Bored think I might rewire the garage

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MrGrumpy

Huge Member
Location
Fly Fifer
Planned to do this anyway , extend the ring main in my garage , possibly switch out the consumer unit with a 4 way RCCB protection. Got a wired armour running round my garden by the previous owner . Prefer that on its own breaker rather than a spur.
Best make a shopping list for Screwfix ^_^
 

screenman

Legendary Member
Planned to do this anyway , extend the ring main in my garage , possibly switch out the consumer unit with a 4 way RCCB protection. Got a wired armour running round my garden by the previous owner . Prefer that on its own breaker rather than a spur.
Best make a shopping list for Screwfix ^_^

Tool Station is sometimes a cheaper option, worth comparing.
 

Mo1959

Legendary Member
Planned to do this anyway , extend the ring main in my garage , possibly switch out the consumer unit with a 4 way RCCB protection. Got a wired armour running round my garden by the previous owner . Prefer that on its own breaker rather than a spur.
Best make a shopping list for Screwfix ^_^
Didn't understand a word of that......but have fun. :laugh:
 
OP
OP
MrGrumpy

MrGrumpy

Huge Member
Location
Fly Fifer
That’s what I have 4 sockets all in one corner lol . Had a quick squiz at the consumer unit and it’s the old cartridge fuses no rccb protection. Time for an upgrade!!
 
Are you self signing off as a sparky or getting someone in to certify it all?

We had to fix some dodgy outside electrics, the outside electrical ring was still connected up to the house fuse board, the previous owners had just taken out part of the wiring at the house board and the fuse but left it semi connected and without it’s own fuse so only the RCB would trip out. Good job I never put a shovel through the cable outside when gardening!
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
That’s what I have 4 sockets all in one corner lol . Had a quick squiz at the consumer unit and it’s the old cartridge fuses no rccb protection. Time for an upgrade!!

My garage was spurred off the down stairs ring main on a separate fuse by a sparky. Ideally i need more, much more, mains sockets. Two sockets each side of the garage at present.
 

screenman

Legendary Member
Put twice as many doubles in as you need now, you will still want more in a few years time. I have 7 in my garage and another 5 are going in soon.
 
OP
OP
MrGrumpy

MrGrumpy

Huge Member
Location
Fly Fifer
Supposed to yes, law might be different up here in Scotland. Got my 18th wiring regs , still waiting on installation and testing course :rolleyes:

edit

also depends if a new circuit or just extending. As to what needs signed off
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
Is it correct you can do your own wiring but have to get it inspected by an electrician to make it legal?

I'm not bothered about the legalities of DIY, no-one can prove who did what and when anyway. Most of my house wiring was put in by me and it's been working fine for 30 years so far.
The important thing is doing your homework, especially with regards to correct cable sizing in relation to the expected loads. Extending a ring main into a garage is not really good practice, even if the regs allow it for integral garages. It's better for garages, workshops and any other outside stuff to be fed from dedicated radial or even ring circuits, if for no other reason that a problem in one place doesn't put your whole supply to the ground floor out of action.
The more you subdivide your whole installation the less overloading potential there is on any one circuit and the less inconvenience any faults can cause. I have about a dozen fuseways which is twice what was the norm 30-40 years ago for a relatively small house. All old-tech fuses, no MCB's and no RCD devices and I have more than one consumer unit/switch fuse so the main double pole switches are not run close to their max current ratings.
 
@SkipdiverJohn i get your not bothered about DIY electrics and totally understand the logic of doing the research and installing the right width of cabling but do wonder where you stand on the house insurance front? If the worst were to happen and you had an electrical fire I do wonder were you would stand if you had to make a house insurance claim for any damage (assuming you don’t own outright and still have a mortgage so still require the insurance).
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
No mortgage outstanding, but I still insure the buildings. I don't see the insurance thing as an issue. The rewiring was done at least to the then current standards at the time. A few bits are still in imperial multi-strand cable not metric solid core but the sizing is all adequate. Everything is polarity-correct and there's complete earth continuity, and all metalwork that should be bonded is bonded. All insulation is PVC, nothing braided cotton or rubber coated, which are known to deteriorate over time. I've added a few bits since then, but using the same switchgear (100% Wylex) and cable, so no-one except me knows exactly the order of installation. Given my conservative approach to loading cables and the fact I fuse some circuits lower than I could going on the cable ratings, the possibility of a wiring-related fire is remote in the extreme, because the fuses would blow before any cables could dangerously overheat.
I do the same thing with appliances and extension leads (which do easily overheat if loaded heavily whilst coiled up). Most electricals will come new with a 13A plug fuse apart from things like table lamps. All my stuff is fused at the lowest rating that it will reliably work at without nuisance blowing, so I have replaced a number of 13A plug fuses with 10A or 5A ones. The basics of electrical safety is you want the smallest fuse closest to the appliance to blow first, so any overload is applied to the shortest length of cable. If nothing you plug in to a socket can pass enough current to overload the circuit cables you won't have any problems.
 
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