Now I am doing wiring in a panel house once again, so I decided to write what I think about it. As always, there will be a lot of author's photos, because everything I write about is done by myself, with my own hands.

In the panel houses that I have seen, the electrical wiring is exclusively aluminum. And if the house is more than 20 years old, and major repairs are being made, then the wiring must be changed unambiguously. After all, the service life of aluminum is 25 years, and it is not known when the next overhaul will take place.

Overhaul in a panel house also includes, as a rule, filling the floor with a screed, leveling the ceilings with plaster or false ceilings, and replacing communications. If you are interested in replacing the electrical wiring in the apartment - the price is from 15,000 rubles from my friends from mrelektrik.ru.

Naturally, we as electricians are primarily interested in the replacement of electrical wiring.

Replacing wiring in a panel house. Photo of the working moment

But to start -

How a panel house works

Walls and ceilings in typical panel houses are made of reinforced concrete panels. What is a panel? This is a reinforced concrete product consisting of metal reinforcement filled with concrete. There are two types of panels in houses - wall and ceiling (floor, ceiling).

The configuration of wall panels is different, depending on the series of the house. There are many series, but the meaning is the same, I will not go into details.

Most importantly, as a rule, all walls in a panel house are load-bearing. And of course, there can be no talk of any redevelopment.

There were real cases when the “house of cards effect” worked, because of unfortunate builders

If not load-bearing, then stiffeners (they are made of wood and gypsum boards), it is also undesirable to touch them. Although, I think it is possible to partially remove some partitions made of wood or gypsum, it is better to entrust the repair of an apartment in a panel house to professionals, paying attention primarily to safety.

A panel house is an economical option, its main advantage is the speed of construction and cost.

Currently, panel houses, as a rule, are not being built. People do not want to rent apartments in panel houses. brick houses are considered the most comfortable for living. They hold heat well, sound insulation is higher, and in our case it is easier to carry out major repairs and redevelopment. And change the wiring.

How is the wiring in a panel house

The wiring in the panel house is basically all laid in pre-made concrete products at the factory channels. They are designed specifically for electrical wires, and go to strictly designated places. And in these places there are sockets, switches, and there is no way to move them.

More precisely, it will work, but more on that below.

There are channels in the ceilings, in which wires to the chandeliers are usually laid. More wiring usually runs in the spaces between the wall and ceiling panels. That is, in places that are closed by a ceiling plinth.

In general, very often wiring, even in houses of the same series, and even in the same house, but on different floors, runs differently. Depends on the imagination of the electricians who worked on the construction site in this house in some 1970. When the main thing is a plan for square meters.

Therefore, it is not at all a fact that the junction box will be above the switch, and the wire to the chandelier will follow the logical (shortest perpendicular) path. And one must rely on experience and intuition in order to repair such wiring with little blood, and in fact for this it is necessary to find out what is coming from and where. How I suffered once - where I was looking for a broken wire.

Another wiring option seams between panels, seams between ceiling and ceiling/wall panels are used.

The counter is placed, as a rule, on the landing. Mounting example apartment meter in . The reason - if you put a counter in the apartment - as a rule, the owners want to drown the shield in the wall. And the thickness of the panels does not allow this. As an option, you can install a meter in the apartment in an external (external) shield, but somewhere in the pantry.

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How is wiring done in a panel house

Where to run wires

Most The best way laying wiring in a panel house - in a screed, in a hollow (or plastered) ceiling, or on walls under a layer of plaster. At the same time, ceilings and panels are not touched at all, only for fastening cables. But it doesn't always work out that way.

First of all, you need to find out from the owners how things will be with the floors and ceiling. If there is a screed in the floor - cheers. The main cable path will run in the corrugation just in the floor, in the screed.

If there is a suspended plasterboard stretch ceiling, that’s also great. In these cases, power and signal cables run mainly along the floor and / or ceiling, and a little - vertically in strobes to sockets and switches.

Wiring in a panel house, where the walls are sheathed with drywall is shown.

The worst option is that the ceiling and floors remain in place. A budget option when the owners want to save on everything. That is, in other words, the electrician will have to suffer, ditch the walls. But the price for such work will be higher than usual.

And if in a brick house, if you need to make a junction box, it is done, then in the socket you need to think a hundred times. Most likely, there will be an overrun of the cable compared to a brick house.

We must try to make the most of the old wiring. More precisely, those paths where it passes. This primarily applies to places where the old aluminum wire is simply plastered - places at the joints of ceiling tiles, and in the seams between wall and ceiling tiles. You need to focus on the fact that the seams in panel houses are the best place for laying electrical wiring, for example, as in the photo:

Laying power cables between ceiling tiles in a joint

You can use the old channels in which the old wiring goes to sockets and switches. That is, if they are in the old places. And if you manage to pull out the old wire, which is often filled with concrete.

