, 20, 32, 40 or 63A.

David.

On 04/02/2012 01:11, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Andy Champ wrote:

On 01/02/2012 14:10, JW wrote:
On Wed, 1 Feb 2012 12:40:58 +0000 Mike
wrote in Message :

In whill.co.uk, Dave
writes


Just counted up how many double 13A sockets we've just put into the
refurbished *half* of this place: 38. That makes for one helluva fuse
board if each was a radial...

Seen American consumer units? Huge, ugly things, bit like the Americans
themselves :-)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ricalPanel.jpg

Yeah, but we're smart enough to not put them in our living room.

Seen in a hotel room in Scotland:

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l1...erWardrobe.jpg


That would fail inspection in the US, because the wiring trough at
the top is missing its cover.


It all looks a bit new, maybe the installation isn't finished yet?

R

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Lighting radials are normally 1mm² which would be 17 AWG, protected by
a 6 amp MCB.

1.5mm² which is 15 AWG. My lighting breakers are rated 5A.

Unless you have unusually long cable runs or other special factors, it's
oversized.

--
*Bigamy is having one wife too many - monogamy is the same

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:05:01 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Lighting radials are normally 1mm² which would be 17 AWG, protected by
a 6 amp MCB.

1.5mm² which is 15 AWG. My lighting breakers are rated 5A.

Unless you have unusually long cable runs or other special factors, it's
oversized.

When I did my rewire I was offered both 1.5mm and 1mm at pretty much
the same price - certainly within about five quid for 100 metres. That
made it a no-brainer.

d

Don Pearce wrote:

On Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:42:56 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

No, you poke both wires into the same terminal hole.


Not legal in the US but you do find were some Bozo does it, after the
inspection.

Er - how do you do that in the US? You don't have ring mains, so you
don't have two wires.


Do you ever think, before posting? Someone adds another circuit, and
is too cheap to buy another breaker. Or the box is full, and they won't
upgrade.

--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

In article ,
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
I've never quite understood why so many US towns seem to have overhead
wiring for mains. It's very unsightly.

Some towns are built on so much rock that you need explosives to dig a
trench. You had to get a blasting permit to set a pole in Cincinnati.
All those poles were tagged. RIP. (Replace In Place.)

That is the only reason?


Isn't it enough in those places? New subdivisions are bulldozed, and
if necessary, they use explosives to break up big rocks so they can be
removed. You can't do that in existing neighborhoods without blowing
out windows and sometimes closing busy roads for days. A lot of the
above ground service areas were wired after the homes were built, and
early poles were set with a pickax or jackhammer to chip away the
rocks. The actual city of Cincinnati is built on 'seven hills', of
mostly glacier droppings from a long gone ice age. A lot of the suburbs
are of similar conditions.

The RIP process is simple: You cut the old pole near the ground and
drag it off the base. You winch it out of the hole, and set the new
pole in the existing hole. Then transfer the wires to the new pole.
This can be done without closing most roads. Have you ever worked in
utilities or even CATV construction? It doesn't look that way from
here.

If you don't like the way overhead cables look, just stop staring at
the sky.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.