Fitting RCB/mini consumer unit in Garage.

[dingbat]

Just to toss another potential fly in the ointment, as this is a conversion from a garage to a habitable room, is planning consent required and has building control been approached? Whilst in the past a lot of notifiable interior work has simply been ignored, if the government gets its way with the proposed 'seller's pack' any works which have not been subject to building control might seriously hamper any efforts to sell the house.

 

[algenon_iii]

Just to toss another potential fly in the ointment, as this is a conversion from a garage to a habitable room, is planning consent required and has building control been approached? Whilst in the past a lot of notifiable interior work has simply been ignored, if the government gets its way with the proposed 'seller's pack' any works which have not been subject to building control might seriously hamper any efforts to sell the house.

I'm pretty sure it's, I'm sure I've heard of few cases where people got nabbed for coverting garages into granny flats (depends on the council). Best be careful though.

 

[algenon_iii]

Anyway, back to the reason I'm here. I'm planning to rewire the garage and utility room and was thinking of doing something similar and just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some daft little thing.

Existing setup: cable running from house (32A MCB in MCU) to garage+utility room, where it ends up in a FCU that has had multiple sockets, lights and another FCU added to it over time. In otherwords a right mess.

Planned setup: Metal FCU in Garage (inc. RCD), with a 6A MCB for lighting (3 lights) plus a 32A MCB for a ring supplying 6 metal sockets (cable run of 10-20 metres), upgrade MCB in MCU to 40A (upgrade the cable as well as it seems to be 2.5mm T&E). Oh yes garage is essentially part of the house (i.e. not an outbuilding) so no need to muck around with the earthing. Got the appropriate T&E's, will use existing light fittings as it appears to be quite new (90's by the looks of it) apart from that everything will be new metal MK stuff.

Is there anything really dumb that i'm missing? Any recommendations for CU? I've seen a wylex that would do the job (but it's a wylex), been offered a unused Square D CU, not seen any appropriate MK Sentry CUs though - they all seem to be plastic , mind u i've been looking in diy sheds so shouldn't expect too much .

Cheers for any advice.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Seems like a lot of faffing about to me... If garage integral/attached to house...

If you can run cable from existing main cu, why not run 2 x 2.5 milli and have a dedicated ring.

And a 1.5mm for the lighting. Or FCU'd from the ring?

If the garage is intended for use as an office why have an ugly consumer unit there?

Less expense, no ugly utilitarian boxes on the wall and all circuits controlled from one location.

Just my unqualified opinion...

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Do I have to run 1.5mm2 cable from the new 6Amp MCB in the new mini consumer unit to each of the lights in the grage. Can I just use my 2.5MM2 cable as I have plenty of that to hand.

You may certainly use 2.5mm cable if you want to. You may prefer 1.5mm for ease of installation into light fittings and switches.

Ban,

I'm really suprised that you condoned the use of 2.5mm for a lighting circuit.

I always thought you were a stickler for good practice? (not a criticism but a compliment! )

Not having a pop, just an observation that suprised me. Especially when 1mm or 1.5mm is cheap as chips.

 

[plugwash]

provided you can get it into the terminals properly there is nothing wrong with useing oversized cable

 

[diydunce]

Thanks for replying unphased_spark.

The dodgy sounding CU is on ebay here . I did send an email to the seller asking the manufacturer details, but they said that the sticker had been pulled off. I have decided that this was not the answer I wanted and thought I would give a miss.

Cheers

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The dodgy sounding CU is on ebay here . I did send an email to the seller asking the manufacturer details, but they said that the sticker had been pulled off. I have decided that this was not the answer I wanted and thought I would give a miss.

Cheers

That's not the same item as you originally referenced, which was this one:
here

You seem to be making a habit of scouring eBay for cheap, dodgy CUs. Give it up, man!

Nothing wrong with eBay per se, but if you buy a CU there make sure it's from someone who has a good reputation, make sure you research the product so you can tell if it's obsolete or not, and buy a reputable make.

Do not keep looking for cheap ones made by someone nobody has heard of, or that aren't usually available here, or may not meet UK standards.

And DO NOT, EVER, buy a used one.

 

[breezer]

You seem to be making a habit of scouring eBay for cheap, dodgy CUs. Give it up, man!

I agree, like most things you get what you pay for and quality costs

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What is the o-S-G and where can I find it?

It is the IEE On-Site Guide. Lotsa useful info, easy to use.

PLEASE NOTE: the one above, with the blue cover is now out of date - doesn't look like Amazon have got round to replacing their stock yet. The new one has a brown cover, and was published on 31st March, so shame on Amazon.

You can buy it direct from the IEE - only £1 more than the old one from Amazon, but I don't know about postage differences.

 

[diyfanatic]

Hi diydunce,

I was wondedring did you buy the item below ?

I want to upgrade this fuse box in the garage with a new mini consumer unit that contains MCB's as oppose to fuses. I have seen a new mini consumer unit on the internet which has the following specification (shipped from Israel).

2 way new consumer unit 1 x 40amp 30mA trip current RCCD, 1 x 6amp MCB's and 1 X16amp MCB.
Ideal for Garage, Caravan ETC.
IEC-898 STANDAD FOR THE MCB's
IEC1008-1 FOR THE RCCD
WHEATHER RESISTANCE GRADE - IP55
MCB's AND RCCB PASSED STRICTEST INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS TESTS

Reason I ask is I too am thinking of buying one from this Israel seller.
If you did were you happy with it?.

Thanks
diyfanatic

 

[Millennium_Boy]

Newey and Eyre sell 25A RCD's in their own label catalogue.

 

[diydunce]

I did not.
I got an electrician in th eend and he supplid an MK.

Cheers