DB Wire Size

[ians]

Something to consider ... the time frame the load is present on the bussbar or any cable for that matter.

Installing a 6 mm cable for a stove for example ... which is used maybe a max of 2 - 3 maybe 4 hours a day (unless like one of my customers who does baking for a shop) ... and only 10-20 % of the rated load ...etc etc etc ... In all the years as a sparkie I personally have never seen a 6 mm stove wire burnt due to overloading ...only burnt at the connection.

How often is a 60 amp supply to a house under full load ... not very often ... I have been running load profiles for solar/inverter installs ... I can tell you that we hardly ever see anything over 30 amps.

From my experience .. .you more likely to see a burnt out terminal on a circuit breaker than a overloaded wire ... the last fire I went to ... it started at the connector block the aircon tech used to extend the calbe to the plug ... it completed guttered the granny flat ... thats where it gets interesting ... does the insurance company pay out and sue the aircon company ... what if the installation was done by a non registered installer ... the entire building was burnt ... yet the place the fire started was as clear as daylight ... you could actually see the V up the wall from the connector.

[AndyD]

Interesting questions, am I aloud to use silicone insulated wire or panel flex in a db? Some people reckon than you only allowed to us gp wire.

Not sure why you'd want to use silicone insulated wire, it would work out expensive and is unnecessary from a temperature rating point of view...

The regs mention the voltage rating of the insulation must be higher than any voltage found in the DB, they don't specify it must be PVC as far as I know.

The problem with using silicone wire or any panelflex type wire would be that it's fine stranded conductors which may be against the manufacturers instructions for the types of wire the circuit breaker cage clamp terminations or the neutral bar screw terminations are suitable for....although using it in conjunction with bootlace ferrules may be acceptable.