How to add new power point to concrete wall?

[Henski]

Hi, I'm looking to do a kitchen reno and wish to put in a new PowerPoint at the back wall. Issue is the unit walls are concrete and believe concrete blocks make up my unit walls

 How can u chase a wire through a concrete wall  if wish the sparkie to piggy back of a existing PowerPoint 1.5m away? See in existing PowerPoint appears it has a rear metal plate the wires come out of, see pic

 

My father is a electrician but doesnt know as he mostly does commercial, so need an idea on this before he arrives, tx in advance

[EricL]

Hello @Henski

Thank you for sharing your question about a new powerpoint for your kitchen. Generally speaking, a channel would have to be created where you can put an electrical PVC pipe for the cable to run into. You'll then need to make a bigger hole at the other end in order to house the new powerpoint assembly. The cut in the concrete is then fixed and your powerpoint is now in a new position.     

Before I offer more suggestions, are the units managed by a body corporate? There's the possibility that you'll need to ask permission if you are going to cut into the concrete. In these situations, I suggest engaging the services of a registered electrician. In this manner, you can have peace of mind that the installation was done to code and is covered by a warranty.

Let me tag our experienced members @MikeTNZ and @Adam_W for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[MikeTNZ]

Hi @Henski,

This looks like a cinder block wall, which has it's plusses and minusses.

Looking at your photo, there are too many cables already entering that box to "loop" another socket-outlet off that one, the size of the terminals 

in that socket will not allow more wires to be fitted safely.

One other thing, I would engage the services of a qualified electrician as that existing cable is the older type PVC stuff that didn't have an insulated

Earth conductor when it was installed, hence the green sleeving on the Earth wires in the picture.

Sure, it may be fine as it is, only an Electrician can do an Insulation-Resistance test of all of the cables in your house, that will tell you how good the quality of the insulation is, bearing in mind that bare Earths stopped being used in the late 1970's.

As an electrician myself, I would highly recommend you have this testing done, before any further work progresses.

Do you have switch-type circuit breakers in your switch-board, I ask that because if they are the older type porcelain re-wireable fuses,

the quality of protection is a lot less than what a circuit breaker would deliver and could take up to 4 hours to disconnect a faulty circuit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just stating things as I see them.

Electrical safety is paramount in any house, garage or whatever.

If you'd like to discuss this further, by all means, throw a reply below, I am more than willing to discuss this with you until you're happy.

Cheers,

Mike T.

[Henski]

tx for this, my dad is an electrician, ill ask him to check it all out when he visits