REVEALED: The New British Standard for Electric Cables
The faithful twin and earth cable era is ending as the electrical industry gears up to welcome the new BS12721:2024 residential cable standard. This standard will ensure safer and more efficient wiring for your home. However, it also means that the trusty BS6004 cable will be phased out and cannot be used for new home construction or rewiring starting in April 2024. It's time to bid adieu to an old friend and look forward to the innovative upgrades that the future holds.
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00:00 New residential cable standard BS12721:2024
00:32 Confidential cable installation trial
00:48 Full-sized insulated earth conductor
01:30 Only Low smoke and fume versions are available
02:00 1.0mm sq; no longer available
02:47 New 25mm sq twin and earth cable for consumer unit feeds
03:20 Dimensionally similar to BS6004 twin and earth cables
03:50 90-degree conductor operating temperature.
04:35 How easy is this cable to strip?
05:00 Installation advantages
05:49 BS6004 withdrawn next year
06:08 What are they doing in Scotland
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#aprilfools #aprilfoolspranks
If you are watching this video after April 1st and don't quite make it to the end of the video, check out this community post before trying to install this cable in the UK. 👉 www.youtube.com/@efixx/community
Think you need a second video explaining this is an April Fools lol sw it doing rounds on electrical blogs 😅
Yes, very immature. God you guys have all the time to wast on jokes
Such a shame these new products always get released on 1st April. Makes it harder to take these improvements seriously......
I was impressed at the extra CPC insulation making it able to withstand a nail through it. Saves fooling around on April 1st looking for a low L-E IR reading
😂
Our factory produce the EU/US/UA/JP Standard Electric cables: www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Copper-Conductor-Pvc-Insulated-1-5mm_1600539929761.html?spm=a2747.product_manager.0.0.583e71d2Yjy5VZ
Absolutely superb - I’m no sparkie so I was with it up until you guys were sticking staples through cables! Totally well done guys!!!
Almost fell for it.. I was even thinking in my head how they’d have to make the accessory CPC terminals bigger to allow for the bigger sized CPC conductors 🤣
Well they have done this now, the updated video I watched not so long ago.
It's good to see old traditions convincingly continued. I was half expecting the Scottish variation to be a tartan CPC 😉
We’ll bag that one for another year!
New cable with insulated earth wire? To good to be true! 😂
Good to see you playing catch up, over the pond. Been using this for ages in Ireland 🍀
I love my cable stapler, wouldn’t leave home without it. Find it particulacy useful in diagonal and curved chases where I sometimes can’t bend the capping to fit
You are the guy that fixes the back boxes on with a cable clip as demoed in the video 😂😂😂. I admire the curves much harder to chase than straight runs
OMG. Can’t believe I fell for this!!!! Just heard myself taking to someone about the new T&E regs coming in next April. It was only then I realised.
Damn it you got me till the end I was nearly quitting again 😂
Had me fooled for a while - that lsf cable is a pain to strip compared to the standard t&E plus I was thinking about all the new calculations etc - it’s only when you mentioned the date it comes into affect I worked it out - well done (also calling it an earth rather than a cpc was a give away!)
Bought time you guys got into the 90C insulation standard. Our cables have been technically 90C rated for years. Though our standards still reference 60/65/70 for legacy reasons.
Had me going for a minute!! I was preparing to go out to my distributors & ordering some for my upcoming rewire ... Then of course - Todays date hit me, plus your reference to when this standard is replacing all others 😂😂😂
Watch Gary’s install near the end
You BUGGERS!! You had me! All the way up to the end. Only when Gordon repeated 1st April 2024 and MI coming in, in scotland.. Plop.. the penny dropped. I'm so disappointed in you two 🤣🤣🤣 Enjoy the rest of your weekend, you have earned it.
Thanks Jolly 😂
You had me right until nearly the end. Very good 👏🏼
Word on the street is that in the next revision the cpc will be double the size of the Line and Neutral conductors. That means in circuits where no cpc is needed you can parallel the Line and Neutral cores to get a 3mmsq out of a 1.5mmsq cable.
I cant believe I swallowed that for a minute or two...good work lads...i think that is 2 years in a row you got me ...
