Each owner of an apartment or a private house at some point will come to the realization that it is necessary to replace the electrical wiring. Changing the wiring yourself, of course, will not be easy. There is no way to do without basic knowledge of the principles of operation and functions of electrical wiring, without documentation and wiring diagrams at home and, of course, without your own interest in the fascinating process.
Why do most people decide to change the wiring themselves?
Changing the wiring in a residential area on their own is usually solved along with a major overhaul. This is probably the most difficult part of it. Most people opt for self-replacement for several reasons. The main one is, of course, the cost of this type of repair activity. In a regional city of the Russian Federation, a specialized replacement of electrical wiring from an organization costs more than a thousand rubles per square meter.
What is the replacement based onwiring?
Answering the question of how to change the wiring in the house, first you need to figure out what actually falls into the replacement category.
Wiring replacement includes:
- replacing wires made of aluminum with copper wires;
- implementation of the transfer of the power supply scheme from the solidly grounded neutral TN-C to TN-CS, which guarantees grounding protection;
- avoid branching wiring to connect different groups of wires.
Why change aluminum wiring?
It is known that aluminum wiring was widely used in the world in the sixties and seventies. At that time, this element attracted many because of its economical cost and safety, it was believed that the extraction and, moreover, the smelting of copper was quite harmful to the human body.
But today the realization has come that it is necessary to change the wiring, in particular aluminum wires, since they are unsuitable for electrical wires for a number of reasons:
- Today, in a residential area, as a rule, quite a lot of various electrical appliances are concentrated. In this regard, the power for the wiring is more, so very often today aluminum wiring is not able to withstand modern conditions.
- Even with the smallest drop of water, aluminum is subject to electrocorrosion emanating from the wire sheath. Therefore, a seemingly monolithic wire turns out to be hewn to the ground, hence very often malfunctions occur, which sometimes lead to emergencies.
- To everyonealuminum is known to be a soft metal. It is squeezed out from under the screws of the terminals, the twisting points weaken, and the soldering of this element is difficult, expensive and is one of the so-called harmful industries. Because duralumin contacts are unreliable.
Why change your power plan?
The domestic TN-C power supply plan in the Soviet era was necessary in connection with the implementation of mass electrification, the Soviet period was characterized by a huge length of communications in a large country and a lack of non-ferrous metals.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the Russian Federation, a different power supply scheme was adopted - TN-CS, which guarantees maximum safety for customers, regardless of the state of the power grid.
How to change the wiring in the apartment with your own hands?
If you decide to change the wiring in a room, house, you should follow a certain sequence of work. It is worth noting that by adhering to the set plan, you can reduce the cost of replacing electrical wiring by almost three times.
How to change the wiring in the house? Replacement steps:
- You need to start by drawing up a power supply plan for your living space.
- Schematically depict the wiring diagram of the existing electrical wiring and approve it with the registration power supply diagram.
- Assemble temporary building.
- Next, we directly connect the mechanisms, including machines and switches, we connect the devicedifferential current.
- Now you need to install sockets (connection points) and stationary equipment (including elements of electrical appliances at home).
- At the final stage, it is necessary to conduct wiring by groups and points to connect electrical appliances.
If you are interested in the question of how to change the wiring in a panel house, it should be noted that before replacing the electrical wire, grounding should be done, if possible, or grounding should be provided.
How much wiring capacity do you need?
Quality residential wiring is characterized by the amount of power consumed by technical appliances.
Very often, public services set a certain limit on power consumption, for example, in rural areas, a limit of 20-30 kW of electricity consumption per living area is set. Of course, in an urban environment, such power supply limits cannot be met. If the power reaches high levels, in apartment buildings it can knock out central traffic jams in the entrances.
We also note that in Soviet five-story buildings, where the power supply limit is 2.3 kW, it is mainly necessary to change the wiring.
Of course, the inhabitants of such houses adapt to the necessary conditions, they realize that one cannot turn on too many electrical appliances at the same time - one should alternate and weigh preferences. Especially in the summer, when you want the air conditioner to work.all day.
Carefully calculate the voltage
We will not consider in detail how to calculate the power for each type of living space, let's take a closer look at the consumption option for an average city apartment with a total area of about 100 square meters:
- the central meter should have readings - from 30 to 35 A, based on the area of \u200b\u200bthe living space;
- RCD for living space is 55 A - 35 uA;
- two branches of wires of 4 square mm should go to the kitchen;
- on each branch to the kitchen there are 30A RCDs at 30uA;
- air conditioner or split system - a separate wire branch - 3 sq. mm - to the central counter 15 A, RCD - 25A at 30 μA;
- sockets and lighting circuits - must pass one to each room - wire readings 2.5 sq. mm.
In principle, these are all the basic values for a single-line power supply scheme for an apartment.
Preparing the power supply scheme
If you live in a standard city plan apartment, then as a basis for your scheme, provided that you have not changed the location of objects in the house, you can take samples of the standard plan. On such samples, you only need to enter your testimony. The RCD brand provided on the sample can be left, this factor does not play a significant role.
When drawing a diagram, carefully follow the scale and size of the symbols of the elements present. It must be remembered that their incorrect scaling is not allowed. That is, the electrical condensate mustlook on the drawing as two parallel lines half a millimeter thick and no more than one centimeter long, the sticks should be located at a distance of 2 mm from each other - there can be no other designation on the drawing.
