Eight golden rules for repairing apartment wiring

This should be a headache for the service company, the one we pay blood candy wrappers for. Let them predict the increase in power consumption, monitor the current load and change the wiring in the riser in time. Do not deprive yourself of the benefits of civilization.

The service company puts an input machine according to the project among several consumers and does not dry its head.

as a practicing electrician, I’ll say: soldering is a double-edged sword, it has long gone towards welding due to the melting and dripping of solder under heavy loads, I bought an inverter for 7t.r. just for welding. When welding, microstructural changes occur, which do not always positively affect the contact conductivity and mechanical strength, this is a scientifically substantiated fact. Regarding the terminal blocks, I agree that WAGO will not meet any melted ones, unlike screw ones. Now I hope to meet ultrasonic welders in the city for connecting wires, they say that even painlessly connects copper with aluminum.

"... due to the melting and runoff of solder under heavy loads"

- With normal (correct, high-quality) soldering, when the solder moistens the surface of the wire and is literally absorbed into the twist, and not just smeared from above, the contact area is much larger than the cross section of the wire, has less resistance and therefore will never be heated more strongly than the wire itself.

Even if it was possible to melt the solder by current overload, it does not drain off, it is more likely that insulation from the wires will drain.

Why welding is always better than other wire connection methods

I completely agree.

Tell me please.On the landing is located el. shield with counters. I need to stretch the main wire to the apartment from this shield, install an email in the apartment. counter. The question is that the wiring in the whole house is aluminum, how can I connect the main cable to a common electric. shield?

For welding copper wires, you can use the transformer OCO-0.25 24 V with a graphite electrode. It depends on how thick the wire is. If it is thicker, then you may need 2 in parallel. And you can also use a clamp with a tapered thread inside in the form of metal thread and with external insulation, in appearance the appearance of a rocket.

Thank you e.imadeself.com that you are, och love your site !!!

Andrey74, maks, in the panel plates there are channels, in the area of ​​the shield vertical channels from each of them go to the apartment, horizontal channels specially provided for drawing wires through them. At the cross connection of the vertical channel with the horizontal there is a through hole from the entrance to the apartment. They must be used.

In addition to everything else technical, you must also ask for permission: "You need to apply to the organization servicing your house for the transfer of the meter (Management Company, Homeowners Association, etc.), after you have received permission, you invite an agent for the sale of the branch of OJSC "DEK" - "Energosbyt" (the telephone number of the agent, as well as the address of the RCC, is indicated in monthly invoices for payment of electricity). The agent records the meter and draws up a report (one copy is handed to the consumer), then you can transfer the meter (you contact the management company or a private company for this service). After the installation is completed, you need to call the sales agent again, who will draw up the act of taking readings. "And then they will ask to rearrange ...

Hello everyone .. Useful site.

As an ordinary user, I can say that the apartment meter is periodically checked, taken readings, can be changed, so it makes no sense to transfer it to the apartment. It breaks down, it’s stolen - it doesn’t concern me ... Besides, the additional costs of coordination ... Unless, change to multi-tariff one way or another. But then you have to answer for it yourself. Refused from this venture. And in the house with gas, and so changed to a three-tariff, planned :))

And I additionally twist the Briton and then do the soldering, although without soldering, such twisting is equivalent to the connection pressed by the sleeve.

Tell me please. From the landing is located el. Two alumin enters the apartment with counters. wires. Is it possible to put several machines to these wires and after the machines to change all the wiring to copper.

Andrew, and in most cases this is done. The input cable, which comes from the metering and distribution panel or directly from the electric energy meter, which is located on the landing, cannot be changed on its own, as there are seals. To do this, you must contact the energy supply company, which performs the sealing, cable replacement and subsequent sealing of the distribution panel or electric energy meter.

If the introductory aluminum wire of sufficient cross section is in normal condition, then why not change it. Why spend extra money?

Replace the wiring in the apartment (even copper, even aluminum), install a switchboard in the apartment with the necessary number of circuit breakers and other protective devices, start and connect the wire that comes from the landing in the shield.

soldering ... twisting ... and if you wander add lighting or a socket?

