DIY wiring: requirements, types and wiring diagram

Do-it-yourself wiring

Today it is difficult to imagine a comfortable life without electricity, and a sudden breakdown in the electrical network of an apartment or house becomes a big problem. To avoid this trouble, it is necessary at the stage of acquiring an apartment or house to pay close attention to wiring. And in case of an unsatisfactory result of the inspection, do the installation work. All work can be done by experienced professionals, but those who are used to doing everything themselves can do the installation of electrical wiring with their own hands. The main thing is to know the rules and requirements for the installation of electrical wiring, as well as to have an idea of ​​what and how to do.

Content

• Rules for wiring
• Pre-Installation Preparation
• Installation of a hidden electrical network
• Installation of open wiring

 

Rules for wiring

Carrying out work on laying wires, it is necessary to strictly comply with all requirements for the installation of electrical wiring. Non-compliance or half measures in this type of work can have very disastrous consequences. Here is a list of the basic rules that you must adhere to:

• meters, branching boxes, switches and sockets should be in easily accessible places;

• circuit breakers must be installed at a height of 65 – 80 cm or 1.5 m from the floor. In the first case, this is done for the convenience of children, in the second – for adults. Also, switches should be located in all rooms near the doorway, in a place where the door does not block access to them;

• sockets should be placed at a height of 0.5 – 0.8 m from the floor. Do not place them near the baseboard itself to avoid a short circuit if the room is flooded with water. The distance from the outlet to gas or electric stoves, batteries, pipes or other grounded objects should be at least 50 cm. When calculating the number of outlets, it should be assumed that 1 outlet is installed on 6 m2 of premises. For the kitchen, the number of outlets is calculated based on the planned number of household appliances. Outlets are not allowed in the toilet, and for outlets in the bathroom, an isolation transformer must be installed outside the bathroom.

• the wiring on the walls is carried out vertically and horizontally, and their location must be displayed on the wiring plan of the room;

• when laying horizontally, it is necessary to maintain a distance of 50 – 100 mm from the beams and cornices and 150 mm from the ceiling. The height from the skirting boards should be 150 – 200 mm. For vertical installation, the distance to doorways or windows should be at least 100 mm;

• electrical wiring must not come into contact with metal building structures. The distance from the gas pipes must be at least 400 mm;

• the wiring and its connection must be performed in special boxes, and the bare ends should be carefully insulated. It should be remembered that the connection of aluminum and copper wires to each other is prohibited;

• grounding wires and protective neutral wires must be connected to the devices using a bolted connection.

Pre-Installation Preparation

Like any other internal work, the installation of electrical wiring must begin with the preparatory phase. And the first thing that is required for the successful completion of the work is the wiring diagram. To do this, you can contact the specialists, and for a fee, they will draw a wiring diagram in the room, or do it yourself. To do this, you can draw a plan of the room on paper and display on it the places for laying wires, places for installing outlets, distribution boxes, a shield, as well as marking the places for installing lighting devices.

Having created such a simple plan, you can immediately calculate the required amount of cable or wire, sockets, switches and everything else.

To be precise, for the installation of electrical wiring, the following materials will be required: a lighting shield, DIF automata or RCDs, wires, socket boxes, junction boxes, switches, sockets, corrugation, ducts or cable channels, terminals for connecting wires and SIZy, electrical tape and various fasteners elements (clips, dowel – nails, screws).

Important! When calculating the amount of cable, there are two things to keep in mind. Firstly, do not forget to include in the total length all the branches on the walls to outlets, switches and lighting points. Secondly, add an extra couple of meters to the obtained length, since you will have to do a wire release of 10 – 15 cm at the points of installation of sockets, switches and lighting fixtures. In addition, this is a small reinsurance in case of an error during installation.

Particular attention must be paid to wires. When choosing wires, preference is given to the copper core. Copper is more durable, conducts electricity better, is flexible. Among all the variety for installation, the following types of wires will be required:

• VVG-5 * 6. Such a wire with five wires and a cross section of 6 mm2 is perfect for those who have installed a three-phase power supply..
• VVG-2 * 6. This two-wire conductor has a cross section of 6 mm2. He performs the connection of the shield V.R.U. with light shield.
• VVG-3 * 2.5. This is a three-wire wire with a cross section of 2.5 mm2. It is used for the main part of the wiring from the shield to the electrical boxes and from the electrical boxes to outlets.
• VVG-3 * 1.5. This three-wire cable with a cross section of 1.5 mm2 is used for laying from the distribution box to the lighting points and switches.

As for the machines, then you can opt for a 16 A and 20 A machine. The first – at 16 A – is perfect for lighting, and the second – at 20 A – for outlets. There is also a 25 A circuit breaker, but it is not recommended to install it for old houses and old wiring, as it may not work at high load, and the wiring cannot withstand.

Important! Each wire section has its own permissible load. In our case, automatic machines for 16 A and 20 A are suitable for VVG 3 * 1,5 wire. For machines VVG-3 * 2,5, automatic machines 20 A and 25 A should be installed.

Now you need to decide on the installation method, it can be a hidden or open installation. If flush mounting is used, then you will have to pick up a puncher or grinder and do a very dusty job of breaking walls. With open installation, everything is much simpler: the wire is attached to the walls using special clips, dowels – nails, ducts or cable channels. Of course, this does not always look aesthetically pleasing, but with this installation method you can always get free access to wiring. Before performing installation work in the premises, all unnecessary must be removed to gain free access to the walls, floors and ceiling. Hidden installation of electrical wiring is best done before any finishing work, and open installation can be done at the end of all work.