As they said, we are already using these cables in Ireland & they are no joke 😅
It's nice to see they increased the temperature rating, but I'd still do my best to keep temperatures touch friendly if I worked over there.
Wow they catched up to normal european standards 😂
Exactly what I was thinking 😂
Same here, was my First thought. Quite ironic though
Welcome to 1995 for Europe, basically...
Tbf i like british electrics apart from the ring circuits and sleeveless PE. I love their metal DB and double insulated 25mm² meter tails.
Must be a Brexit thing 😂
You’ve got to be taking the MICC, not many domestic installers will be able to make off the pot ends 😂❤
Quality work! Especially the cable routing 🤣🤣🤣
😀
Always interesting to see other countries wiring standards.
I met someone yesterday who was telling everyone in the workshop about the new T&E cable coming in next year. I didn't believe it til i saw this video. I knew Gary would have all the latest news on it. Cheers Gaz 😉
Good! Now time to switch to our swedish junktion boxes (do not know where else they are used). And the way we pull cables in the wall.
I have this cable from some one house over 15 years ago and earth it’s fully insulated i was amazed to see that
Damn it - you got me. Totally forgot it was april 1st until they brought it up at the end of the video! Judging by the comments - alot of people also forgot the date!
Haha i laughed out loud when you stapled the cable 🤣
Completely agree with scotland, MI everywhere 😛
The future - hopefully we’ll catch up
Finally! So surprised UK haven't adopted this standard.
Actually, they should because they would share cable standard with most of the EU. Having to have another item in your pockets, the sleeve, is unnecessary. Too much crap in there already.
in all honesty if they really did do this they could at least make the cable round
I agree
I don’t know how to say this, have you heard of flex 🤪
@@Jack-zu4ke haven’t seen any solid core flex yet mate 😂. I’m talking about a NYM style cable with a BS number
@@TheMiniMammoth Because flex means not solid, but ... Flex In Europe you can buy 3 solid core round cables. NYM-J/MBCu as you mentioned. He wa suggesting a BullSh.. I mean British Standard implementation of this
It feels like every April there's a new cable standard released that you get unique access to. 😂
Manufacturers know how to get the word out 😂
Hi Guys, I started to watch this video and after about 30 seconds I thought, " Its about time they started using the proper cable we have all been using in Ireland since 2017" and about 10 seconds later I realized this is a wind up. Nice one....but we have loads of that cable over here if ya need some
Is there any particular reason why electrical and plumbing installations, for domestic, do not have to produce wire and pipe diagrams. If there were these diagrams it would be easier to plan for additional installations? I would be very interested to here your comments.
Very good guys, very good!
Wow . good. we are factory producing the cable. thanks for your video New British Standard for Electric Cables. XPLE insulatedand LSZH sheathed.
might move to Scotland just so i can work on MI cable installations every day of the week :)
I got an idea the other day, imagine a round hole in the wall when installing sockets or switches. Imagine how easy and fast it would be to drill a ROUND hole, OMG.
So you’ve finally caught up to Australia. We’ve been using those since the 90’s
I thought that the protective conductor was one of its functions was to protect the cable if it was damaged. if the cpc is sleeved than it can not protect the cable.
Very good guys 😉
Had me there. Though since many countries have such a cable in their standards already, it's hardly out there.
Looks very similar to Australia's TPS, our earths have been pre-sleeved/insulated for a while now (decades). Only difference is our active/neutral is red/black which makes it fun when we come across European light fixtures/machines etc.
It used to be Red And Black in the UK and Red, Yellow, Blue and Black for three phase. Until we harmonised with Europe, the problem is there are lots of buildings with either the old colours or a mixture of both. My house is from the year 2000 which was wired in the old colours.
Brilliantly done. Was in process of signing in to WhatsApp my daughter and son-in-law with the link as they are in the process of doing lots of work on their new-to-them 19th century southeast London terraced house. Then realised the date. Thing is, as others have commented, it makes a lot of sense. As a DiYer, I used conduit between almost all my boxes and only regret not doing it when I first started on our house gut and re-build and I listened to electrician friends. I did use smoke-fire resistant 3CE for my mains powered and linked smoke alarms. I always check the work of professional registered sparkies who have always been sloppy with big diameter sleeving, loose (not doubled over) terminations, and otherwise incompetent
Where I live it's standard to have insulated ground wire and I'm more surprised that it isn't insulated as standard internationally.
