Hi All
I am the proud owner of a new scissor lift, which is able to lift up cars. Most people at this point ask 'why?', but its probably best not to go there right now...
After much grunting and wheezing, the lift has now been positioned in my garage and is ready for use. The thing is single phase 240V with the main feature being a 14.7A motor running the hydraulics. It can run on domestic power outlet says the blurb (not very helpful bearing in mind that this covers everything from the biggest oven to the smallest light!). I was so excited I had to test it and used a 13A plug on a normal ring main in my garage. It went up and down. I have never been so pleased.
Now I think I should wire it up slightly more properly on a dedicated circuit. Not least because where I want it there is no plug and really doesn't feel right to be plugging a fairly heavy duty bit of industrial kit into an extension lead.
In my garage I have a small CU, fed off a 32A MCB in the house via around 25m of SWA to the garage. In the garage CU there is a 32A MCB ring main, a 20A MCB radial circuit feeding a shed and a 32A MCB hot tub all protected by an RCD. This was all there when I bought the house, but its all pretty modern kit and the work certainly looks competently executed (unlike the garage lighting circuit which was probably put in when the house was built and I really should get sorted!).
The hot tub circuit is permanently off as the hot tub has left home. To save me hassle, I am thinking of simply using that circuit to feed the scissor lift and there is a convenient rotary isolation switch that I could wire it to. I would use some 6mm T&E I have and run it in conduit, which would seem adequate. As this would be a dedicated radial I would simply put one socket at the end and plug the lift into it.
I have 3 concerns: 1) I suspect that a bog-standard 32A MCB may be too sensitive given that the motor may well draw too much current at start-up. Maybe a 32A or 16A Type C MCB would be better. 2) Do you think that this big old motor would cause any problems with the RCD? , and 3) I am not sure I can do this myself under Part P. Presumably if I open the garage CU (i.e. change the MCB), it would be notifiable, but if I just put a new socket on the existing switch? All of this is indoors (well, in the garage).
Any help much appreciated.
JB
I am the proud owner of a new scissor lift, which is able to lift up cars. Most people at this point ask 'why?', but its probably best not to go there right now...
After much grunting and wheezing, the lift has now been positioned in my garage and is ready for use. The thing is single phase 240V with the main feature being a 14.7A motor running the hydraulics. It can run on domestic power outlet says the blurb (not very helpful bearing in mind that this covers everything from the biggest oven to the smallest light!). I was so excited I had to test it and used a 13A plug on a normal ring main in my garage. It went up and down. I have never been so pleased.
Now I think I should wire it up slightly more properly on a dedicated circuit. Not least because where I want it there is no plug and really doesn't feel right to be plugging a fairly heavy duty bit of industrial kit into an extension lead.
In my garage I have a small CU, fed off a 32A MCB in the house via around 25m of SWA to the garage. In the garage CU there is a 32A MCB ring main, a 20A MCB radial circuit feeding a shed and a 32A MCB hot tub all protected by an RCD. This was all there when I bought the house, but its all pretty modern kit and the work certainly looks competently executed (unlike the garage lighting circuit which was probably put in when the house was built and I really should get sorted!).
The hot tub circuit is permanently off as the hot tub has left home. To save me hassle, I am thinking of simply using that circuit to feed the scissor lift and there is a convenient rotary isolation switch that I could wire it to. I would use some 6mm T&E I have and run it in conduit, which would seem adequate. As this would be a dedicated radial I would simply put one socket at the end and plug the lift into it.
I have 3 concerns: 1) I suspect that a bog-standard 32A MCB may be too sensitive given that the motor may well draw too much current at start-up. Maybe a 32A or 16A Type C MCB would be better. 2) Do you think that this big old motor would cause any problems with the RCD? , and 3) I am not sure I can do this myself under Part P. Presumably if I open the garage CU (i.e. change the MCB), it would be notifiable, but if I just put a new socket on the existing switch? All of this is indoors (well, in the garage).
Any help much appreciated.
JB
