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Three sizes wire most of a Pakistani house: 1.5 mm² (3/.029) for lights and fans, 2.5 mm² (7/.029) for room sockets, 4 mm² (7/.036) for AC and geyser points. The meter-to-board run is separate, usually 10 mm² (7/.052).
Every one of those sizes is chosen from the current on that circuit, not from the fact that the supply is single phase. Pakistan's domestic supply is 220 V single phase from a small flat to a large house, so "single phase" tells you nothing about the size — the load, the breaker and the run length do. The chart below reads a size off all three.
On a 220 V single-phase supply, size each circuit from its own design current: 1.5 mm² carries a lighting circuit, 2.5 mm² a room socket circuit, 4 mm² a kitchen, AC or geyser circuit, 6 mm² the main earthing conductor, and 10 mm² the run from the meter to the distribution board on a typical 7.5 kW domestic connection. Those sizes hold when the cable is clipped direct at 30 °C ambient and the run stays inside a 3.3 V one-way voltage-drop budget — 18 m on 2.5 mm² at 10 A, 37 m on 4 mm² at 8.2 A; in conduit, bunched, or in summer heat, the same cable carries less and the size steps up.
| Circuit | Design current | Size (strand code) | Capacity | Breaker | Max run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lighting and fans | 3 A | 1.5 mm² (3/.029) | 19.5 A | 6 A | 38 m |
| Room socket circuit | 10 A | 2.5 mm² (7/.029) | 27 A | 16 A | 18 m |
| Water pump, 1 hp | 5.5 A | 2.5 mm² (7/.029) | 27 A | 16 A | 33 m |
| Kitchen socket circuit | 16 A | 4 mm² (7/.036) | 36 A | 20 A | 18.8 m |
| AC point, 1.5 ton | 8.2 A | 4 mm² (7/.036) | 36 A | 20 A type C | 37 m |
| Storage geyser, 3 kW | 13.6 A | 4 mm² (7/.036) | 36 A | 25 A | 22 m |
| Main earthing conductor | — | 6 mm² (7/.044) | 46 A | — | — |
| Meter to DB, 7.5 kW | 34.1 A | 10 mm² (7/.052) | 63 A | 50 A main switch | 22 m |
Three of those design currents are arithmetic you can repeat. A 1.5 ton AC at 1800 W: 1800 ÷ 220 = 8.2 A. A 3 kW storage geyser: 3000 ÷ 220 = 13.6 A. A 7.5 kW sanctioned connection: 7500 ÷ 220 = 34.1 A. Read the wattage off the rating plate and the sanctioned load off the meter card — those two numbers, not the plot size, set the whole list.
A size has to pass all three. Most shop advice checks only the first, which is why the same circuit gets three different answers on the same street.
The cable's rating must sit above the breaker, and the breaker above the design current. 4 mm² at 36 A over a 20 A MCB over an 8.2 A AC: 36 > 20 > 8.2. Read the capacity for two loaded conductors on a single-phase circuit, even in a three-core cable, because only live and neutral carry load.
The table figure is a clipped, 30 °C, unbundled number and nobody wires like that. Multiply it by the correction factors for your installation method, grouping and ambient from BS 7671. The derated figure is what has to stay above the breaker.
Millivolts per amp per metre × design current × one-way run ÷ 1000 = volts lost. Hold it inside the budget in the chart. On long runs this test, not heat, is what forces the size up.
