New socket - suface mounted

[andyjenkins]

Hi all,
Due to a room reorg, I need to move the TV from one corner to another - only problem is that there was no socket there. I've presented run a spur off a socket from the bedroom upstairs, surface mounted some 16mm condiut down the wall. A surface mounted box and double gang socket sits at the end.

My only issue is the appearance of the socket. The box has a circular press out - and the conduit is rectangle. When I went to school, a rectangle does not fit snuggly into a circle.

Anyone done similar? Any pics of how it looks, so I can see how to make it better?

At the moment, I'm considering chasing the cable into the wall - unless I can come up with a more acceptable solution for the conduit<->socket.

[Sanders79]

Hi,

Personally I always chase cables and sockets into the wall, it looks so much neater for a couple of hours' work.

What kind of wall is it sitting on (blockwork, stud wall etc.)?

Cheers.

[andyjenkins]

Originally Posted by Sanders79

What kind of wall is it sitting on (blockwork, stud wall etc.)?

Its brick, so not the easiest thing to chase out - never done it before, and been warned that there's a significant amount of dust involved - even chasing out the little bit required for 2.5mm electrical cable.

[Sanders79]

Yeah it can be messy! I did all the chasing in my new living room with an angle grinder! At one point I could see about 3' in front of me (I would never do it this way in an occupied house!)

The least messy technique I have used is to draw your lines up and down the wall to show where you want the channel, then drill lots of holes along those lines to the depth you want, then chop out with a chisel. Would be a bit dusty but reasonably easy to control. It's good practice to put metal capping over the cable before you replaster.

[John7]

Cutting a chase in a brick wall will be very messy, noisy and disruptive.

I did one in my kitchen a couple of years back with a dual disk diamond blade cutter. Relatively easy (just lightly chisel out the spoil between the two grooves, insert trunking/cable and plaster over) but the amount of dust produced was amazing, even with the vacuum attachment fitted!

Have you got another room adjacent/behind where you want the socket? It would then be easy to drill a hole through the wall behind an existing socket to run the spur.

If you can't do this and still need to come from upstairs, why not bring the trunking/cable down the corner of the room and then run horizontally along the skirting to the desired position? Uses more cable but virtually invisible without the need for chasing out walls.

Oh, BTW, you dont need to run 16mm conduit for a single Twin & earth cable - you can get 12mm self adhesive which is far less conspicuous.

Just had another thought - why not run a spur from the existing sockets in the same room? Should be a lot easier than one from upstairs?

[andyjenkins]

Originally Posted by John7

Have you got another room adjacent/behind where you want the socket? It would then be easy to drill a hole through the wall behind an existing socket to run the spur.

Sadly not -otherwise this job would have been a breeze

[quote]If you can't do this and still need to come from upstairs, why not bring the trunking/cable down the corner of the room and then run horizontally along the skirting to the desired position?[quote]

This is what I have at the moment, except the trunking coming down the ceiling is rectangle, and the cut out in the back box is round. Rectangle into round doesnt go -and the fit is "nasty looking" (the wife just said 'use polly filler or something )

I'd take a pic, but the wife has packed up everything and I can't find my camera, and I can't find the cable for my phone either.

What i need is a socket backbox and trunking that are paired - so that the trunking fits into the backbox snuggly. Anything like that exist ?

[John7]

Most of the surface (plastic) back-boxes I have seen/used (MK & similar) have rectangular knock-outs and the trunking finishes flush to the outside of the box. Sounds like you are using a metal box which is designed to accept round conduit with a threaded coupler fitting?