ᐅ Run electrical wiring from the house to the garage

Created on: 15 Apr 2020 08:42
F
fragg
Good morning!

Here is the situation:

I have my house with a basement, and about 20 meters (65 feet) away there is a rather dilapidated existing garage that temporarily needs power until it is renovated in two to three years. I will hand that over to an electrician then.

During the construction phase, my electrician installed a standard 230V underground cable from the basement, which should be long enough. However, I’ve realized that 230V alone might not be sufficient.

In the utility room (basement, below the parking area), we have a 400V 32A outlet, installed simply to have it available and to allow easy later installation of a wall box in the carport if an electric car should come along.

Here is the idea:

The 230V underground cable goes to the carport for power and a normal outlet.

I want to bury a 400V cable as well. I will drill a hole in the basement wall, feed the cable through, and seal it with, for example, expanding foam used for well sealing. I will have a 32A plug installed on it and plug it into the outlet.

In the garage, I will also fit a plug and connect it to a portable construction power distribution unit. These units are splash-proof, made of gray plastic, have six standard outlets, and one 400V/16A plus one 400V/32A socket.

When the garage is finished, I will seal the 400V cable end in the basement with a resin joint, and have the electrician connect it into the sub-distribution board.

Will this work?

Am I allowed to put a plug on a cable like this?
Is this technically possible? I’m concerned the underground cable might use different wiring.

We have no groundwater issues, but is expanding foam sufficient, or should I do a core drill and use a compression ring seal? I think something like a Doyma seal might be overkill…

The temporary setup should work for about two years. In the garage, I will be using an angle grinder, lighting, a plunge-cut saw, and a wood splitter.

Thanks!
H
hampshire
15 Apr 2020 10:07
fragg schrieb:

I'm burying a 400V underground cable.
Whatever that is supposed to mean.
guckuck2 schrieb:

The cable cross-section will need to be calculated.
Underground cable, minimum 5 cores, cross-section sized according to power requirements. If you use the existing connection, the cross-sections of that supply cable must also meet your power needs. The electrical supply should also be rated for the load; you may need a different or additional connection. A clean solution is to run directly from the distribution board using conduit (PVC).
T
Tassimat
15 Apr 2020 13:20
If you have the electrician connect the cable directly in the panel and to an outlet in the garage, they can certainly spend about 10 minutes beforehand advising on the cable cross-section, and you will then have a clean solution.
Knöpfchen16 Apr 2020 20:18
Nyy 5x10, the CAD 7 cable is also available as underground cable.
Be sure to include the warning tape in the trench as a cautionary measure.
Of course, it should be buried below the frost line.
M
miho
10 Feb 2021 12:21
I’m joining in here because I have the same issue. I want to install a wallbox in the garage, and the existing 3x1.5mm² cable is not suitable. So I will install a new 5x6mm² cable (cross-section chosen with some reserve). The cable needs to pass through the masonry basement wall. The house is a renovated old building from 1956. There are no existing conduits. The insulation extends 50cm (20 inches) deep into the ground. Below that is just the wall. In this area, I need to make it frost-proof. Are there more elegant solutions than simply drilling a hole of the right size and sealing it again with expanding foam and silicone? The outside soil is sandy and the basement is completely dry. We don’t have any waterlogging. Therefore, waterproofing is relatively uncritical. Retrofitting a multi-duct entry seems like overkill for just a power and an Ethernet cable.

Thanks for any advice,
Michael
G
guckuck2
10 Feb 2021 13:01
There are also single-trade inlets ;-)
However, they are still significantly more expensive.
F
Fuchur
10 Feb 2021 14:31
Rubber sealing ring, approximately 100€ per piece. Not a bargain, but reliable, simple, and durable with no issues.