As a DIYer you shouldn't be doing electrics
This has got to be the all time best April Fool video ever. I guess Doncaster cables had a few calls to order this new cable lol. Then the excitement of the new rules within the industry and electricians. Fantastic. Interesting to note how other countries have different wiring . 😂
Thanks Gino - we think DC did get a few calls
We've had this here in Australia forever,welcome to the modern era.!!
Glad you got the message 😂
Under the current building regs you have to use low smoke cable in buildings the public can use. So that must include communal areas in flats etc
Nicely presented Entertainment for 1st of April :-)
I'm having my house rewired soon so I will now wait for this cable to be used as I won't be having it done again. Thanks for the information. I will ask the electrician to use this new cable.
If the 25mm T&E cable is brought in what sized CPC will it have & will the CPC be sleeved already? Doesn’t meter tails longer than 3 metres & installed through fabric of the building need RCD protection? If so shouldn’t it have 100mA RCD protection?
Have been using this in Eire for two years, 2nd fix takes five times longer. I might move to Scotland I used to love doing MICC. Haha
Ireland already uses LSF cable standard in new domestic its so much fun
Brilliantly done once again! Most of that will be in place within a decade LOL
You know it would be nice if the cable had the brown or the blue colour dotted on the side it’s on. Would make some installs easier.
Insulated earth cable in 10mm2/16mm2/25mm2 has been in Australia for many years. Been interesting seen different standards in UK, Australia/NZ , USA.
I live in a large house in Scotland that's mostly wired in micc....there was I thinking that I could use T&E for new stuff - guess I won't be retiring the joistripper after all 😂
Okay, got me but might happen in future? Low smoke good. White colour fine Another question: does the outer react / degrade when in contact with expanded polystyrene?
Thank god for the earth insulation. About time!
Gary and Gordon my I’ve dusted down my old faithful pot wrench , can you remind me how to use it again , well done lads another year eh 👍👍
These changes (particularly insulating earth) looks very similar to what Australia has had for a very long time!
Just what I was thinking. This basically is a description of the actual Australian Standards requirements - insulated earth yes, minimum 1.5mm2 and so on.
Scottish sparkies gonna be hard as nails after wrestling that all day.
Lol, next year you should say we are returning to the old days with single insulated cable’s being surface mounted with wooden blocks and wooden/Bakelite accessories and wooden rewritable fuse carriers
Could you recommend what the best tool to cut Kopex length ways is? Can’t find any info on this? We use good old grinder because Stanley knife is just too slow but wondered if there is anything better. Cheers
We generally use Rick’s beard
@@efixx 😂 thanks for the help
Ok you had me going right until the end you tinkers! 😆😆👍❤️
I saw fairies at the bottom of the garden the other day. One was electrocuted when it stepped on a bare earth wire connected remotely to Electroboom.
Watched all the way through and was about to share this video.. then checked the comments and realised the date 😜😂
For years UK electricians have been telling me how safer the UK standard is compared to the Dutch one, well for once I can say, welcome to our world!
You cant teach a old dog new tricks.
We are using same type of cables since 1960ish . Fully isolated earth and same surface area on every conductor:)
So you've been wasting copper for 60 years ?
Not bcs green/yellow wire one can be used in a lot of siutuations as a live conductor. Additionally cable is perfectly rounded makes it easier to install and remove insulation
Same as in Germany for decades adn dozens of other countries
@@bojangazibaric3328 so what are you using for circuit protection if you're using the green/yellow as a live conductor.
That 0.75mm you released a year ago has taken off. 😂🎉
Wow caught up to Australian Standards, Next thing they won,t let you use type AC RCD protection on subcircuits.
I love how it builds up to be more ridiculous by the minute. I thought it was real at first! .. Being from the Netherlands might help, where we already have the luxury of same-diameter sleeved earth 😉
The *real* April fools is that there are still countries that don’t have same-diameter sleeved earth.
