Armored mains cable

[b0redom]

Hi All,

I'm getting a garden office/mancave built at the end of the garden. The installer reckons I need 6mm^2 armored 3 core cable. Is all cable much of a muchness? The cable is being buried under a (newly laid) patio, and I'd prefer to pay more for something which is higher quality than have it fail after a few years and have to excavate the garden and patio....

[peterb]

Get a branded cable that has the relevant certification.

This would probably be suitable

http://www.screwfix.com/search?searc...armoured+cable

[Flibb]

Had you thought about laying it in a pipe / duct in case it needs replacing later, or you want to add other cables.

[GoNz0]

Had you thought about laying it in a pipe / duct in case it needs replacing later, or you want to add other cables.

What Flibb says, plus you are doubling up the protection as the spades going to bounce off the pipe before the cable.
Brand isn't that important if it's from a proper supplier as it will have the right certification.
Chuck a couple of network cables down it and a phone line, you never know how handy it will be when you want to fit an IP camera at a later date of find out the WiFi isn't that stable.

[peterb]

Had you thought about laying it in a pipe / duct in case it needs replacing later, or you want to add other cables.

That is a good point, although the armoured cable will be fairly unwieldy and is suitable for laying directly in the ground. Put it might be worth laying pipe work as conduit alongside it foe Ethernet or other cabling. you can use 32mm drain pipe but do put a loop of string in the pipe first to help draw through cables at a later date.

[b0redom]

Yes, my plan is to run conduit, with a couple of cat6 shielded cables and a piece of string for pulling additional cables.

I won't bother with a phone line as I never use my landline anyway, and if I really have to use fixed line, I can use Skype.

I won't bother with an aeriel as again I can use Netflix/Amazon/iPlayer etc for TV requirements and this is going to be an office mostly in any case.

@peterB, that Prysmian cable is what I found, but I have no idea if that's a reputable brand or not hence the question. I've been advised to go for 6mm though just in case.

[GoNz0]

What about cat7? better suited for the task and probably 20% more expensive?

[peterb]

Yes, my plan is to run conduit, with a couple of cat6 shielded cables and a piece of string for pulling additional cables.

I won't bother with a phone line as I never use my landline anyway, and if I really have to use fixed line, I can use Skype.

I won't bother with an aeriel as again I can use Netflix/Amazon/iPlayer etc for TV requirements and this is going to be an office mostly in any case.

@peterB, that Prysmian cable is what I found, but I have no idea if that's a reputable brand or not hence the question. I've been advised to go for 6mm though just in case.

I think you'll be OK with that

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prysmian_Group

[b0redom]

What about cat7? better suited for the task and probably 20% more expensive?

Got any links? I can only find cat5e armoured online. Realistically gigE is likely to be good enough for the time being and when I need more bandwidth I'll go straight to fibre, but if Cat7 is not that much more expensive, I may as well go for it.

Ta..

[b0redom]

I think you'll be OK with that

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prysmian_Group

Thanks PeterB. I should have googled them too.

[GoNz0]

No need for armoured cat7 as you are using conduit.

Sent from my SM-G920F

[Dashers]

CAT 7? What the? I only did my house up two years ago and the best you could get then was 6A.

[b0redom]

No need for armoured cat7 as you are using conduit.

Sent from my SM-G920F

There's a small section of it which won't all be in conduit, where it leaves the house before being buried, so it needs to be armored just in case. Looks like it's hard to find armoured CAT-6. I'll probably just end up going with CAT-5.

[GoNz0]

There's a small section of it which won't all be in conduit, where it leaves the house before being buried, so it needs to be armored just in case. Looks like it's hard to find armoured CAT-6. I'll probably just end up going with CAT-5.

Plenty of options for that, either proper conduit or you could use 32mm waste pipe or even overflow pipe?

Sent from my SM-G920F

[peterb]

Plenty of options for that, either proper conduit or you could use 32mm waste pipe or even overflow pipe?

Sent from my SM-G920F

32mm waste pipe makes great conduit for simple installations. If you need more space you can use 40 mm. However the 20mm should be fine for a single cable. However do use solvent weld pipe so that any buried joints are watertight. If you use 'proper' conduit all the fittings to take the cable through walls etc are available which can make things easier.