Particular attention should be paid in the apartment to the choice of wires. This is understandable - replacing the wire with hidden wiring is to repair the room again, and replaceable wiring in modern houses (especially panel ones) does not allow either the thickness of the walls or their reinforced concrete strength, it can be added that the walls are cracked. The best wire is NYM triple insulated copper conductor cable. But dear, very, very. It is better not to use a wire in single-layer insulation. Ideally, ballscrew, PVA and similar copper cable-wires in double insulation. To use a multicore or single-core wire is a matter of taste, each has its own pros and cons. It’s not worth laying three-wire wires with a grounding (grounding) conductor - the money thrown away, well, except that the house already has a protective conductor, but even in case of improper operation, the ground wire becomes a source of special danger when the phase is shorted to the housing of one electrical appliance and does not operation of the protection device - all the cases connected to the wire will be under phase and will receive a potential of 110 volts. And most importantly, the thermal resistance of the wiring. It is determined by the installed protection device. PUE allows loading at 100 percent of the rated current of the wire. But a simple thermal calculation shows that during the protection operation, a 20% current overload of the wire and rapid insulation wear are possible. Therefore, it is better to choose a wire with a 20 percent safety margin for current protection and not save, especially since the quality of electricity is disgusting and higher harmonics in the wire and a significant skin effect are possible. The problem is that the range of machine ratings is limited against the ratings of the wire section. So, it is necessary to connect a 4 mm square wire with a copper resistance of 32 amperes to a 25 amp group machine, and a 16 ampere wire with a copper resistance of 25 amperes, and a 25 ampere copper wire with a resistance of 25 amperes, but a 10 ampere wire of 1.5 mm square, withstand 17 amperes in copper, no automatic machines for 14 or 12 amperes.

Andrew,
It is better to get rid of aluminum. If it is difficult to put a shield in the apartment and a group machine in it. We connect two wires to the upper terminals - two neutral, one terminal, two phase other terminals. In the floor guard itself, we block fuses and circuit breakers with jumpers or dismantling. The fact that the wire inside the shield is aluminum is not scary - it is laid openly and can withstand very large loads. But the section from the apartment shield to the meter on the site can be replaced very simply, we cut the wires going from the meter to the apartment and to them through a bolt connection, separating copper and aluminum with a washer, we connect a new wire. You just need to look at the power of the bag disconnecting the counter. The next time you replace the meters for verification, the bolt connection is disassembled and the copper wire is connected directly to the meter, but you need to take into account the supply of wire.

iksson,
If the wire is flexible, carefully twist the wires together and twist them, and on top of the sleeve.

Alexei, and if "wanders", put a cable clamp.
Wago is dedicated to all advertisers! Wago - shit, suitable only for light bulbs! And to all installers of this work, I want to say that after your earnings, the electricians of the housing office start bouncing when electricity disappears in those apartments. The worst thing is that when the electricity ends, it practically means that the terminal blocks have melted, the insulation from the wires has slipped and you will find a fierce haemorrhage.Wago is by no means suitable for sockets, only for those which are made "prozapas". Comrades electricians, do not be lazy, do for ages.
As for soldering and welding, as they say to an amateur, but for me, soldering is better, albeit more troublesome.
Advice for beginners when collecting a distribution. boxes, leave the ends more authentic, it’s more difficult to lay - YES, but more promising. If it is not possible to solder or weld - put a cable clamp - they have proven themselves for decades.
With respect!

Vago terminal blocks are good only with a load of not more than 20 apmers, over destruction. Therefore, it is more expedient to use them when connecting lighting lines, along the line of outlets it is better to use twisting with sleeve crimping. The most reliable way.

How is it no more than five outlets on one machine? Under each fifth outlet to drag your wire or what?

There is also the ninth rule, very important. In junction boxes, in no case should you change the section of the line. It is categorically not permissible to bring a line into the junction box, for example, 4 millimeters square, protected by an automatic machine for 25 or 32 amperes, and from it to feed 2 lines - one with a cross section of 1.5 millimeters square (for it you need an automaton at 10 amperes for the mind, maximum 16 amperes according to the PUE), the other - a cross section of 2.5 millimeters square (for it you need a 16 amp machine for the mind or, at most, 25 amperes for the PUE). And this occurs in practice, if the electrician does not have sufficient qualifications, and then there may be a fire. After all, a 25-ampere circuit breaker withstands, according to its time-current characteristic, on average, a current of 35-40 amperes (can work in a few minutes, or maybe an hour) for 30 minutes, but the wire is 1.5 mm square, according to factory data, it has a rated current of 17 amperes. That is, with such an installation, the overload will be about 2 times or more, even when installing the machine “wisely” with a 50% margin approximately, and if according to the PUE, then all 3 krats, and for a long time. It is clear that the insulation of the wire will melt and there may be a fire. While there were no apartment shields with machines of various sizes, there simply was no such problem, all wiring was carried out in one section in all rooms.