Change the electrical wiring in the house
How to change the wiring in the house with your own hands? To begin with, in accordance with the stages of replacement, we carry out preparation - a repair temporary hut. Charge in advance all power tools necessary for the planned work. We also stock up on a long extension cord so that we can carry out activities in all rooms without much difficulty.
Then, be sure to turn off the meters of the apartment so that there is no energy. It is necessary to unscrew the plugs or turn off the central apartment meter. Next, we hollow out the space around the meter to bring the wires from the electric meter to the surface.
We connect the temporary hut on a tight twist to the wires brought out to the outside (twisting is permissible for the duration of this type of work), carefully remove the joints, then fasten the temporary hut to the wall.
Perform gating
It is worth noting in advance that strobes can be used straight, horizontal or vertical. We recommend using horizontal strobes as a fallback option, they are sometimes very inconvenient in the sense that they pass only half a meter under the ceiling. Inclined and crooked strobes are extremely dangerous when replacing electrical wiring.
Drilling and chasing a wall should only be done on a ladder with side stops, which is veryoften in the work they use stickers of tall ads. An ordinary stepladder under the pressure of the tool can simply tip you back along with the working device, which can lead to injury.
It is worth immediately marking the borders necessary for the strobe with a grinder. As a rule, they make a depth in the diameter of the corrugation and the width of the drill bit, then they fill the groove with it. Further, inside the obtained corners, it is necessary to make an oblique incision with the help of a grinder and knock out a hole there with a doller so that the bend of the corrugation turns out to be smooth. The space for the counter is also made with a chisel.
It is advisable to choose a double gate for switches, into which two cable streams can be placed at once.
Today, changing the wiring without gating will be a number of certain problems, so you should warn your neighbors in advance about the time at which you are going to do such noisy work. Of course, it is acceptable to carry it out in the morning.
Performing wiring
How to change the wiring in the apartment? First, we measure the required length of the cable and corrugation. We tighten the cable itself into the corrugation on the floor. Next, we insert socket boxes into the markings on the alabaster pillow. Now we lay the corrugation from the cables into the strobes, while trying to bring the ends of the wires into the installed sockets. At the end of the subrack, we report with a layer of alabaster to the wall, and we plaster the strobes with corrugation at intervals of approximately half a meter.
Now you need to insert the ends of the corrugations into the VSC, glue them with a special conductive paste, tighten with a tin clamp on the screw, anddirectly connect the screw to the ground terminal of the VSC. We install the VSC in the required place, make marks for the mounting hole, drill and attach the dowels.
Checking if everything is de-energized, we disconnect the temporary hut. Next, we install wires from the electric meter and apartment PE in the VSC, which we immediately connect to the VSC housing. The latter is securely fixed to the wall. We isolate the wires from the meter and put them into the VSC housing. Next, we restore the surrounding space with plaster.
Reminder about wire colors
This type of activity involves direct contact with electrical wires, so you need to re-read which wire is responsible for what.
So, a blue tint (or light blue) always denotes a neutral N wire. The PE wire intended for protection is indicated in yellow with a longitudinal greenish stripe.
Phase wires can have different shades, such as white, red, yellow or brown. It is worth noting that when replacing wiring, only wires of the same color can be connected.
Phase-to-zero, phase-to-phase, and on/off at zero break are not allowed.
Final stage: plastering the object
Now is the time for plasterers, painters and wallpaperers. However, at first it is necessary to fill the sockets with foam rubber, paper or rags flush with the wall, and close the VSC with a piece of plastic film, tucking it under the edges of itframing.
It is worth noting that the meter also needs to be covered with a film, but make sure that everything is superimposed neatly without breaking the seal - you will not end up with problems with the energy service later. If the seal was nevertheless hurt and damaged by you, you must immediately report this to the appropriate organization.
In the end, after the plastering, painting and gluing work, the sockets and the VSC will most likely look worn and glued, but they will simply be felt and the wallpaper cut out according to the outline. Having freed plaster deficiencies from the sockets, we install sockets, switches, lighting fixtures, a boiler.
Then, on the terminal blocks in the VSC, we carry out a power supply circuit, but the input from the meter should not be connected yet. Carefully separate each branch of wires before entering into the terminal block must be checked with a tester for a short circuit:
- For a short time we start the flow to the apartment.
- We find the indicator phase zero, which moves away from the electric meter.
- Remove nutrition indicators.
- We separate the phase and zero on the terminal blocks with pieces of wire of the corresponding colors.
- Check again for a short circuit now with the voltage on.
- Turn off the main machine, power the apartment, and turn it on again.
That's it, the electrical wiring was successfully replaced.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that replacing wiring is by no means the easiest task for a home master. It's worth it if youyou were able to independently create a power scheme, wiring plan and arrange them appropriately.
Safety
Before carrying out work, be sure to turn off the power supply, ground everything that is possible. In no case should you save on high-quality wires, sockets and switches - this can end badly. It is advisable to use protective shutdown devices during operation. This will not provide a complete guarantee of security (like nothing else), but it is possible to significantly reduce risks in this way.
