Electrical Wiring question - external power point and conduit requirements

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timbosan

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#293303 12-Jan-2022 17:15

Note - this is a pre wiring job I am planning to do. I will be getting it checked and signed off and connected etc. by a registered sparky. I have done this type of work before many times.

I am wanting to install in an external power point at the front of the house, but it may not be easy to get the cables through the walls to the location I want, so I am planning on putting it lower down, about 3-4 'weather-boards' up (approx. 250mm off the ground) and running conduit from the power point around a corner and then under the house (old house, reasonable access under it at this point and lots of existing wiring under there back to the board) so it can be connected.

However I wanted to check on the conduit requirements, does it have to be hard conduit or is flexible OK? I have seen a mixture of hard and flexible used (for example the sparky that installed my heat pump had all the straight bits hard but the bends flexible). What about the end of the conduit, can it just end at a suitable distance under the house? Or should I seal it up?

Unfortunately the wall I want to install it on has about 200 mm between the bottom plate and the ground, and there is no way to get under that specific part of the house. Hence feeding into the wall and down won't work.

I know I have to seal everything and make sure the power point has a drip hole etc. Anything I should be aware of.

Daynger

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#2849475 12-Jan-2022 17:28

There are a few things you should be aware of.

1, Minimum height of a power point in a wet area is 300mm to the bottom.

2, Flexi conduit will deteriorate in the sun, best to be hard drawn.

3, Conduit can just end under the house somewhere.

4, Most importantly: A sparky cannot connect and certify homeowner work, it must be done by an inspector.

timbosan

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#2849527 12-Jan-2022 20:25

Daynger:

There are a few things you should be aware of.

1, Minimum height of a power point in a wet area is 300mm to the bottom.

2, Flexi conduit will deteriorate in the sun, best to be hard drawn.

3, Conduit can just end under the house somewhere.

4, Most importantly: A sparky cannot connect and certify homeowner work, it must be done by an inspector.

1 - excellent, these are the details I struggle to find. I honestly thought of doing electrical certification to be able to do this properly

2 - thanks, will sort this.

3 - good to knoew!

4 - sorry, wrong title used ;-) yes, inspector!

Don't suppose you know anything about becoming an electrician? I looked it up a few times but it seems very long (years?) and not just "go do a course at uni" thing, correct?

Bung

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#2849529 12-Jan-2022 20:48

Old house. Have the electrical circuits been upgraded to include RCDs. Any additional sockets are required to be on a circuit protected by an RCD. If you have to have 1 added to the switchboard that makes the installation of the socket and wiring a smaller proportion of the total job.

PolicyGuy

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#2849535 12-Jan-2022 21:18

timbosan:

Don't suppose you know anything about becoming an electrician? I looked it up a few times but it seems very long (years?) and not just "go do a course at uni" thing, correct?

IIRC, there are only two paths to becoming a registered electrician:

Complete an Apprenticeship - four years of poor pay & crap jobs (most sparkies only get an apprentice when the sparky is too old, fat & inflexible to crawl around under houses and in furnace-hot ceiling spaces, so guess who does that work 😂). The apprenticeship system is really designed for sixteen or seventeen year old starters fresh out of High School, and doesn't work so well for more 'mature' adults
Become a Professional Engineer with a B.E. in Electrical Engineering. For some completely inexplicable reason, the Electrical Workers Registration Board believes that someone who has sat around a University for three years is a suitable person to be a registered electrician. I worked for a Lines Company and some of the engineers were an absolute menace with things like home wiring.

You used to be able to get Limited Registration as an Electronic Technician or some such, but I'm not sure if that still exists. IIRC, usually it was an on the job qualification for firms that did brown or white goods repairs.

Things might be different these days, but not by much, I'm afraid

Bung

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#2849579 12-Jan-2022 23:26

The degree route is more than just sitting around uni it also includes

"completed not less than one year of practical experience in carrying out prescribed electrical work that is satisfactory to the Board."

I don't know if that was always the case.

MadEngineer

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#2849617 13-Jan-2022 00:25

Yeah that’s been the case for a number of decades now. Even back around the turn of the millennium you’d be noting down the different tools you’d used with your bosses sign off.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

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timbosan

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#2849698 13-Jan-2022 10:15

Yeah, I have found it hard to get a definitive "this is the pathway to becoming an electrician" for someone who primarily wants to do their own electrical work (including new circuits and work on the main board), everything I have seen matches the "4 years" type of timeframe or yeah, being an apprentice.

e-tec was once of the places I looked at Electrician Courses | Electrician Training Provider NZ | E-Tec (etec.ac.nz)

but then I got confused between an "Electrician" and an "Electrical Installer". The only 'pathway' I could see what to:

1) Take Electrical Installer Theory Courses Training Programmes NZ | E-Tec (etec.ac.nz)
2) Get the TLC (Safety Training for Trainee Limited Certificate) - E-tec (etec.ac.nz)
3) work for 2 years
4) Apply for registration
5) Hope I pass

Seems a lot, or am I just missing something? My house does eventually need a large part of it rewiring (old single core in some places) but I don't want to wait 2-4 years to get this done myself. And the outdoor power point in my first post would hopefully be upgraded to a 16 or 32 amp dedicated EV charger.

Is it just easier to pay someone and move on?

chevrolux

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#2849737 13-Jan-2022 11:18

Use normal conduit for the long straight runs, and either formed bends or flexi to change directions. Making flexi look nice on a long runs is basically impossible without using 50,000 saddles.

You can get UV stabilised flexi - it's white, as opposed to the grey indoor stuff that will deteriorate outdoors.

MadEngineer

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#2849752 13-Jan-2022 11:32

6) Get rich

7) Live it up

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

timbosan

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#2849761 13-Jan-2022 11:45

MadEngineer:

6) Get rich

7) Live it up

Damn, forgot the most important step (6)! But damn, those girls are, umm, different. Something that should be added to the e-tec website maybe ;-)

pipe60

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#2850716 14-Jan-2022 13:25

What size cable are you going to run if its for a 32a EV charger?,RCD?. Flexy conduit looks rough get the bends or learn how to bend conduit.

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Daynger

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#2850953 14-Jan-2022 17:51

timbosan:
Don't suppose you know anything about becoming an electrician? I looked it up a few times but it seems very long (years?) and not just "go do a course at uni" thing, correct?

I know quite a bit about becoming an electrician, i have done it.

Being that you cant see it coming and it can kill you or someone else fairly easily the bar to becoming an electrician is fairly high, which is a good thing.

An electrician needs to know more than "herp a derp drill go brrrrrrrrrrrrr, then cable go push push."

Daynger

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#2850954 14-Jan-2022 17:53

pipe60:

What size cable are you going to run if its for a 32a EV charger?,RCD?. Flexy conduit looks rough get the bends or learn how to bend conduit.

That would depend on a few things.