I just can’t understand the craze for laying wires with a cross section of 2.5 millimeters square on copper to the outlet groups. The essence of the matter is, according to the mind, such a line must be protected automatically with a rated current of 16 amperes. If you have old Soviet wiring in the house (it has already served 40-50 years), then the cross-section of the entrance to the apartment does not make sense to do more than the cross-section of the phase wire of the riser. Nobody will ever carry out a major reconstruction of electric networks in areas with an old housing stock - it is easier to demolish houses and build new ones than to lay new high-voltage cables, put new transformers in substations, pull new cables from them to the panel houses. As equipment deteriorates, there will be replacements. But in the compartment of the substation where the transformer with a capacity of 630 kVA was installed, let’s say, only a 1000 kVA transformer will normally stand up, but it will not fit into 1600 kVA, and no one will build a new building of the substation. Well, the cable can after complete wear and change to a larger section and shield. So really count, and then in the future, it is possible to increase the cross section of the riser a maximum of a half times. There was a riser with a cross section of 6 millimeters square for aluminum, a new one was laid in 6 millimeters square for copper, if the wire is thicker, then it may not go into the pipes of the existing lines from the switchboard to the floor shields, and again, no one will change anything thoroughly. The result - there was a riser of 32 amperes per current per phase, there was a riser of 40 amperes per current per phase, 50 amperes per current per phase needed to already pull a wire of 10 millimeters square per phase, but this is unlikely.So, if you do not have an electric stove in the kitchen, then entering the apartment more than 4 millimeters square in copper is not needed, money is thrown away, but if you really want it, then 6 millimeters square in copper is not more. After all, 4 millimeters square in copper is 32 amperes in load or 7 kilowatts in power, and, given that the input circuit breaker is set to 32 amperes and, according to its current-time characteristic, it can withstand 50% overload current for up to half an hour, then You can load the line up to 10 kilowatts for a short time. It is already better to set the machine at 25 amperes, taking into account possible overload. He then just 7 kilowatts can withstand short-term. Well, if the cross section is 6 millimeters square in copper, then the power will be about 9 kilowatts, in the short-term limit of 13.5 kilowatts, but this is the power of one phase of the entire riser, you should not forget about the neighbors, that is, with 5 apartments per phase, your share only about 2 kilowatts of constant power consumption, well, a maximum of 3 kilowatts, taking into account the load factor for household consumers 0.7, again no more than 3 kilowatts, occasionally 4-5 kilowatts. Moreover, even an increase in the cross-section of the riser to 10 millimeters square in copper will give a power increase of only 1.5 -2 kilowatts, and will require the installation of transformers at the substation, which simply will not fit in the cell of the substation. They chose an input cable of 4 or 6 millimeters square in copper and an automatic machine at the input to the shield of 25 amperes. Now you need to distribute power and current into groups. After all, wiring design comes from what is possible, and not from what is needed or wanted. And here it turns out to be inappropriate to do several groups with 16 amp automatic machines for sockets and a wire with a section of 2.5 millimeters square. We will only achieve the protection of the overload of the input machine. Therefore, a boiler, air conditioning or a washing machine and one powerful socket in the kitchen need 16 amp automatic machines and a 2.5 millimeter square copper line. And that is a lot. And the rest of the sockets can be powered from a lighting network with 10 ampere circuit breakers and a 1.5 millimeter square line of copper cross-section, because such a line can withstand a current of 17 amperes in the limit, which is equivalent to a power of 3.7 kilowatts. But only for equipment with powerful starting currents, frequent starts, like a washing machine, with a capacity of more than 2 kilowatts, the use of such lines leads to a noticeable effect on the voltage level in the apartment, at least for consumers on the same line. There is no sense in old apartments in the total washing of rosette groups with a wire with a cross section of 2.5 millimeters square on copper - money thrown away.

Try a gas burner with tin-solder -> compact, fast and completely soldered, to the full depth.

When soldered with a soldering iron, if it is good to stretch the wires in different directions, then the twist will unfold. If you solder with a gas torch, tin penetrates deep into all the cracks, the twist is cast as a single wire. I don’t even say how fascinating it looks like a heated twist greedily absorbs tin :)

P.S. The twist must be warmed from the end. Then the wires do not heat up very much near the insulation, thereby not fusing it.

Dates are not displayed may not be relevant, but I’ll write what hooked-
on a group of sockets, you can not put the machine at 20-25A, since the sockets are max at 16 A. (for example, they will include a tee and a computer in it, heating ... at 4 kW, the socket will burn and the machine will not notice).
It is recommended to make rosette groups with a 2.5mm cable (copper) not only for the long-term allowable current, but also to reduce the voltage drop in the cable.
To reduce the voltage drop along long lines It is possible to connect cables of different cross-sections in the COP, but AB is designed to protect the smallest cross-section.
Thomas,
Anatoly Mikhailov