What a proper assessment needs
Before this topic can be assessed for a real installation, the person responsible for the design or verification needs to establish the relevant facts:
- Manufacturer cable designation and conductor material
- Loaded cores and insulation temperature limits
- Burial depth, soil conditions or above-ground route
- Armour and separate protective-conductor assessment
- Terminations, fault protection and voltage drop
Factors to consider
An outside diameter or conductor size does not specify all SWA cable properties. Buried and above-ground sections may require different data. The use of armour as a protective conductor needs a specific assessment.
Keep the evidence with the decision
Record the equipment, installation conditions and the source of the data used. Where a manufacturer supplies product-specific instructions or coordination data, the exact product matters. A generic example should not silently replace that information.
For UK installation work, use the applicable edition of BS 7671 together with relevant guidance and manufacturer instructions. The IET’s publication hub is the starting point for current editions and supporting material. This brief does not reproduce the standard or establish compliance with it.
IET · BS 7671 and supporting guidance ↗Related calculations
Our arithmetic tools show their scope, inputs and formulas explicitly. They can help you understand a relationship between quantities. They cannot replace the installation assessment described above.