As practice shows, it is better to forget about the channels in the wall panels right away.

A good option is to use the space at the top at the junction of the wall and ceiling tiles. There are often cracks, sealed with plaster or cotton wool (or some kind of rag):

How to make strobes and recesses for boxes

The most faithful friend of an electrician in this business is a hammer drill.

For a strobe, of course, it is much more convenient to use a strobe cutter with two diamond wheels and dust extraction. But for now I only dream about it. A grinder is also suitable, but she cannot do without a perforator.

Consider the most difficult case for an electrician during repairs in a panel house - the floor without a screed, the ceiling is only plastered.

A vertical line is drawn for the strobe, a strobe is made along it. I use a spatula for a puncher. How to ditch panel walls is an art, you need to get used to it, chip off centimeter by centimeter.

Be sure to have a respirator mask and goggles. Otherwise, such work will be very harmful to health.

The depth of the strobe should be sufficient for laying the cable and fasteners (7-10 mm). On the other hand, reinforcement begins deeper than 10 mm, it cannot be touched at all. On the third hand, you need to be in contact with the plasterers - perhaps the thickness of the plaster will be such that you don’t have to gouge at all.)

After chasing, we check that the boxes can be installed flush with the wall surface:

Under the installation box (standard diameter - 68 mm, depth - 45 mm), you need to make a recess with a diameter of 75 ... 80 mm. An ordinary crown for concrete will not work, it will be enough for 2-3 sockets, and you will have to throw it away.

I don’t use crowns now, I do it this way. I make 8-10 holes in the volume of the box with a drill with a diameter of 8 or 10 mm. At this stage, the recess is already half formed. Then I work with a pike, knocking out the remains of concrete.

About the paths of shtrobleniye. We must try to act decently, although sometimes it can be very difficult. I'm talking about the fact that all wires should run parallel / perpendicular to the ceiling and walls.

And yet, it is not recommended to get involved in horizontal strobes. A total length of horizontal strobes of 2 meters per slab (wall panel) is allowed. And it is generally forbidden to ditch ceilings, this can be done only in extreme cases, and for a length of no more than 15 cm.

How to lay wiring in a strobe

I know two acceptable ways of fastening cables in a strobe - alabaster (gypsum or plaster) or a dowel-clamp. I use the dowel-clamps myself, it's not as messy as fiddling with sandpaper. Although, you will have to use a puncher a little more - make holes in the wall with a diameter of 6 mm, where to insert the dowel-clamps:

Laying wiring after gating. Fastening with dowel clamps

As a result, we get after installing the boxes:

Everything is set. In the photo in the center - a switch, below - a socket

But where do these cables go in this case:

Wiring after gating_there will be a junction box in the middle

On the left in the photo, the cable goes to the toilet, on the right - the light to the bathroom.

A couple more examples. Three points, one of which is for .

Split socket:

Cable VVG2x1.5 goes to the switch in the corridor:

Shtroba to the socket. First - in the seam between the ceiling and wall panels, then down the strobe. The wall is load-bearing, so it is necessary to ditch to a minimum depth.

Wiring for lighting

There are two correct options here - either to close the wires in the gaps between the plates, or to drag them through the channel in the plate. The second method is the most preferred.

Replacing the wiring to the chandelier. A simple option is the seams between the plates. Hanging down is a new cable that will be laid in place of the old one.

Well, if the chandelier is in the same place, then the easiest way is to tie the new cable to the old wire, and thus tighten the new cable.

In the slab, the channels run along, parallel to each other, at a distance of about 10-12 cm, the first channel runs from the edge at a distance of 15-17 cm.

In conclusion, I would like to say that replacing the wiring in a panel house is perhaps the most difficult job that an electrician can agree to. Not everyone will take 400 - 500 rubles. for a point.

I will be glad to comments and questions on the topic. To not miss new articles, subscribe!

Replacing the wiring begins a major overhaul of the premises. Dismantling the old and laying new wiring in a panel house is considered a difficult stage of work. However, if you know the nuances of this process, then you can safely count on a positive result.

Reasons to replace wiring

It is customary to start replacing electrical wires in a panel house apartment in some cases:

• when old scheme runs the risk of not withstand the voltage from the simultaneous operation of the refrigerator and other household appliances with high energy costs;
• in long service aluminum wires that have already worn out;
• in the absence of a ground wire;
• when they are going to redevelop the apartment, why is it necessary to switch to supply electric shock on a three-wire or five-wire system;
• in case of damage to the insulating material, which tends to crack, burn and break at the ends after a long service life;
• in the situation of installing new sockets and switches, which can also wear out and almost always change along with the wiring.