In three phase systems with cable bigger than 95mm2 in the Netherlands it's actually allowed to have a half size neutral conductor
@@sciencetestsubject okay, but by that point we’re thoroughly not in regular-everyday-sparky territory any more. (Presumably there has to be some expectation that said three phase hookup won’t be asymmetrically loaded in regular use to the point where the N would carry very high currents - and I have to admit I cannot think of a situation where that would happen unless it’s a subframe distribution situation and you deliberately turn off exactly the right 2/3 of the load.)
Skipped to the bit about Scotland and MI cable and honestly believed you for a while!!🤣
Thank you for your videos as a electrician I learn alot. Please lets us electrician know how we can get involved with eFIXX
Dam was waiting to buy every drum of the old T&e really cheap and use it for years... like I did when the old colours changed before 😜
I was clearing out my storage container a couple of weeks ago and had a bunch of spools of old colours (red and black) cable that I was about to throw out until my mate descended on them like a tramp on chips for his old house! 😂
I'm from Czech republic but Im currently working here in UK as sparky and we mostly using in dwellings CYKY cables which looks like same as NYY cables. For sockets circuits we using CYKY-J (NYY-J) 3x2.5mm² with OCPD B16A in radial.(We don't use a ring as here in UK). For lighting circuts we using CYKY-J (NYY-J) 3x1.5mm² with OCPD B6A or B10A (depends on load). For intermidiately switchers or 2gang 1 way switches we using CYKY-O (NYY-O). Both circuits sockets and lights must be protected by 30mA RCD type A but most old dwellings are protected by type AC. Maximum permited sockets in one radial circuit is 10 sockets. We also using same imstallation method as here in UK except method 100 , 101, 102, 103 in block flat because they're build from concreate. In houses we using 3phase main incomming, so for example If do you need 3f sockets for circular saw etc. In Czech republic is not allowed to use main fuse or service head inside dwelling (flat or house). Main incomming is mostly etiher CYKY cables or SWA depends where and how is cable installed, so we don't use single core cables like here in UK. If someone anyhow make a changes without permissiom to a main distribution board or bypass meter and any electrician will find out, he can remove it and straight contact DNO and they'll pay him for a job what he was invited not like here in the UK. If you want to provide a Inspection and testing you must have as a minimum 4 years experiences otherwise you not allowed to provide it.(issue EIC etc.).(check decree 50/1978 and their phragraphs). We also use same prescribed zones for cables installation and zones in bathroom. In my opinion there is not that much differences between UK and Czech standarts.
You do realise this was posted on the 1st of April don’t you?
You two are a pair of shits😂. Look how many people have taken you seriously. Good job, cheers Stuart 🇦🇺
I've been trying to get hold of the 0.75mm² cable you advertised on 1st April last year. Can you let me know where its stocked? 😅
It’s on special down at Screwfix - but thinking they sold out yesterday
I think more problems covering earth conductors. If a nail only hits one conductor then it could carry current. The CPC was a good way to cause a trip if you went through a cable.
Question from Germany: Is it also possible or even allowed to use NHXMH-J cable in UK?
It more than likely is allowable. There's a British Standard - BS EN 60332-3-24 - for NHXMH-J cable.
You naughty pair, you skipped over the the unicorn branded installation metallic fire clips with built in sprinklers 👍
Thats z nice bit of news 👍
You mentioned this is coming in to England and Wales, but Scotland will have its own. What about Northern Ireland, who are they going to follow? Also with slightly different standards in the UK in general, how will that affect cross boarder building firms and keeping inventory. Do they now have to keep different standards for each country.
In belgium we have round cables with live neutral and earth all insulated since a few years we may only instal green cables cables who are insulated green because the old gray ones made toxic smoke when on fire but the insilation is way harder to strip of it is a real pain to strip in opposite to the old one same with pvc pipe the new ones are red coated inside because the old also made toxic smoke when on fire We are on a different level but i is way more fun working with the cables u still use
Most of the round cable in the UK is all core insulated.
Almost had me there till you mentioned 25mm cable. The irony is though that Ireland have a twin and cpc that DOES have the cpc sheathed. It just weighs more and cost more. About time we did adopt this if it was really true.
I think the white cable pictured is actually Irish standard
@Daniel Smith yes, i read the post afterwards, which explained that.
