The Differences Between High- And Low-Voltage Garden Electric Circuits

Low-voltage garden electric circuits
Much of the electric wiring you will have in or around your pond is likely to be low-voltage. Thai is, run at a safe 12 or 24 volts from a transformer. Only the transformer needs be connected to mains electricity; the low-voltage cable, which runs to the pond lights or to a low-voltage pond pump, can then be run along the surface of the ground without posing any danger. Legislation, and therefore manufacturers, err on the side of safety, and in many countries now electrical items such as pond lights have to be low-voltage: mains-voltage versions are no longer permitted. Some transformers are designed to be used if outside and, if waterproof, even in the pond itself; if not, they must be used either inside the house or in a garden shed or other outbuilding with the low-voltage cable run outside. The problem that arises with a low-voltage circuit is how to run the cable from the house or other outbuilding and into the pond. The simplest way to get it out of the house, is to drill a hole in a convenient window frame, pass the cable through and then seal the hole with a matching silicone sealant or building mastic. To get it into the pond, you can simply pass it in behind some of the surrounding stones, or buy the special watertight cable lead-outs which some manufacturers make specifically for passing cable through walls.

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If your house was built within the past few years, it must, by law, be equipped with Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, or GFIs. If it isn’t, you are leaving yourself and your family vulnerable to dangerous electric shocks.  What’s a GFI? Essentially it’s a very sensitive circuit breaker. Installed in your electric line, a GFI senses and compares the current flowing through the hot (black) wire and the neutral (white) wire.

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