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I'm currently renovating an old house and I've taken the decision to rewire it at the same time (The current wiring is much newer than the house, but isn't to the standard I'd like). I'm very keen to make this is a one-time event and, as this is intended to be our family home for some time, there are a few things I'd like to futureproof.

A particular example would be the shower - it's currently fed from the central heating boiler. I'm sure this is fine, but there's no provision for an electric shower at all. I'd like to run some 10mm cable from the ground floor (Where the consumer unit is) through to the loft, 'terminating' it above the bathroom. It will be unconnected to anything at both sides (Here in the UK, Showers are on individual radial circuits) - but in future a shower could be installed, and an additional circuit breaker added in no time.

My concern is that a random 10mm^2 cable will look VERY suspicious and will rightfully concern anyone in the future. How I do safely and clearly terminate it - ensuring that it's clearly marked up for the future and is both perfectly safe should someone accidentally connect one end.

I'm currently thinking I should put both ends into junction boxes, marked with a printed label. And then perhaps mark all areas where it may be visible (I.e., in the loft, under the floorboards and in the consumer box cupboard) with some kind of identifying tape.

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  • What, pray tell, is an "electric shower"? :D Also, is cable really designated in millimeters over there? I'm not even sure what that means in this case. Otherwise, wire nuts and tape label tags should do fine.
    – isherwood
    Commented Dec 26, 2015 at 21:30
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    @isherwood A shower that uses electricity to heat the water! And yes, in the UK, mains wiring is designated by its cross sectional area - 10mm Squared obviously having more current capacity than 1mm for example. 10 is actually the highest I know of in a domestic setting - most normal appliances will be on 2.5.
    – Dan
    Commented Dec 26, 2015 at 21:52
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    @isherwood mains cable in the UK (and I belive in europe more generally but i'm not positive) is measured by it's cross sectional area in square millimeters. Unfortunately it seems to be common practice to leave off the superscript 2 or the word squared when giving sizes.
    – Peter Green
    Commented Dec 26, 2015 at 22:37
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    You could just leave it in the wall, unconnected at both ends and mark it unused at both ends (with info on where to find the other end). But I'd probably put the shower end in a junction box but not run the other end all the way into the main panel, leaving a short coiled end of it nearby and marked unused as noted above. If you have to run it into the panel for some reason, then I would definitely put the shower end into an empty receptacle box.
    – simpleuser
    Commented Dec 26, 2015 at 22:38
  • If you are running new wiring for an electric shower, I'm pretty sure you are required in UK law to get that certified by a registered electrician before you bring it into use. You might want to look into requirements for isolating switches (location, type etc), equipotential bonding and other matters.
    – RedGrittyBrick
    Commented Dec 28, 2015 at 0:05

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I'm currently thinking I should put both ends into junction boxes, marked with a printed label.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

And then perhaps mark all areas where it may be visible (I.e., in the loft, under the floorboards and in the consumer box cupboard) with some kind of identifying tape.

Seems like overkill to me. It's pretty obvious that a 10mm2 in a domestic setting is almost certainly intended for either a cooker or a shower.

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