Wow . Very interesting, I do like the sleeves CPC however a bit disappointed aswell. I’ve always liked the design of the expensed CPC to almost guarantee disconnection via L-E or N-E . Moving to LSF for all installations is excellent. I’ve been saying for a while that I beleive this would happen, and the new 25.0mm T and E is superb. So many installations poorly done due to either lack of knowledge or cost savings so now hopefully 🤞 the issues we have seen time and time again with supply cables in domestic will be gone. Bravo 👏🏻
🤣
Shame it's not real 😂
Bastards. Trouble is I work everyday and never even know what day of the week it is 😂 1-0 to eFIXX . Well played 😂😂😂🤦🏻♂️
Brush up on your MICC skills if you are heading to Scotland 🏴
@@efixx well funny you should say that 😜 will be soon and hopefully teaming up with our man Colin mulvaney on one of my projects 👊🏻 watch this space
I've often wondered how the industry could justify the earth conductor being one size smaller than the phase and neutral when surely the earth needs to have as low a resistance as possible. So it's about time the situation was put right, it's long overdue. And they had hard wiring cables in Belgium with fully insulated earth conductors of the same cross sectional area way back in 1995, I know as I went on a day trip over there and the coach took us to Oostende and there was a DIY shed there so I got a bit curious about their underfloor cables so I went in and had a look and they had hard cables there but they weren't flat like ours here in the UK, they were round like flex. And they had some with three brown conductors and a green/yellow, very odd, I suppose it was for wiring two way switches but it's a bit awkward when the lives are all the same colour, you'd have to treat it like it was copper sheathed mineral insulated cable like the stuff used in public buildings.
they finally insulated the earth? Here in Belgium it's been like that forever and for good reason... Well done lads
or not...
I thought the bare conductor was to increase the chance of a fault being spotted by devices and therefore failing to safe. As you showed and said about putting a staple through the cable, there could be a chance that cable passes the test sequence. This might not be good in the longer term.
those staples are debatable just use conduit make it easy for the next electrician
You've seen the date, right?
@@jacksonroad9263 those staples are ceramic
Are we gonna have to get all our sockets changed next year? Or is the faithful British 3-pin plug 🔌 here to stay?
That’s 1st April 2025 for the socket change
@@efixx what about all the electrical appliances with existing plugs 🔌? Are they all gonna have their plugs 🔌 changed? Will the new sockets just have two pins? Or is this a superior version of the faithful 3-pin plug 🔌?
Doubt it, we have the best plugs in the world imo.
I was nearly falling for this, but just kept thinking of why the cpc doesn’t have sleeving, and thought, if bigger surface area and being insulated really improved safety, it would of been changed at least a decade ago.
In Ireland they can't use standard twin and earth with bare copper, they can only use twin and earth that's fully insulated like this
Its been in Ireland for a few year, so id say yere on the road to be getting it too
@@michaelboyes4948 in fact the cable pictured appears to be Irish standard cable
Sleeved cpc in twin and earth is the highest stupidity. Bare cpc will make contact easier with damaged live conductors to ensure ADS.
It's a shame that it's not going to be manufactured. Would be a benefit with pre insulated cpc . Also the 25mm twin for sub mains would be good. As usual if it sounds like a good idea and makes common sense it won't make it into the wiring regs book of madness.
I presume this will add another 100% to the cost. Just what we need!
Always. Plus Pirelli will only be making smaller manufacturing runs (as U.K. only) so you can be sure they’ll be shortages of the new spec from day one..🤔
I always thought it would be a good idea to phase out PVC cabling for fixed wiring as LSZH cables don’t propagate a fire in the same way as they don’t carbonise in the same way when arcing occurs. They also represent a much more cost effective solution to improve safety over AFDDs based on AFDDs current costs. Good video though and just the right amount of plausibility to keep the joke going 😂
wonder if this practice will hit N. America... I like the idea of a insulated ground wire for the residential sector.... romex has always had a bare ground....
Is true that means I can use the third core on a two way swich
Gosh..spent years with Pyro . I thought of relocating to Scotland . 😢
Good effort 👌 😅
THANK GOD!!!!
Well done Did you just jam a bit of singles into the end of some t+e ?
It’s from Ireland 🇮🇪