Long term garage 'modification' - Recent update...

[Mr S]

When it stops raining, I'll get some pics of the cable run and put up my plans.

Basically I'll be coming out of the house consumer unit on a 63a MCB, straight out through the brick wall. 10mm SWA cable will be clipped along the side of the house, diving underground for about 5.5m between the house and garage, then back up the outside of the garage, through the blocks and into a second consumer unit in there (with a 32A and a 6A breaker in it. 32A for the ring circuit and 6A for the lighting). There will also be a second 16A breaker in the garage consumer unit for my compressor added in the not too distant future.

All wiring will be in plastic conduit inside the garage, at roof eaves level and brought down to the sockets also in conduit. There will be a double socket on each brick/block pillar (4 or 5 on each side, I forget... lol) and probably 10 double sockets on the bench. You can never have too much power*!

I can't wait to not have to plug my garage in each time I want the lights on....

* Unless there are some regulations that limit the number of sockets you can have. In which case I stand corrected....

[pablopancake]

cool, particularly interested in how deep undergrround and in a conduit / pipe of some kind or 'naked'?

i was thinking that getting hold of some blue water pipe stuff, wrapping it in lots of bright tape, and laying some of that warning electric below tape in there was belt and braces enough....

[Mr S]

Apparently, if it's under tarmac or hardstanding, SWA (or cable in conduit that would offer the same amount of protection as SWA) needs to be 40cm deep. If it's under some kind of area that may be dug over (flowerbed etc.) then 70cm is the requirement. All SWA needs is some warning tape above them to indicate that there is a cable below.

Or that's the regulations as far as I can tell!!

[pablopancake]

sweet, cheers dude 8)

[ToolsnTrack]

Well that was a start to finish read! Very interesting man, with some commendable progress! Hats off on attacking that yourself.

Particular interest for me as i plan on starting my own garage in the next 6 months, and to similar dimension to this (but wider rather than as long). To give reference though i don't actually get the keys to the house it will be built on until November, so stay tuned...

[dodgerover]

Sept 24, 2012 13:24:29 GMT Mr S said:

There will be a double socket on each brick/block pillar (4 or 5 on each side, I forget... lol) and probably 10 double sockets on the bench. You can never have too much power*!

* Unless there are some regulations that limit the number of sockets you can have. In which case I stand corrected....

No limit on the number of sockets per ring it works on floor area and total length of the ring as far as I can remember..

[optimusprime]

Sept 24, 2012 13:24:29 GMT Mr S said:

When it stops raining, I'll get some pics of the cable run and put up my plans.


All wiring will be in plastic conduit inside the garage, at roof eaves level and brought down to the sockets also in conduit. There will be a double socket on each brick/block pillar (4 or 5 on each side, I forget... lol) and probably 10 double sockets on the bench. You can never have too much power*!

I can't wait to not have to plug my garage in each time I want the lights on....

* Unless there are some regulations that limit the number of sockets you can have. In which case I stand corrected....

May i suggest adding a couple of 16amp 240v sockets ? (you know, the blue round ones)
Easier to do now than add later.

My welder runs off these.

[1980escort]

Nov 3, 2012 23:08:38 GMT dodgerover said:

Sept 24, 2012 13:24:29 GMT Mr S said:

There will be a double socket on each brick/block pillar (4 or 5 on each side, I forget... lol) and probably 10 double sockets on the bench. You can never have too much power*!

* Unless there are some regulations that limit the number of sockets you can have. In which case I stand corrected....

No limit on the number of sockets per ring it works on floor area and total length of the ring as far as I can remember..

A ring circuit cannot cover an area more than 100m squared you can have as many sockets as you like, what you have to take into consideration is the amount of load on the circuit, if you have lots of high current using equipment then maybe a couple of radials circuits specifically for those items, if your just using handlamps and handtools then one ring will be alrite

[sparkyt]

Do you have any rcd units in the house ? Would be a good idea to include one

[1980escort]

An rcd in the garage would be a good idea as if you have faulty equipment it saves the trek to the house to reset it.

