Evening guys I've had an electrician come out to check the power to my shead. There was previously power coming to the shead by a pvc twin and earth supply, which the electrician said was from the ring main. The wire is in plastic conduit. I wanted 3 sockets in the shead. All i will be powering is led strip lights and my laptop. I explained this to the electrician who advised that he will run SWA from the the twin and earth under the cladding of the shead and then go to a fuse spur, from a fuse spur into a consumer unit. But my 3 sockets will only allow 13 amps. Cut a long story short, I rang another electrician who advised that all i needed to do was add a fuse spur from the ring main and then attatch the wire going to the shead and then power up the 3 sockets as a radial from there and this will be fine as it's in conduit. The run is about 10 meters. I'm just wondering is this the way things are done or am I getting ripped off somewhere Thanks guys
Direct from a separate way in the fuse box would be best. Using a fused spur is pointless unless it is coming from an existing circuit. Go with the second sparky’s suggestion.
Haven't you contradicted yourself here.?? What's wrong with a fused spur from the existing ringmain, the load he requires is way under 13 amps by the sounds of it.
In what way is it contradictory? And why are you agreeing with what I said? The options being suggested, are a fused spur, using the existing cable and adding a couple of sockets. As opposed to a fused spur with new cable and adding a couple of sockets. Both options limit all the sockets to 13A. Using a new cable direct to the CU and adding a couple of extra sockets would not limit the total load to 13A.
The best way is to run a separate circuit from the CCU, but by your description, their are no contraventions of regs provided that their is RCD protection and the connection to the ring is via either a plug and socket (not best) or a fused connection unit (spur). Only 13A can be drawn so the T&E to the shed should be OK if it's 2.5mm or 1.5, 1.0mm may fail on volt drop, it is adequately protected in conduit. No one is trying to rip you off here, it's just an 'entry level' job versus a deluxe job.
Heating in winter whilst taping away on laptop ? Likely to be electric - can be thirsty on the juice We have a love affair with things with plugs on the end of them. Sure many are low power but just think about ‘future proofing’ the installation now Yeah sure it’s gonna cost money but think, if your stuck with 13A, is that gonna satisfy your ever growing needs
Thanks for all your replies guys. I just found it odd that the electrician said he would extend the existing pvc cable to armoured cable then to a fuse spur then from a fuse spur to a consumer unit. The second electrician made it sound too good too be true. I did advise both electricians of the existing wire outside an how i wanted to use that. Could the wire outside not be used?
Its not clear to me where the cable to the shed is exposed/outside and therefore where SWA is more appropriate than T&E. First solution does sound somewhat convoluted.
If you have no other choice but to come off the House Ringmain, a Switch Fused RCD outlet maybe the best choice. That was you're protecting the Ringmain from any nuisance tripping from outside.
Josh, the T&E in this case in in PVC conduit, protected from sunlight UV and has the extra mechanical protection of the PVC conduit. I agree that it's not ideal, but it does comply.