It is impossible to wait with the replacement of wiring, because it is the damage of wires that often causes fires.

Differences in laying wires in a panel house

Panel houses may differ in configuration, but in most of these buildings the wall panel takes on the role of the supporting element. This must be taken into account when starting to lay wires in a panel house. The main thing is to refuse to create vertical grooves in the walls that can weaken the structure responsible for the stability of the building. The cable should only be laid in special channels created by factory workers.

Location of wiring in a panel building

Usually in panel houses electric wires hidden in the materials of the ceiling or walls. It happens that the owners of the apartment find wiring in the area where the wall and ceiling are combined. This place is suitable for laying electrical wires, as it is not deprived of free space. Cables can easily be hidden between the wall and ceiling panels.

Being laid between the wall and the ceiling, the wires will not become a reason for major repairs

But despite the fact that factory gates are made in the plates, it is not always possible to quickly find wires in the wall. There are such incidents that electrical circuits do not match even on adjacent floors in apartments with an identical layout.

In addition to the walls that serve as a support, in multi-storey buildings there are also partitions that are built from wooden or plasterboard slabs. It is stupid to lay electrical wires in these structures, since it is impossible to hide cable products in the thickness of the partition.

The place of installation of devices for connecting electrical wires to the network in multi-apartment buildings is not chosen by chance. According to the rules, the socket should be fixed at a distance of 70–90 cm from the floor. And the switches are fixed on the wall, stepping back from the floor covering at least one and a half meters.

Positioning outlets higher is not aesthetically pleasing

In old buildings, electrical wires are often laid in 2 lines: to the outlet and lighting devices. By the way, if not a gas, but an electric stove is installed in the apartment, then a separate cable is mounted. But it is advised to abandon such a scheme in favor of wiring, which provides for separate products for conducting current, which feed groups of devices that consume electricity and ground the wire.

Necessary tools and materials

To lay a new wiring, you will need the following tools:

• perforator and grinder;
• a hammer;
• pliers;
• device for making grooves in the wall;
• ladder;
• "nippers" for wires;
• screwdrivers;
• extension;
• putty knife;
• indicator screwdriver or multimeter;
• roulette;
• soldering iron 60 W;
• bit.

Corrugated hoses and socket boxes are useful in any case

When dismantling the old and laying new wiring, there will be a need for certain materials:

• sockets and switches;
• dowel-clamps 6 mm;
• electrical insulating tape;
• steel wire with a diameter of 1.5 mm;
• mounting boxes with protrusions on the outside;
• alabaster;
• an introductory shield, the size of which will accommodate 4 machines, 4 RCDs, 4 terminal blocks and the ends of electrical wires.

In a panel house apartment, it is best to lay copper wires. Aluminum products are inferior to them in quality. It is desirable to process the ends of the wires with a soldering iron and thereby protect them from the oxidation reaction.

When installing new wiring, you will need 3-4 sections of terminal blocks that connect the wires in the same way as the inlet shield. In the process of laying the wiring, you can use terminal blocks made of any material, but the worst option is wiring accessories made of polyethylene. It is desirable that rectangular holes be made in the terminal blocks, allowing the wires to be clamped not with a screw, but with a special plate.

Needed to clamp wires

To install the wires, you should purchase a new corrugation. Old pipes, which are probably flattened, are recommended to be disposed of, as they are unlikely to fit a double-insulated cable. Under the cables, it is better to take new metal corrugated hoses, and not polyvinyl chloride, which emit poisons in the event of an accident.

Types of wiring in panel houses

The wiring in the apartment may be partially or completely replaced. If absolutely all electrical wires are no longer suitable for fulfilling their task, then it is imperative to draw up a new laying scheme electrical network inside the walls. To do this, you will have to restore the location of the old wiring on paper.

The diagram indicates the wiring to the computer and other equipment

Usually, most of the wires are hidden in the kitchen, where 3 sockets are mounted on an area of ​​​​6 m 2. And in the bedroom and other rooms in this space, as a rule, there is only one outlet. A separate connector for connecting to the mains is needed for a stove, and only a cable with a cross section of 4 to 6 mm is suitable for this household appliance. In the bathroom, where the humidity level is high, it is supposed to install a socket with a distribution transformer.

