What you suggest seems to be safeishif done properly - but I would be surprised if it were legal. 1. The cable needs to be rated for direct burial. (XLPE sheath & neutral screened or armoured). You may be ale to pull the cable through conduit however. Depth needs to be > 600mm IIRC. with a marker tape & protection above (eg ground treated timber) if not armoured. 2. 2 core cable would be unlikely to be accepted , even with a RCD and a remote earth. (You could end up using single insulated appliance on the circuit) 3. There are restrictions on where you can provide earth rods depending on the protection level of the circuit. If the endpoint meets the requirements of a switchboard, then there are circumstances where you can earth the neutral (in a MEN system as in NZ) but there's a special condition involved that I can't remember. 4. Where earth rods are employed, the effective "earth resistance" must be measured and must be less than a specified value. 5. Installation (or at least proper inspection) by a registered sparky &/or inspector would be required. The above is from memory & could be off track but I think is OK. - Are the wiring regs not available online? RP On 19/01/07, Jinx wrote: > I need to have mains (230V) outside the house, at a remote part > of the garden, and would like to know if this solution is (a) safe > (b) feasible (c) legal [intimate knowledge of NZ law assumed !!] > > I have plenty of 2-core mains-rated cable - obviously no earth. At > the remote end the circuitry will be in a metal box. If I use an RCD > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device > > (which I do when working with tools outside), bang a metal stake > into the ground, to which the metal termination box is connected, and > put a fuse on Active, is this going to pass muster wrt not killing > people (especially me) ? > > TIA > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist