any sparkys on here??

[pre67]

atm i have just got a wire going to the garage thats looped off the out door light so cant use that for the garage plugs

so what im going to get a mate to do is wire some amoured cable from the house to the garage but the only problem is that there no easy way to the cooker feed so the only thing to wire from is just one of the domestic plugs


i need to use some tools with 16A plugs


will it be safe to run someing at 16A on the standed wireing round the house with a blue socket install

im going to get my mate to wire this all in he teaches electrics at the local collage so its all done proper

if people could tell us there set ups to give me a idear what wire breakers ect to get

cheers

loz

 

[zzr1200]

The simple answer is NO, you really need to wire directly into the main fuse box/consumer unit using a separate circuit breaker to supply protection. I have in the past used the 30 amp cooker supply, but then you can't use an electric cooker.....

 

[pedrobedro]

An electrician advised me to run 40 amp T&E from the main consumer unit through a conduit. He gave me an old Wylex 4 way fuse box to install in the shed to run lights and sockets from and it works fine. It's about a 25ft run from the box to the shed.

 

[David_W]

Generally, its a bad idea running 16A load off that, however, as you are probably attaching to a ring main, as long as you are not drawing much load off the other sockets it can be done. However this assumes wiring in good condition, no other problems and I'd feel much happier doing it with an MCB. So although you might get away with it, not a great idea...
Nb, as an electronic engineer, no formal training/qualifications in this area, so try at your own risk

 

[GrahamGKD]

First off, I'm not a sparky so can't speak authoritatively on the subject - just thoughts/opinions.

I'm fairly sure you can't legally hang a 16A industrial type socket off a normal domestic 13A ring. Nor can you wire your 16A sockets from a cooker circuit without fitting the appropriate circuit breaker. Think about it - there are no fuses in these 16A plugs/sockets like you have in a normal 13A domestic plug so first 'fuse point' is at the consumer unit. You don't want to have 16A wiring fed from a 30A fuse/breaker.

I researched it a while ago and the best information I could find suggested that it was OK to have a string of 16A sockets feeding from one MCB but unfortunately I can't remember whether the MCB should be 16A or 20A - sorry. I can have a look and see what I fitted at home if no-one else comes up with the info in the meantime. Cearly a 16A MCB would be the safe option.

Just a thought - if your mate teaches electrics does he not have access to the IEE wiring regs?

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Graham.

 

[Mr Muddy]

As Graham says, if your mate teaches electrical installation or similar, he should be bang up to date with the 17th edition regulations.

If it was me, I'd be running a garage feed directly to the household consumer unit and protecting it with its own MCB. I'd then put a small consumer unit in the garage to feed the garage electrics (lights and sockets separately) and provide some earth leakage protection.

Armoured is great, but it is expensive and can be difficult to work with, so unless you need to use it for regulatory reasons, then you might be better off using singles or T&E.

That way, any issues in the garage won't kill all your house electrics, and you'll have some proper safety in the working area.

If you want to be completely above board, you should probably get the whole lot certified as a new installation.


I know it all seems a bit OTT, but poor electrical installations are a bugbear of mine... I've seen the results of it all going wrong.

Cheers

 

[RedOrZed]

Have you discussed this with your mate the teacher? If he's actually agreed to it then he's clearly got his eye on your wife / dog / best china, because he's certainly not got your best interests at heart

 

[seriesonewelder]

Here's some threads I've got bookmarked as they will be usefull to me.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2716

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=7841&highlight=garage+electrics

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=10148&highlight=garage+wiring

 

[the snooper]

I'm fairly sure you can't legally hang a 16A industrial type socket off a normal domestic 13A ring. Nor can you wire your 16A sockets from a cooker circuit without fitting the appropriate circuit breaker.

the ring main will be 30amp its the sockets that are rated at 13amp
i think the cooker outlet would be ok as long as there is no cooker attached as well and you would have to install a consumer unit in your garage with the appropriate mcb for each circuit ie 5 amp lighting 30amp ring main and so on

but whatever you do will be at your own risk as it is illegal to install many things yourself now (another stupid law)

 

[zzr1200]

the ring main will be 30amp its the sockets that are rated at 13amp
i think the cooker outlet would be ok as long as there is no cooker attached as well and you would have to install a consumer unit in your garage with the appropriate mcb for each circuit ie 5 amp lighting 30amp ring main and so on

but whatever you do will be at your own risk as it is illegal to install many things yourself now (another stupid law)

You have to get it certified/tested for use (Part P cert?) before you can officially use it, its not illegal to install it yourself....

 

[GrahamGKD]

Loz,
I had a quick look. My system has a consumer unit in the garage with a string of three 16A sockets fed from a single 16A breaker (the slower tripping type). That seemed to comly with the best info I could find when I installed it a year or so ago.
Hope that helps,
Graham.

 

[Mr Muddy]

but whatever you do will be at your own risk as it is illegal to install many things yourself now (another stupid law)

If you'd seen some of the things I've seen in my time you might not take that view... some of it is quite literally lethal.

I'll re-iterate what I've said before... if you have *any* doubt about your knowledge / skills on an electrical installation, let someone else do it.

 

[pre67]

yer going to have a chat with my mate and try find a good root to the fuse box in the house and go from there

thanks for the idears tho

 

[seriesonewelder]

Loz,
I had a quick look. My system has a consumer unit in the garage with a string of three 16A sockets fed from a single 16A breaker (the slower tripping type). That seemed to comly with the best info I could find when I installed it a year or so ago.
Hope that helps,
Graham.

I asked about this - here is part of the reply in this thread
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=10148&highlight=garage+wiring

Within the regulations, each 16a output needs its own 16a breaker. if it was for a one man workshop, and only one socket would be used at a time (no compressor/plasma/welder combo being run at the same time) then it would be alright, although not to regs.

 

[pre67]

well what i was thinking is x3 double 13A plugs then just the one 16A

so if it would to be wired the 3 13A ones to a 16A breaker
then the 16A on by its self on another 16A braker
then the would be a 5A breaker for the lights

it would be very rare that more then one thing would be on the go

the most that would ever be on is the compressor and the mig

but if it was all right so that if i did over power it. it would just stip out

what Amp main breaker switch should i use ??