Wiring is not always made open, although this is the best option that allows you to carry out repairs without touching the electrical network. Some people prefer to conduct hidden wiring in a panel house, hiding it under a layer of plaster, in the floor or in the ceiling.

In this case, the wires are hidden with plastic covers.

Video "replacing wiring in a panel house"

Laying under plaster

When the electrical wires are hidden behind the finish, channels are first created in the wall under the box for the cable to be inserted. After that, the wire is fixed with metal brackets and covered with a layer of plaster. Under the layer of mortar, you can hide a lot of cables that are connected to sockets, lighting fixtures, air conditioning, electronic equipment, washing machine and other technology.

To hide these wires, it is supposed to put a 1 cm layer of plaster on them.

True, in a building made of panels there is no plaster in the wall, which is why the building mixture has to be applied to the channels with laid wires in an extremely thin layer. Therefore, the masters are advised to increase the depth of the strobe or finish the walls with drywall sheets, the installation of which is not burdensome.

Floor and ceiling mounting

If the cables decide to hide behind the floor covering, then they use corrugations and make concrete screed. In this case, the wires are allowed to be connected directly to appliances and sockets. At the same time, the floor can be made warm, heated using cables placed in the screed.

This way of laying wires will bring double benefits.

If the owners of the panel house plan to make suspended ceiling, then the main cables are not forbidden to be placed on it. This way of laying wires can seem complicated, as it involves creating channels in the wall for concealed wiring leading to switches and sockets. These vertical strobes, where the electrical network will be hidden, should be drilled with a puncher or wall chaser.

It must be borne in mind that due to the creation of channels, the structure is weakened. Therefore, in order not to harm the reinforcement that supports the ceiling and walls, the wires cannot be placed at a depth of more than 1 cm. To prevent the wiring from falling out of the groove, alabaster or dowel clamps are used that require small holes to be made.

Channels in the ceiling should be made small

The work of dismantling old wiring hidden in the ceiling will be less dusty and of better quality if you first drill about 10 holes around the perimeter and then knock out the concrete with a chisel. You just need to pull out the old wiring, and retract the new wiring with steel wire.

Step by step instructions for laying wiring in the apartment

Before dismantling the old wiring, you need to take care of providing electric shock to the puncher. It's about attachment. triple socket and a 16 A machine with a 4 mm 2 cable section to a thick board. In addition, it is necessary to prepare an extension cord for work that can reach any area in the room.

Sequence of work

In order for a new electrical wiring to appear in the apartment, you will have to perform the following tasks in turn:

1. de-energize the house and remove furniture from the room;
2. remove old wires;
3. create grooves and fix the wires in them;
4. install distribution boxes;
5. bring wires to the electrical panel and lighting devices;
6. test the power supply.

There are usually no problems with the first stage of work. The absence of electricity in the apartment must be checked with a multimeter. Sockets and switches are temporarily removed. And the second stage, that is, the dismantling of the old cable, involves the removal of wires from the junction box.

When dismantling the wire, remove the brackets-holders

Chasing and excavation

The gates, regardless of whether they are vertical or horizontal, must be even. Curved grooves are common cause failure of walls and ceilings. Channels made in the vertical direction should be carried out 50 cm from the ceiling. Therefore, in this case, you can not do without a stepladder with side stops.

The boundaries of the channel are drawn in pencil

The limits for the channels are first indicated by a grinder, the disk of which is immersed to a depth equal to the diameter of the corrugation and to the width of the perforator bit. After that, using a chisel, a strobe is made. In the corners, a cutting machine creates an oblique cut and knocks out a hole. This will help make the bending of the corrugation smooth.

The holes where the socket boxes will be inserted are pierced in concrete with a chisel, and in brickwork- crown. And the notch for the introductory shield is created exclusively with a chisel. By the way, a double channel should not be made under the switches. It is wiser to purchase a corrugation and place several cables in it.

Immediately after the above work, you should start installing the distribution boxes. To fix them in place, cement mortar is usually used. In this case, the cable is supposed to be laid from the shield to the distribution boxes.

A special solution is carefully applied around the sockets

Video "How to ditch walls for wiring"

Laying the wiring in the channel

Before installing new electrical wires, the necessary lengths of cable and corrugation are measured. It is more convenient to tighten the wires inside the corrugation on the floor. After completing this task, socket boxes are inserted into the holes on the alabaster pillow, and a corrugation with a cable is inserted into the strobes made. In this case, the edges of the wires are directed to the sockets, which are covered with alabaster to the surface of the wall. The building mixture is applied to grooves with corrugation every 50 cm.

