There are many ways you can fit your newly acquired pump, filter, UV etc to the electrics. Most do not come with plugs fitted so require wiring in and in some cases, extending. Here we look at the best ways to to this. 

Circuit Breakers

Residual current devices (RCDs), or circuit breakers, are a safety device designed to disconnect any potentially faulty electrical equipment from the mains power. Pond circuit breakers are plugged into a socket before receiving the plug powering your junction box, pond vacuum, or other appliance. They disconnect, or ‘trip’, whenever a difference in current is found between the live and neutral connections. This imbalance can be measured at much smaller levels than those which would blow a fuse, but which could still result in you receiving an electric shock.

Junction Boxes

Junction boxes are your pond’s power supply. They have a single electrical inlet which is wired onto a plug and plugged into a mains socket, via an RCD. All your pond’s electrical installations, such as pumps, UVCs, lights, etc are then wired directly into the junction box allowing you to turn them on and off simply, with a button or switch.All pond junction boxes are weatherproof and are designed to be fitted to an outside wall, fence or post near to your pond. They are very easy to wire up and can accept either standard cable or armoured cable and are available with up to six outlets.In some models the outlets are individually fused with 5A and 1.5A fuses, while in others the junction box has a single 5A fuse.

Cable Connectors

Connectors allow you to make a safe joint between two lengths of cable. Waterproof connectors are IP68 rated and can be fully submerged in the pond, while weatherproof connectors must be situated out of the water. They are very simple to wire together. Some connectors are a separate plug and socket design which can be safely disconnected without unwiring, which is ideal if you plan on taking your pump out of the pond during winter.

Cables

Standard electrical cable can be used to extend appliance’s cables to the junction box via a connector. Armoured electrical cable is a reinforced cable designed to run from the junction box to the power supply. The cable can be run underground without fear of anybody severing the cable when digging at a later date.Any buried cables should always be covered with rocks or tiles and clearly marked with warning tape.