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Cables Passing Through or Over Joists: BS 7671: 2008 Requires A Cable Installed Under A Floor or Above A

The document discusses regulations for protecting electrical cables that pass through or over timber joists. Cables must be installed in a way to avoid damage from contact with floors, ceilings or fixings. Cables must either be at least 50mm from joists, have an earthed metallic covering, be enclosed in earthed conduit or trunking, or be mechanically protected against penetration.

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182 views2 pages

Cables Passing Through or Over Joists: BS 7671: 2008 Requires A Cable Installed Under A Floor or Above A

The document discusses regulations for protecting electrical cables that pass through or over timber joists. Cables must be installed in a way to avoid damage from contact with floors, ceilings or fixings. Cables must either be at least 50mm from joists, have an earthed metallic covering, be enclosed in earthed conduit or trunking, or be mechanically protected against penetration.

Uploaded by

MyoZaw
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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POCKET GUIDE 21

Cables passing through


or over joists
Cables that pass through or over timber joists can be particularly
vulnerable to damage, which can lead to the dangers of electric
shock or fire unless suitable measures are taken.
In order to protect against these dangers, Regulation 522.6.5 of
BS 7671: 2008 requires a cable installed under a floor or above a
ceiling to be run in such a position so that it is not liable to be
damaged by contact with the floor, the ceiling or any of their
fixings.
The Regulation also requires that where a cable has to pass
through a timber joist within a floor or ceiling construction or
through a ceiling support (e.g. under floorboards), the cable shall:
i be at least 50 mm measured vertically from the top or bottom,
as appropriate, of the joist or batten, or
ii incorporate an earthed metallic covering which complies with
the requirements of BS 7671 for a protective conductor of the
circuit concerned, the cable complying with BS 5467,
BS 6346, BS 6724, BS 7846, BS EN 60702-1 or BS 8436, or

iii be enclosed in earthed conduit complying with BS EN 61386


and satisfying the requirements of BS 7671 for a protective
conductor, or
iv be enclosed in earthed trunking or ducting complying with
BS EN 50085 and satisfying the requirements of BS 7671 for
a protective conductor, or
v be mechanically protected against damage sufficient to
prevent penetration of the cable by nails, screws and the like.
The five conditions are illustrated below:

Ceiling board
ii iii iv

i Minimum 50 mm
to top or bottom, v
as approriate, of joist

NOTES:
1. The titles of the British Standards listed in Condition ii are given in Appendix 1 of BS 7671.
2. Explanatory notes on the five conditions are provided on the reverse of this guide.

www.niceic.com
Based on information as at September 2010 © Pocket Guide 21 09/10
POCKET GUIDE 21
Cables passing through
or over joists
Explanatory notes:
Condition i The specified minimum depth of 50 mm from the
top or bottom (as appropriate) of a joist or batten is intended to
avoid the cable from being penetrated by a nail, screw or the like
that is used to fix the floorboards or ceiling boards to the joist.
However, if the electrical installer believes that a 50 mm depth will
not be sufficient for this purpose, due to the length of the nails
etc., then either the cable must be placed at a sufficiently
increased depth to avoid penetration, or one of the other
conditions, ii – v , must be complied with.
Condition ii The use of a cable incorporating an earthed
metallic covering, such as mineral insulated copper sheathed
(MICS) or steel wire armoured (SWA) cable, is intended to ensure
that a nail, screw or the like cannot make contact with a line
conductor of the cable without first coming into good electrical
contact with the earthed metallic covering (by piercing), thereby
providing a direct path for earth fault current to flow to cause
automatic disconnection of the circuit concerned. Regulation
543.2.5 requires that where the metallic covering of a cable is
used as a protective conductor, the metallic covering shall satisfy
the requirements of items (i) and (ii) of Regulation 543.2.4, relating
to electrical continuity and cross sectional area, respectively.
Condition iii Enclosing a cable in earthed conduit in
accordance with BS EN 61386 effectively provides the same
method of protection as a cable incorporating an earthed metallic
covering, as in condition ii .
Condition iv Enclosing a cable in earthed trunking or ducting
in accordance with BS EN 50085 effectively provides the same
method of protection as a cable incorporating an earth metallic
covering, as in condition ii .
Condition v A steel plate at least 3 mm thick (covering the full
width of the joist) will generally be sufficient to prevent penetration
of a cable by a nail, screw or the like that is used for fixing the
floorboards or ceiling boards.
However, in situations where shot fired fixings might be used,
even a 3 mm plate would not necessarily prevent penetration, and
would therefore be unsuitable. It should be noted that the use of
some proprietary metal plates sold to protect cables are too thin
to prevent penetration by a nail or similar, or even make the person
driving in the fixing aware of the metal plate.

www.niceic.com
For further copies of this guide
telephone 0870 0130382 or e-mail [email protected]
© Pocket Guide 21 09/10

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