Laying the corrugation on top finishing material- also a good choice

If it is necessary to install single-pole switches, the ends of the zero (blue) wire are immediately twisted, treated with a soldering iron and sealed with insulating tape in 3 layers so that the first layer goes on 20 mm of the wire. Wrapping the cable with electrical tape, one layer overlaps the other by 50%.

Wiring for devices and for lighting

The laying of wires ends with the introduction of the ends of the corrugations into the introductory shield and their lubrication with conductive paste. The edges of the profiles are grasped with a tin clamp on a screw connected by means of a PE wire cut to the ground terminal of the input shield.

When entering the electrical panel, the wires are divided into separate lines, which require their own switches. This rule cannot be ignored, since this is fraught with the fact that the wires cannot cope with the transfer of current to household appliances that consumes a lot of electricity.

Work is carried out during a power outage

Switch box applied to the attachment point on the wall to mark and drill holes for dowels. Then, having completely de-energized the apartment, wires are inserted into the shield that has not yet been fixed. After that, the VSC is put in place, fixing with dowels.

After making sure that the electrical network is in good condition, they begin to cover the strobe with a building mixture, install sockets, switches and lighting fixtures. Before plastering the channels, it is advised to stuff foam rubber or plain paper into the sockets, and the inlet shield and counter polyethylene film.

To avoid bumps, the dried plaster is leveled with sandpaper

As a result of plastering and painting and gluing wallpaper on the walls, the socket boxes and the inlet shield will be invisible. You just need to feel them with your hands and open them by cutting out the wallpaper along the contour. The socket boxes should be cleaned of sand that has got into them and closed with rosettes. In addition, at this stage of work, switches and lamps are mounted.

Video "Laying hidden wiring"

Replacing the wiring in a panel house without hiring electricians is real. To do this, you need to take development seriously. electrical circuit and lay the wires as required by the instructions.

The panel method of housing construction has always presented the inhabitants of Soviet-built apartments with a lot of surprises and surprises. Very often, during the repair process in a panel house apartment, an attempt to hang a picture or punch a couple of holes in the wall with a perforator to install kitchen cabinets, led to short circuit. A drill or a punch stumbled upon old aluminum wires in the most unexpected places on the walls.

How was the wiring done in the apartment of the panel house

There is a serious difference in the organization of electrical wiring in an apartment of a brick and panel house. In both cases, the installation of electrical wiring from the shield and meter to sockets and lighting devices was carried out according to the wiring map. But the electrician himself determined the places for installing junction boxes and gate channels for laying the wire.

For a panel house, wiring was easier and more difficult at the same time due to the following circumstances:

• Each of the reinforced concrete panels was an element of the load-bearing frame and carried a considerable load from the weight of the upper floors and floor slabs; it was strictly forbidden to cut the concrete surface, this could lead to cracks and destruction of the walls;
• Panel floor slabs had factory-made channels designed for hidden laying and wiring in the apartment, as required by the wiring diagram;
• The quality of the channels was extremely poor, and they were often clogged with rubble and pieces of concrete extruded during the production of the slab.

Note! In addition to the fact that the channels for electrical wiring in the panel house were of poor quality and clogged with concrete waste, their position and distribution was, to put it mildly, suboptimal.

Therefore, in most cases, builders and electricians, when laying and distributing wires, used niches under the wooden floor on the upper floors, through which most of the wires were thrown. Thus, it was possible to bring any groups of wiring to ceiling lights, switches and wall sockets, it was enough to punch a through hole in the floor slab.

Inside the apartment of a panel house, electrical wiring was often laid under the baseboards, in the cracks between the ceiling and panel slabs, hiding it behind a thick layer of glass wool and the material with which the seams were sealed. Building codes categorically forbade the use of panel seams at home for laying electrical wiring, but in practice the prohibition was ignored, the electrician simply increased the size of the seam between the plates and laid the wiring so that there was a space that provided a safe gap.

How the wiring is laid in a panel house according to the scheme

Within 2-4 years from the moment of completion of construction, shrinkage processes took place in the panel house with the mutual movement of the plates and the settlement of the foundation. In such cases, the electrical wiring laid in the panel seam could be torn or crushed. At the same time, it was almost impossible to find the place of a break or break in the aluminum core in the house. I had to resort to the services of an electrician to sort out the confusion of electrical wiring and carry out its repair or complete replacement.

There was typical scheme electrical wiring in the apartment, as in the above diagram, but adaptation to various projects of apartments in panel houses was carried out extremely carelessly. The main thing was to observe a uniform load on the phases in such a way as to avoid overload and, as a result, not to get a phase imbalance.

In many apartments of panel houses, during repairs, residents repeatedly found plastered channels with holes on the surface of the ceilings, into which, according to theory, electrical wiring should be laid.