To lay the gates, first you need to mark the surface of the walls, ceiling or concrete floor according to the previously created wiring plan. Then, using a puncher or grinder, cut a groove – a strob. The installation locations of the sockets and the distribution boxes are cut out using a special nozzle on the punch – crowns. To draw the wire between the rooms we drill holes in the walls with a diameter of 2 – 3 mm larger than the diameter of the wire.

For those who do not have the necessary installation skills, it is better to contact specialists. Today, the prices for installation of electrical wiring are very high and depend on the number of rooms, types of work and the number of installation points of lighting devices, sockets and switches. All work can cost from 300 cu to 700 cu But if you wish, you can do everything yourself by following the recommendations below.

Installation of a hidden electrical network

The first thing to do is to install and connect the lighting shield, RCD or DIF automatic machines. These simple devices will protect you from short circuits and power surges. Typically, such a shield is installed at the entrance to the apartment in a special niche, but it can also be hung on the wall. To connect, you must first determine its location. If it is hinged, then it is necessary to drill holes for its fasteners, if a special niche is planned, then simply put all the necessary devices there and fix them. In new homes, a niche is usually made, and a wire VVG-2 * 6 or VVG-5 * 6 is drawn into it. For old houses, you will have to make the connection yourself, having previously drilled a hole in the wall and stretched a wire into it.

Now we connect the previously purchased machines. We install them inside the box and fix them, then connect the wires. The standard shield is as follows:

• above are the zero terminals,
• grounding down,
• automatic machines are installed in the middle.

First, we clean the input wire and attach the blue core to zero, the yellow one with a green strip to ground, and the white core to the top contact on the machine and put a jumper to the top contact of the neighboring machine there. We connect the wires VVG-3 * 2.5, which go to the rooms as follows: we connect the phase (the color may be brown, red or other memorable) to the terminal of the machine from below. We connect zero and ground in the same way as for the input wire.

Important! For the wiring that goes into the room, you do not need to make a jumper. Since for sockets, switches and lighting points there will be their own machines that are powered from a common cable. In the case when a shield with an RCD is mounted, the phase and zero of the input wire are connected to the RCD and from there they go to the machine and the zero terminal.

Now you can proceed with the installation of hidden wiring. It should be noted right away that the hidden installation method includes laying wiring along the gates, in the voids of the floors, under the floor covering, under the plaster, as well as installing the wiring under the drywall. Stacking of gates is carried out as follows:

• In the previously made strobes, we lay the wires so that they do not protrude over the edges. If necessary, expand the gate slightly.
• From ShchO to the distribution boxes, lay the wire VVG-3 * 2.5.
• We lay the same wire from the distribution boxes to outlets.
• For lighting points and switches, lay the wire VVG-3 * 1.5 from the switchgear to the connection point.

If you plan to sheathe the walls of the room with drywall, then you can not do the strobes.

All wiring will be laid behind plasterboard sheets. The laying principle is the same, but the main thing is that there are significant differences – all wires are routed into the corrugation and only then laid in place, special clips are used for fastening to the wall.

For those who want to save a little, there is the opportunity to use the installation of wiring in the floor. So you don’t have to go around all the corners and walls, but simply stretch the wires directly to the desired room. In this option, it is worth noting the need for vertical wall chilling for sockets, switches and lighting fixtures. Also, all wiring is wound into a corrugation.

Important! If you planned one or several automatic machines for each group of devices or a room, then when laying the wires they should be marked in a certain way, otherwise you can get confused.

Now that the main wires are laid, they must be brought into the distribution boxes and connected to a single network. To do this, we clean the ends of the wires and twist them together. All exposed ends must be insulated. You can use electrical tape or use SIZ, which is much simpler and more efficient..

The insulated ends of the wires are pressed tightly inside the box, and the box itself is closed with a lid. We check the installed wiring with a tester for damage or incorrect connections. At the final stage, we close up the strobes with alabaster wiring. It remains to install sockets, switches, lighting devices in place, after which you can contact the housing and communal services. To connect to the power shield, you will need to call an electrician so that he disconnects the electricity and connects to the meter.

Installation of open wiring

This installation method is used if hidden installation is not possible or impossible in a house, apartment or other room. For the implementation of open wiring, special boxes or cable channels are used. All of these materials are purchased based on the total metering of the wiring, since all cables and wires will be hidden and laid inside the boxes. Installation and connection of ЩО is carried out in the same way as described above. The installation process itself is as follows:

• according to the wiring plan, we outline the places for laying the wires;
• we drill holes for dowels and screws with a step of 0.5 m;
• we put in place the box or cable – channels and fix them to the wall with screws;
• in places of installation of sockets, switches, lighting devices, drill holes;
• install sockets and switches, fixing them with screws. For lighting devices on the ceiling we use special hooks, on the walls – special fasteners;
• by analogy with flush mounting, at the junction of the wires we use a distribution box, and for connecting wires – Sizy;
• check the tester for damage or errors and close the boxes with wiring covers;
• to connect to the mains, we turn to an electrician in the housing and communal services.

For an intelligent owner, installing electrical wiring with your own hands does not present any special difficulties. The main thing is to carry out everything gradually and carefully. The slightest mistake can be very expensive, but if you try, you can save a very good amount of money on wiring.