How many electrical cables per cable clip? 27 December 2022 at 4:02PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 6 replies 318 views

Freddythefearlessfish

So I've recently been told by an electrician that the old style plastic cable clips are no longer allowed, and cables need to be attached to the wall by metal cable clips.

I've gone out and purchased a variety of clips, but I'm wondering whether there is a limit to the number of cables that can be secured by a single clip.  For example if I used all purpose fixing band to hold 5 or six cables in place at 300mm interval around a garage would I have met the new criteria or not.  Or would I need one piece of fixing band per individual cable?

Sorry to be a numpty, but having got it wrong once already using standard plastic fixings I thought it better to check.

FreeBear

If you have cables fixed using plastic clips, there is zero need to go round replacing them all. The latest regulations are not retrospective, so as long as your wiring complied with the rules in place at the time the work was done, it is still OK today.

Risteard

FreeBear said:

If you have cables fixed using plastic clips, there is zero need to go round replacing them all. The latest regulations are not retrospective, so as long as your wiring complied with the rules in place at the time the work was done, it is still OK today.

Not entirely true. Electrical installations are always assessed against the current Standard. As such, if cables are liable to cause a risk of entrapment in the case of a fire then the date of installation doesn't make them more or less potentially hazardous. Fused neutrals were once permitted but are always considered a major safety issue nowadays.

fenwick458

https://youtu.be/5GzcC-vLYuo

Alias_Omega

Standards may change, however does not mean you need to run around changing things. Your house has been around for years, has it become "less safe" because the rules changes?

Certainly not! Don't listen to the "sales man" telling you that you need to do stuff. It was compliant with the regulations when it was installed, therefore its complaint!

Section62

Alias_Omega said:

Standards may change, however does not mean you need to run around changing things. Your house has been around for years, has it become "less safe" because the rules changes?

Certainly not! Don't listen to the "sales man" telling you that you need to do stuff. It was compliant with the regulations when it was installed, therefore its complaint!

The point is that there are some things which are particularly bad/dangerous that even though they were compliant at the time they were installed, no sensible person would avoid making changes purely on the basis of "it was compliant!".

The risk of entrapment from inadequately supported electrical installations was not properly understood until after two firefighters died in 2005, and even then it took the deaths of two more firefighters in 2010 before action was taken to change the regulations.

You are of course free to tell the "sales man" that you would prefer to save a few pounds, so long as you can live with your decision if it results in a member of your household, or someone willing to risk their own life to save yours, dying in one of the worst imaginable ways.

On this forum we regularly advise people to make changes to their home that they don't need to to comply with regulations, but because it makes sense to spend money to make their home more comfortable, safer or more economical to run.  Single-glazed windows which were compliant with regulations when installed don't have to be replaced, but few here would tell someone not to have their windows replaced for double glazed ones if the opportunity arises.

The passage of time and changing regulations isn't the only thing which can lead to us thinking something is "less safe".  Having a better understanding of how things can be dangerous can also change what we think of as safe or dangerous.  And that is what has happened here.

Ectophile

The purpose of changing plastic clips to metal is to improve everyone's safety in the event of a fire.

Consider a cable run across the ceiling of a hallway, secured by plastic clips.  In a fire, those clips would melt, leaving the cables to drop down.  This could easily entangle anyone in the home trying to escape, or firefighters entering the building.  So plastic clips were banned for that sort of wiring.

But if it's cables running across the wall of a garage, will it cause any hazard if those clips melt?  In many cases, no.