Ask for 2.5 mm² at a shop in Pakistan and you will be handed 7/.029. The strand code is imperial — seven strands of 0.029 inch — and the two systems do not line up. Work the first one out and the point becomes obvious: 0.029 in is 0.7366 mm, so one strand is π/4 × 0.7366² = 0.426 mm². Three of them make 1.28 mm². Seven make 2.98 mm².
| Trade code | True area | Sold as | Capacity of the nominal size | Usual job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/.029 | 1.28 mm² | 1.5 mm² | 19.5 A | Lights, fans |
| 7/.029 | 2.98 mm² | 2.5–3 mm² | 27 A | Room sockets |
| 7/.036 | 4.6 mm² | 4 mm² | 36 A | Kitchen, AC, geyser |
| 7/.044 | 6.9 mm² | 6 mm² | 46 A | Earth, short submains |
| 7/.052 | 9.6 mm² | 10 mm² | 63 A | Meter to DB |
| 7/.064 | 14.5 mm² | 16 mm² | 85 A | Heavy service run |
The two codes fall on opposite sides of their metric labels, and that is the whole answer to 3/29 vs 7/29. 3/.029 computes to 1.28 mm², under the 1.5 mm² it is sold as, so treat the 19.5 A in the row above as a ceiling it does not quite reach and keep 3/.029 on 6 A lighting circuits. 7/.029 computes to 2.98 mm², over the 2.5 mm² it is sold as, which is why it is the socket wire here and why an electrician will refuse to put sockets on the three-strand. Neither code appears in IEC 60228; when you need the standard's numbers, convert to the metric size first.
Heat sets the size on short runs; length sets it on long ones. Voltage drop is the cable's own loss, and it is the test that catches out a big house wired to a small-house chart. Take a kitchen circuit at 16 A. On 2.5 mm² the loss is 18 × 16 × run ÷ 1000, so the 3.3 V budget is gone at 11.5 m. On 4 mm² the same sum uses 11 mV/A/m and reaches 18.8 m. Nothing about the load changed; the distance did.
| Run | 2.5 mm² at 10 A | 2.5 mm² at 16 A | 4 mm² at 16 A | 10 mm² at 34 A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 m | 1.80 V | 2.88 V | 1.76 V | 1.50 V |
| 15 m | 2.70 V | 4.32 V | 2.64 V | 2.24 V |
| 20 m | 3.60 V | 5.76 V | 3.52 V | 2.99 V |
| 25 m | 4.50 V | 7.20 V | 4.40 V | 3.74 V |
| 30 m | 5.40 V | 8.64 V | 5.28 V | 4.49 V |
Measure the route the cable takes — down the wall, along the chase, up to the ceiling — not the straight line across the room, and add a metre at each end for terminations. Check your own figure in the voltage drop calculator. Where the run is the meter-to-board submain rather than a final circuit, the sizing rationale is on WAPDA meter cable size and main meter cable.
Dukaan par size mm² mein nahi, strand code mein maanga jata hai. 3/.029 lights aur fans ke liye, 7/.029 kamron ke sockets ke liye, 7/.036 kitchen, AC aur geyser point ke liye, aur 7/.044 ghar ki main earthing ke liye. Meter se DB tak 7/.052, yaani 10 mm².
Do baatein yaad rakhein. Pehli: 3/.029 ka asal area 1.28 mm² hai, jo 1.5 mm² se kam hai — is liye woh sirf 6 A lighting circuit par chalta hai, sockets par nahi. Doosri: har appliance point ka earth uske live conductor ke barabar hona chahiye, is liye AC point 3-core 7/.036 mein jata hai, taake earth bhi 4 mm² ho.
Domestic connections in Pakistan run on 220 V single phase; larger connections move to 400 V three phase, which splits the same power across three live conductors so each one carries roughly a third of the current. That does not simply mean thinner cable: a bunched three-core run sheds heat less easily than two loaded conductors, so 4 mm² is rated 36 A with two loaded cores and 32 A with three. Take your own load to the three-phase cable size guide if the meter has three live terminals.
This chart answers which size. Two other questions usually come with it, and each has its own page so the numbers stay in one place.
Points × average run × conductors, converted to 90 m coils, on how much wire a house needs.
Per-point and per-square-foot rate structures on house wiring cost.
Worked examples for an AC point, a geyser and a water motor.
We draw the copper in Lahore and sell it at the day's rate — no dealer margin. Send the sizes and metres you need with your city: Punjab in 1–2 days, rest of Pakistan in 2–4.