[Merged] Shed Electrics

[Barewolf]

Hi,

I am thinking of either building, or buying a 10ft x 10ft Workshop for the garden, but I want to be able to have electric inside so I can use power tools, have lighting, and of course, Heating for the winter.

I have no idea about electrics, and I will be asking an electrician to rig the electrics up for me, however, before he/she does that, i want to have the cable laid ready, or at least have some kind of duct fitted underground so the cable can be fed through.

Can anyone give me some advice on how i should prepare for the installation?

[Taf]

Loads of regs to be wary of... especially outdoors. So for conformity plus safety I'd leave it all to a qualified electrician. Take his advice ref a conduit as it is scarey stuff hitting an electric cable undergound with a spade!

[Barewolf]

Originally Posted by Taf

Loads of regs to be wary of... especially outdoors. So for conformity plus safety I'd leave it all to a qualified electrician. Take his advice ref a conduit as it is scarey stuff hitting an electric cable undergound with a spade!

im not going to do it myself, i just want to prepare the tunneling for the cable, so its all ready to set up, the electrician can do the rest, ie; connecting it to the house, and then rigging up a socket in the workshop.

[Jon T]

Best check with your local council's building control department on the requirements for any ducting(if there are any).

One thing to be aware of relating to the electrics, check that the electrician is registered under Part P of the building regs. They need to issue you with a safety/comformity certificate covering the work they've done.

[Raistlin]

Regardless of who you get to do the work I'm guessing you're going to get them around to quote before they start the work? Why not just ask them when they come round to quote what sort of preparation would need doing before they start?

That way you take all the guesswork out of it and save buggering it up.

[martyh]

if you are going to bury the cable it must be at least 600mm deep and be armoured cable ,the other option is to run the cable via a catenery wire from the house to the shed .The cable should be protected at the house end by a rcd or a fused spur which will be protected by the house hold rcds' in the consumer unit (electrician will advise on the best way to connect) .I would have a small consumer unit installed in the shed to feed tools/appliances

ps i believe that you will need to mark the underground cable as well with tape but not sure of this

[Barewolf]

whats a consumer unit?

[Jon T]

Originally Posted by Barewolf

whats a consumer unit?

Fuse box/Circuit breaker box

Probably needed in this case as the building is outside of the "equipotential earth zone", i.e. your house.

[raging bull]

Consumer unit is the Sunday name for a fuse box!
(Expect to pay @60 pounds for a decent Wylex fuse box)
Fuses -circuit breakers extra.
Main circuit breaker on incoming 63amps.
So given that load you will need 10mm csa cable.
Yoy will need to tally up load for each piece of kit. (items expected to exceed 13amps)
13 amp ring main 32amp fuse
Lighting 5amp fuse

[yesman]

Originally Posted by Barewolf

Hi,

I am thinking of either building, or buying a 10ft x 10ft Workshop for the garden, but I want to be able to have electric inside so I can use power tools, have lighting, and of course, Heating for the winter.

I have no idea about electrics, and I will be asking an electrician to rig the electrics up for me, however, before he/she does that, i want to have the cable laid ready, or at least have some kind of duct fitted underground so the cable can be fed through.

Can anyone give me some advice on how i should prepare for the installation?

Originally Posted by Barewolf

im not going to do it myself, i just want to prepare the tunneling for the cable, so its all ready to set up, the electrician can do the rest, ie; connecting it to the house, and then rigging up a socket in the workshop.

Is it just a socket that you want ? or heating, lighting and a ring main ?

[Barewolf]

just a double socket, i can us a multiplug to add a heater, kettle, and use a power tool etc

[raging bull]

B&Q do a garage consumer unit.
Main circuit breaker plus 2 circuits (ring main and lighting)
Simple enough piece of kit.

[bopdude]

Originally Posted by Barewolf

just a double socket, i can us a multiplug to add a heater, kettle, and use a power tool etc

And meltdown will ensue, why, if your going to go to all the trouble of getting a workshop built, don't you spend the extra £200 ( materials ) and get the job done properly, a proper feed to a proper consumer unit ( fuse box ) and a proper install, light /s, sockets ( plural ) and a Sparky to do it, then your covered for years to come without us having to wonder whether you've burnt it down yet by overloading one socket

[Kymmy]

We have a 30amp spur off to the garage/workshop... Though the Kempii TIG still trips it on power-up (tranformer based so the surge is a lot more thanthe cheaper MMA)

[Graham M]

Originally Posted by Barewolf

just a double socket, i can us a multiplug to add a heater, kettle, and use a power tool etc

No.