Cable regulations

I'm on a project in the UK and a UK electrical contract company has installed a 3 core (brown, black & grey) SWA cable for use on a 230V circuit. They have used the brown core for the live and then sleeved the black, with blue, for the neutral and the grey, with yellow/green for the cpc.

I also have a Danish SI company on site who have said that sleeving is not allowed under current EU regulations and that the UK contractor should have installed a 3 core (brown, blue and yellow/green) SWA cable.

Can anyone tell me if sleeving is allowed as i've checked online and i can't find anything to tell me either way is right or wrong.

Thankyou for any replies.

I understood that sleeving is allowed and that solid colours are a recommendation. It's not great practice but not exactly unheard of, although when I've seen it there is usually another form of ID, i.e. a wire number, to reduce confusion even further.

I find the best way in these situations is to turn it round and ask them to provide the relevant regulation and clause. Even if you lose at least you've learnt something.

The 17th Edition and on-site guide etc, do not mention sleeving as far as I can see, as long as the cores are identified either by colour and/or alphanumeric markings, then that is sufficient.

Not best practice to use a 3-phase cable for a 1-phase installation, but sometimes needs must, and there may also be local standards that are acceptable to the customer.

Our "European" (German) SI/contractors do not specify SWA cable for motors, and are always horrified when we insist......

I understood that sleeving is allowed and that solid colours are a recommendation.

Click to expand...

It's that word 'recommendation' Fallen foul of it myself. It depends on who has the last say.

I once used a 5 core - 3 black 1 blue and 1 green/yellow from the wall isolator to the panel mains terminals. (marked at both ends L1 L2 L3 N E) and was told to replace it by the electrician that tested it after installation.
Telling him to quote the reg that stated that it wasn't right met with petulance and him going higher to make me change it. (I did) I wasn't even supposed to put the mains in from the isolator, he was.

Some time after he phoned me to ask how to solve a breakdown on the machine.....( a free aftercare service he thought) I told him the price for me coming in and once again he got shirty and downright rude. After several days his 'higher up's' called for me to go in.
I would have helped him on the phone had he been right about it in the first place.

Please read the attached information:

Thankyou for all of the replies.

I spoke to the UK electrical contractor and they have agreed to replace with a 3 core single phase SWA cable which was asked for in the tech spec and cable schedule. They think that the site sparks must have had a length of 3 core 3 phase SWA cable to hand which they mistakenly installed

Late to the party :roll eyes:

BS 7671 section 514 attached.

BS EN 60204 (post above) has nothing to do with this as this is fixed installation wiring.