Wire to Garden Switch box

[ericthered66!]

Hello there..I would like to know about running a 2.5 cable to a socket outside in the Garden, which is about 14 metres away, so i can have a pond waterfall using a pump.. I'm thinking of running the wire through plastic Conduit, along my fence to a point where i can fix a outside waterproof socket..I really don't want to use Armoured wire, has it means i will have to dig across my garden which will be a heck of a job..The problem i have is , in our underground shed, we have a double socket with no switches on it..The double plug socket is a spur from our kitchen up stairs..it also has a spur box at the side of it to give power to our boiler..We would really like to have some kind of control over the wire going out to the Garden socket when we wire it in , can anyone please tell us if we can still use this socket as a somehow switch to control outside, or maybe being able to add another spur to this double socket ?.

 

[Doghouse Riley]

I've never been fond of surface cables in a garden unless it's 12v.
Digging a trench for a cable isn't that difficult or that disruptive.
I installed pop up sprinklers in our lawn using speedfit pipe. Cutting "V shaped" wedges out of the lawn and replacing them after putting in the pipe.

These scars had disappeared after two weeks.

The problem with using conduit on a fence is how it's affected if you need to change a panel.

I've cables running between the shed and our summerhouse. It's in alkathene water pipe, buried 9" down in the border close to the little wall. It's been there about 35 years and I never give it another thought.

 

[He who knows]

Hello there..I would like to know about running a 2.5 cable to a socket outside in the Garden, which is about 14 metres away, so i can have a pond waterfall using a pump.. I'm thinking of running the wire through plastic Conduit, along my fence to a point where i can fix a outside waterproof socket..

Cables attached to fences generally not a good idea - they move about, which means they can put a strain on connections and in extremis they can blow down. What sort of fence posts are they?

I really don't want to use Armoured wire, has it means i will have to dig across my garden which will be a heck of a job.

Don't get that. Subject to the same caveats as above, armoured cable can just as easily be fixed to a fence as plastic conduit.

The problem i have is , in our underground shed, we have a double socket with no switches on it..The double plug socket is a spur from our kitchen up stairs..it also has a spur box at the side of it to give power to our boiler..We would really like to have some kind of control over the wire going out to the Garden socket when we wire it in , can anyone please tell us if we can still use this socket as a somehow switch to control outside, or maybe being able to add another spur to this double socket ?.

Underground shed?

Even if the socket you mention were switched, the switches would only control the socket itself, not anything spurred from it.

Install double-pole switch indoors and run the cable to the pond from that. Even if you didnt want to control it from the house you should do that anyway lest you get RCD tripping caused by water ingress outside - the switch will allow you to isolate.

BUT - is this socket a fused spur from the kitchen? If not you should change that, as you should not have multiple sockets on an unfused spur.

And is the circuit RCD protected?

 

[He who knows]

Digging a trench for a cable isn't that difficult or that disruptive.
I installed pop up sprinklers in our lawn using speedfit pipe. Cutting "V shaped" wedges out of the lawn and replacing them after putting in the pipe.

Yes for sprinkler pipes.

No no no no no for electrical cables that shallow.

Should be 400-500mm down (more if it's a bed where double digging might occur) and have a cable cover or warning tape.

I've cables running between the shed and our summerhouse. It's in alkathene water pipe, buried 9" down in the border close to the little wall.

Too shallow.

Non-compliant conduit.