Often, electricians themselves violated the installation rules and did not even try to conduct electrical wiring as required by SNiP and GOST. Wiring in almost a panel house has always been laid over the shortest distance. If the junction box was at a height of about two meters, and the outlet was one meter above the floor, and even a couple of meters away, the wire was laid diagonally, which made it possible to save money - instead of the prescribed three meters of electrical wiring, lay two and a half. The difference, of course, could be written off for your needs.

In addition, often instead of one solid piece of aluminum wire, electrical wiring was laid from several twisted pieces of wire. The twisting points got hot and triggered the circuit breaker on the switchboard.

Wiring option in a two-room apartment of a panel house

As an example, see the wiring diagram for two-room apartment in a panel house of a standard twenty-first project. In such a panel house, also called frameless, almost all elements of the house, even internal partitions, were load-bearing, so it was impossible to ditch individual channels for laying electrical wiring.

According to the scheme, all electrical wiring is divided into three main groups:

1. Lighting and sockets in room 1 and 2. In each of the rooms, a pair of zero and phase from switchboard, which made it possible to turn off the power supply and carry out repairs and maintenance of the wiring, using, for example, a chandelier lamp in the corridor;
2. The lighting and power supply of sockets in the corridor is organized according to the same principle with the output of its power pair to a junction box located at the front door. The bell and emergency lighting wiring was connected to the same box;
3. The third group is lamps and sockets for the kitchen. In panel skyscrapers that did not have a centralized gas supply, electric cookers were installed, so a cable with a cross section of at least 4 mm 2 was used for the kitchen;
4. The last group is the bathroom and toilet. The electrical wiring to the auxiliary premises was connected directly to the input panel, without using a junction box.

And this is how the real wiring in a two-room apartment, sketched by the owner of the premises, looks like.

Instead of building four independent branches of electrical wiring, builders made two lines. One of them, marked in red, was used to power room No. 2, a kitchen and a toilet with a bathroom. The blue branch of the electrical wiring fed room number 1 and the corridor. Half of the ideas and ideas embodied in the wiring diagram for a panel house are simplified to the maximum.

And this is how the modern wiring diagram looks like after repair and alteration with the replacement of one and a half millimeter aluminum noodles in the regular channels of the slabs of the panel house on VVG-3.

Electrical wiring of a three-room apartment

As for a two-room panel apartment, the wiring diagram is based on the division of the input pair on the switchboard into two main branches. The electrical wiring enters the switchboard from the trunk - the well of the panel house. The first branch combines one of the rooms, a corridor and a bathroom. The second - a hall, a second room and a kitchen with a toilet. Lighting on the balcony is carried out independently by connecting additional wiring from the extreme junction box. At first glance, a slight imbalance in load distribution is striking, the second line seems to be much more loaded. But this is a misleading impression. The wiring on the second branch is much shorter and has a large number of branches. Due to the huge consumption of electricity by kitchen appliances - a microwave oven, an oven, an electric stove, the main power copper core goes exactly to the kitchen junction box, from which not much energy is consumed through the branches - room lighting, TV, computer, toilet.

The modern wiring plan for a two-room apartment differs in many respects from previously used schemes. The fact is that modern loads are simply incommensurable with the loads of the 70s and 80s, when most panel houses were built.
Then the main consumers were a few light bulbs, a TV and sometimes an iron. Modern apartment has a much larger number electrical appliances and, accordingly, needs other power supply schemes.

open wiring

So:

• Before developing a wiring plan in a two-room apartment, we should decide on its main parameters. One of these is the way it is laid. At the moment, two options are used - open and hidden.
• Open wiring has certain advantages:
  1. For its laying, there is no need to ditch the walls. That is, you can perform a complete replacement of all wires without subsequent repairs in the entire apartment.
  2. Open wiring is mounted very quickly. And with the proper skill and availability of working hands, it can be completely mounted in just a day.
  3. If you need to connect new electrical receivers or perform repairs, you do not need to break the walls.

• Installation of hidden wiring is carried out in special boxes. In this case, the wire in the boxes usually has additional protection in the form of a metal or self-extinguishing corrugated pipe. You can, of course, mount without the use of special boxes, but this option is more suitable for utility rooms and sheds, but not for apartments.
• Branches to sockets and switches are also made using a special box. And the sockets and switches themselves must be designed for an open circuit.
• The wiring diagram in a two-room apartment with its installation in baseboards can also be used. But this method has significant limitations on the number of wires used and is often used only for wiring in separate rooms or for laying to separate electrical receivers.