[paynee]

Epic build, good on you for doing everything yourself and your nearly there.
Just one thing i noticed, are the hinges just held onto the frames using regular screws, as in they could just be unscrewed and door pulled off bypassing locks? maybe put a tac of weld in so you cant us the heads as they shouldn't need to come off once done?

[Mr S]

Thanks for the comments people (especially those more knowledgable on the electrickery front than me). I'm planning on at least 1 32A commando socket, as my compressor needs one of them. I may well add this later though, the compressor isn't even at this garage at the minute....!

Sadly there's been no more updating recently as I've been otherwise occupied. Or lazy. Or a combination of both... Oddly, now that it's dark, cold, damp and miserable I find myself more inclined to get out there and do some work... Having a working stereo system in there helps too!

Just one last quick question for the electricians among us, I'm going to run plastic conduit down to the wall sockets (which will be around 1.5m from the floor). With the cable that runs around the top, does it have be to in any way shielded/trunked/protected, or can I clip it directly to the wall plate timber that runs around the top?

Oh, and I believe there is a certain height at which a consumer unit must be mounted, anyone know what this is?

Muchos gracias amigos!

Edit: Yes, I have RCDs in the house, and I will haev them in the garage. Any probs running RCDs off RCDs or should I run it off a straight MCB?

Also, the hinges have coach bolts as well as screws, so they should be ok... In theory at least!

[dodgerover]

Personally i've done it both ways, but RCD from MCB work better otherwise it seems to trip the house RCD before the one in the garage.....not sure what the legal status is though..

[1980escort]

Clipping direct to the wood for the roof and dropping down in PVC conduit is absolutely fine as the clipped cables are out of reach and less likely to get damaged

My advice is regarding rcd / mcb is to fit an mcb at the source and an rcd main switch in the garage (or individual rcbo's) as long as the supply cable to the garage is mechanically protected ie steel wire armour

[Mr S]

Thanks both, it's corroborating what I was thinking. I've got a roll of 4mm T+E, so I might start running some cable round the garage and fixing some sockets on now. Well, until I no doubt run out of wire - I foolishly only bought a 50m roll... Ah well, when I've run out, I'll get some more. Then a CU for the garage. Then some SWA to run from the house.... I'll get there in the end!!

[1980escort]

If you need any advice give me a shout as this is what I do for a living and I don't mind helping out when I can :-D

[Mr S]

Top man, cheers fella. Muchly appreciated although you may regret saying that, I'll probably be constantly badgering you with random queries once I start

[1980escort]

That no bother, theres no such thing as a stupid question just stupid people that that don't ask questions

[Mr S]

Ok, so it's been an awful long time since we've had an update, that's been a combination of family life, doing things in the garage and lazyness (ok, mostly lazyness on my part...).

However, I figured I'd get the ball rolling again the other day when I was out there and wanted a break from working on my truck for 10 minutes. It's not much, but it's a start on the electrics!

Consumer unit mounted:



Couple of sockets slapped on the wall:



Plans are to get everything mounted in my spare bits of time over the next couple of weeks, then take guidance from a 'Part P' certified person, get it wired and get it signed off. Or at least that's the plan - finding a part P certified person who will certify my work is probably going to be the tricky bit - not because my work is bad, but because they are putting their name to someone elses work I guess!

More photos soon I hope!!

[tickman]

Jun 14, 2013 6:12:44 GMT Mr S said:

Plans are to get everything mounted in my spare bits of time over the next couple of weeks, then take guidance from a 'Part P' certified person, get it wired and get it signed off. Or at least that's the plan - finding a part P certified person who will certify my work is probably going to be the tricky bit - not because my work is bad, but because they are putting their name to someone elses work I guess!

More photos soon I hope!!

Any Electrician should test and sign off the work as compliant. They are just testing the work, doesn't matter if it is just installed or been there for years. I have rewired four of my houses so far and no problems with getting it tested.
Been reading the Blazer thread, opposite end of the scale to Seth's 'diddy engineering'

John.