How to make wiring in the country with your own hands
Civilization today depends on electricity, and if a person builds or buys a dacha, he would rather do without gas than without direct or alternating current. But to what extent to use it depends on how much time a year the owner is going to live in this dacha. You will always need to cook food, wash, heat water, use sewerage, even if it is supposed to live in the country only in the warm season. Wiring in the country with your own hands is a serious task, but if you wish, anyone who studied physics at school can handle it. You just need to think it over carefully, maybe consult with experts, calculate, purchase everything you need in advance.
Where does the wiring start in the country? With a detailed plan. It will include all electrical lighting and household appliances in all summer cottages. It is necessary to think over in advance such a question: will a washing machine or an air conditioner be used - the most energy-intensive assistants in our organized urban life. Electricians are advised to draw up a detailed plan of all premises, from underground to attic, by all means indicating the location of each outlet, switch, lighting lamp, stove. According to experts, it is better not to make a common system, but several autonomous ones, separately connected to the shield. In this case, a problem in one place will not leave the whole house without light.
Before making an electrical wiring diagram, you need to decide whether it will be internal or external. Internal wiring is usually done at the construction stage, suitable channels are pre-punched in the walls for laying the cable. This is usually done in city apartments: the owners do not see where the wires go, using only a switch and an outlet until they have to change the wiring in whole or in part. To do this, you have to hammer the walls.
Offices and country houses are most often equipped with external wiring. Then all the wires are located on the walls and ceilings, they are hidden in special boxes made of non-combustible plastic. If necessary, they are easy to check, repair or replace - for this you do not have to break the walls. It must be said that this method of wiring is prohibited for bathrooms due to high humidity, it may not be suitable for attic spaces.
Power calculation
In physics lessons at school, everyone taught that the movement of charged particles heats up a conductor. This means that the electrical wire heats up during operation. If the wiring power is incorrectly calculated, then overheating of the wires can bring a lot of trouble. Usually, a standard power grid in a country house is content with a network power of no more than 30 kW. It can be calculated in this way. You can take a single-phase circuit, to which 10 100 W lamps are connected, a 2 kW electric kettle plus a 1 kW microwave and a standard mains voltage of 220 V.
The total power of all these devices will be 4000 W (10x100 + 1000 + 2000). The current in this section of the circuit will be 18.18 A (power 4000 divided by voltage 220). Of course, you need to take into account some power reserve, but at the same time remember: it is best to make several separate systems (separately for lighting, for sockets, for a washing machine and air conditioner) and calculate the power for each. This will increase safety as well as increase cost savings.
If you determine exactly which household appliances will turn on at the same time, you can decide how many phases need to be carried out to the summer cottage. One phase, that is, one linear wire from power lines - this means that it is planned to consume electricity up to 4 kW / h.
Wire selection
Aluminum wiring is by far the cheapest, but using it does not mean saving money. It wears out very quickly, it will soon have to be changed, and powerful energy-intensive devices can even burn out because of it. Experienced electricians advise using copper wiring - it is more reliable, and, as a result, it will be more economical.
It is best to take a flat cable with two double-insulated stranded wires. The cross section of the wires must be selected, taking into account the calculated power.
A wire with a cross section of 1.5 mm is suitable for a current of 15 A, and 2.5 mm - 25 A, which means that they can be used at voltage on consumers with a power of 15 A - 220 V - 3.3 kW and 25 A - 220 V - 5.5 kW respectively. If the socket will be used for an iron and an electric kettle, then a wire with a cross section of 2.5 mm must be connected to it. And if nothing more powerful than charging for a phone or a table lamp is included in it, then a wire with a cross section of 0.5-0.75 mm is quite suitable. But it’s better to take into account some power reserve, because it’s supposed to live in the house for a long time, and who knows what will happen in a few years, and what the owner’s grown daughter will plug into this outlet.
When asked how many wires you need to buy, any electrician will answer - more. It is usually advised to carefully measure with a tape measure all the paths of the intended wiring (it was necessary to make a diagram) in all rooms, including attic rooms, and increase by 15%. In addition to the house itself, other objects on the land of the summer cottage can be connected to the network. Lanterns are possible at the entrance to the territory or along the paths, a bathhouse located in a separate building.
Video "The process of wiring in the country"
Mounting
First, a branch is made from the power line. The input cable is selected, taking into account the maximum power of the electrical equipment of the whole house. An important point may be the peculiarity of the materials: if you simply connect a copper wire with aluminum, they will not last long - strong oxidation will interfere. The easiest way to connect them is with a terminal block. Unlike the traditional screw and nut connection, the terminal block is very simple yet reliable in any combination. It is necessary to strip the insulation at the ends of the wires by only 5 mm and clamp it with a screw by inserting it into the holes.
Then you need to install the switchboard. It is equipped with circuit breakers for each network, an electricity meter, an introductory machine and an RCD. A circuit breaker should disconnect the entire house from electricity in the event of a short circuit. For a single-phase network, use a single-pole or two-pole (phase and zero start). The introductory circuit breaker, as a rule, is installed after the meter - then it does not need to be sealed, and if installed before the meter, a seal is required. The shield housing must be grounded.
RCD, that is, a residual current device, is a very necessary thing for safety. It catches the smallest current leakage and immediately responds by turning off, thereby protecting a person if a leak occurs on a metal case. It is chosen taking into account the rated current and the leakage current. Moreover, the rated current is chosen higher than the circuit breaker current in the circuit. And the leakage current is chosen, taking into account the connected equipment and the type of room. For example, for a bathroom with its humidity (and for attic spaces), an RCD with a leakage current of no more than 10 mA is needed, and for drier rooms, 30 mA is enough.
If an air branch is made, it is imperative to ground the single-phase input. To re-ground the neutral wire when entering, water pipes can be used. So a steel strip is welded to the pipe, a neutral wire is attached to it, or it can be grounded using steel rods, each with a diameter of 12 mm or steel corners 4 mm thick and at least 2 m long. A steel corner is welded to them, a copper conductor is attached to it. The entire structure is buried in the ground to the depth of possible freezing. Ground resistance must be 4 ohms.
Electrical wiring in the country house underground is done in the following sequence:
- you need to lay and fix them;
- stretch the wires into the prepared boxes;
- connect the wires to the shield and the meter.
Connecting the wires to the switchboard and the meter is usually done by a local electrician, he must seal them. It is quite possible to provide the cottage with electrical wiring with your own hands, many have successfully done this.