Hidden wiring

So:

• More common is the wiring diagram in a two-room apartment using hidden wiring. This method has the following advantages:
  1. Due to the fact that all elements of such wiring are hidden from prying eyes, it has a more attractive appearance.
  2. Does not take up free space in our already small apartments
  3. Hidden wiring has higher throughput and overload capacity due to better heat transfer.
  4. Due to the lower requirements for protection against mechanical damage, the price necessary materials noticeably lower.
• Installation of concealed wiring is carried out directly in the structural elements of your apartment. To do this, small recesses are made in the wall - strobes. Wiring is laid in them, followed by plastering.
• To install sockets, switches and junction boxes, recesses are also made in the wall. They are then mounted designed specifically for hidden scheme sockets and switches.

Calculation and selection of the power supply scheme

Posting calculation

So:

• Before proceeding directly to the calculation of our electrical wiring, we should determine the number of electrical receivers. To do this, it is necessary to accurately determine the number and location of each outlet and lamp. Without this clear plan, further calculations are impossible.

Note! You should not knowingly overstate the number of outlets or lighting you require. You only need outlets that you know exactly what will be plugged into. Installing outlets and lighting networks just in case, greatly increases the cost of your power supply scheme and increases your labor costs.

• Now, having a clear idea of ​​the number of electrical receivers, we can proceed directly to the calculations of the required wire. But the bandwidth of the wires in clause 1.3 of the PUE (Electrical Installation Rules) is indicated in amperes, and the power of all our devices is usually indicated in watts.
• Using Ohm's law, which should be known to everyone from school, we recalculate: where P is the power of the device in Watts (W), U is the voltage of your power supply in volts (V), for single-phase network the voltage is 220V, and I is the current that will flow in the wires in amperes (A).

• Having made a simple calculation, we get that when a device of 1000W is connected, a current of 4.55A will flow in our wire. Our instruction advises to round this value up to 5A to create a certain margin and simplify calculations.
• Now let's move on to wire selection. It can be made of copper or aluminum and is insulated with PVC or rubber. The choice should be made in accordance with clause 1.3 of the EMP. It includes a conductor depending on laying conditions, insulation, humidity and some other parameters.
• But all this is quite complicated and with small loads of the apartment is far from always justified. Therefore, if you are not a design office and do the wiring yourself, we advise you to use the simplified calculation. According to him, copper wire with a cross section of 1 mm 2 in normal mode passes a current of 10A, and an aluminum wire with the same cross section - 5A.

Selecting a Wiring Diagram

So:

• Having calculated all possible loads, we should divide them into groups. In this case, we will be guided by clause 6.2.2 of the PUE, which states that group lines must be protected by circuit breakers for a current of not more than 25A. At the same time, if you create a separate group for the lighting network, then it is usually equipped with a 16A circuit breaker.
• When dividing the load into groups, the power of consumers should be taken into account separately. These include electrical equipment with a power of 2 kW or more. These are usually heating and heating appliances. If you have any, then they should be powered by a separate machine with the appropriate rated current.

• Without taking into account powerful consumers, your wiring plan for a two-room apartment should have two to three groups. One of which is a lighting network and one or two groups are power outlets.
  If you have two groups feeding sockets, then it is advisable to form groups in adjacent rooms. That is, one group feeds sockets in the kitchen and hallway, and the second - in the bedroom and hall.

Note! According to clause 7.1.37 of the PUE, the installation of sockets in the bathroom is allowed only when it is connected through an RCD. If you are installing an outlet in the bathroom, then it is advisable to include it in the group that feeds the kitchen outlets. After all, although sockets in the kitchen do not require mandatory installation RCD, this protection device in the kitchen will be most appropriate.

• Separately, I would like to dwell on the cross section of the wires used. For groups with a 25A circuit breaker, the copper wire must have a cross section of at least 2.5 mm 2.
  Accordingly, for groups of 16A, at least 1.5 mm 2. But in any case, the cross section of the wire supplying a separate group is not advisable to make more wires on the introductory machine.

At one time, the leadership of our country took upon itself the obligation to provide each family with a separate apartment. It is clear that many different beautiful promises were made both before and after that, and our state has become completely different. However, they sincerely tried to fulfill the promise about separate apartments. Great hopes in this matter were placed on the technology of building houses from panels.

Panels are reinforced concrete products produced in the factory. At the construction site itself, it remains only to assemble them according to a principle that is not far from the principle by which children's designers are assembled.

The technology is really fast, but the same type of panel houses were not the best option for people to live. Low level of sound insulation, high level of heat loss, low durability... But we, in fact, do not want to talk about the shortcomings of panel housing. After all, a house is not only building structures. It is also engineering communications.

And we are interested in one of these communications - electrical wiring. And indeed - to pile a frame from panels is not at all long and not difficult. But the same wiring should be taken care of in advance. Therefore, in the design of the panels, grooves and voids are provided, designed specifically.

Thus, a typical electrical wiring solution is as follows.

Apartment input 220 volts

In most cases, a metering device, an introductory switching device and group circuit breakers apartments in a panel house are located in places common use. Namely - in the entrances. Moreover, the switchboards traditionally used in panel houses have a built-in design and can accommodate switching and accounting equipment for four apartments. There are usually no more individual apartments on the floor of a panel house.

General switchboards are located on each floor exactly one above the other, this allows you to easily power them from the general house ASU using vertically laid main conductors of increased cross section (risers).

If the grounding system of the house is old, TNC (and most often it happens), then there are four riser wires: three phases, to which apartments are connected in a checkerboard pattern, and zero, common to everyone and used, among other things, to ground the metal case the shield itself.

In modern panel houses can be used. In this system, in addition to the three phase and zero working conductors mentioned, a fifth, zero protective conductor, which is used to ground current-carrying parts, including the shield body.

In some cases, for example, when there are more than four apartments on the site, the introductory board of each apartment of the panel house is individual and located in the apartment itself.

Input to the apartment can be carried out from the switchgear, located again on the site. But it is also possible that the riser wires pass directly into the wall niche of the apartments on each floor.

Thus, to enter a 220 volt apartment in a panel house, the following options are possible:

1. There is no input as such, since the conductors of the group lines are stretched directly from the general switchboard on the site, or the apartment switchboard is installed directly at the place where the riser conductors are laid.

2. The input is a conductor connecting Switchgear on the floor area and a switchboard apartment located in the apartment.

Lines of lighting and sockets

For the laying of these cable lines on the building panels, factory dies are provided, which greatly facilitate installation. At the construction stage, cable lines are simply laid and fastened in these bars with a nylon strip, dowel-clamps or any other material. For internal voids of floors are used.

Holes in the walls for installing switches and sockets can also be factory-made, or they can be made separately using crowns for concrete and a perforator.

After laying the cables, finishers enter the apartment, the grouts are plastered along with the wall decoration, wallpaper is glued, and the cables are completely hidden from view. Wiring in panel houses is almost never open.

Installation of sockets and switches in a panel house apartment has practically no specifics. The only peculiarity: at the construction stage, installation boxes are usually neglected, and sockets with switches are placed on their spacers directly into the holes in the wall.

Subsequently, it often happens that the spacer paws of the sockets can no longer hold the product in the hole, and the socket falls out, especially if the plug is often inserted into it and pulled out without holding the body with a hand.

Connection cables ceiling lights and chandeliers are carefully brought out into the openings of the ceilings at the preliminary stage. For fixing fixtures, ordinary dowels with self-tapping screws are used. And chandeliers are most often attached with their own hook, which clings to any element in the void of the ceiling. Often such an element is an ordinary nested welding electrode or rebar.

Electric cooker connection line

For an electric stove in Soviet panel houses, special connectors with a high current rating were used. Often these connectors were three-phase in design. However, real 380 volts for connecting a stove in a panel house apartment is a rarity.

Most often, the same 220 volts are output to a three-phase connector with a larger conductor. Moreover, if the entire apartment is powered by a two-wire system, then the line for connecting the electric stove may have an additional protective neutral conductor connected to the body of the input shield.

For gasket cable line electric stoves use the same grooves and voids in building structures as for socket and lighting circuits.

Repair and modernization of electrical wiring in a panel house

The most important thing is to remember that it is impossible to categorically ditch load-bearing walls and ceilings. Therefore, as far as possible, it is necessary to open and use the existing gaps and voids of the ceilings.

However, the problem is that the location of these voids and the strab may not suit us at all. And if in this situation it is unacceptable, or undesirable due to excessive dustiness and laboriousness, and at the same time it is necessary that the wiring is still hidden, then there is only one way out: to mount the wiring under the sheathing with sheet material. In this case, the cables are simple, and then they are sewn up with sheets of gypsum board, gypsum board or plywood using special guides.

When using the skin, installation and junction boxes for hollow walls: this should not be forgotten either.

If you don’t want to sacrifice the volume of the premises for the sake of sheathing, then there is no other way out except for at least partially open electrical wiring. Then the best technical solution will be, mounted only on the “problem” area, within which nothing can be ditched and you don’t want to sew anything up.

Alexander Molokov