Help needed from John D and other Big Boys!

[C&GStudent]

Hi all,

I have been offered a small job by neighbours for the weekend. Having only carried out a few jobs before, I'm slightly nervous yet confident!

It consists of upgrading main bonding and installing two RCD sockets in their 'shed' for washing machine/tumble drier.

The shed is a lean-to tacked onto the side of the kitchen. i.e. not detached.

To gain access you have to go out of the back door then back into shed.

The shed has an extraneous conductive part in an tap fed by copper, which will presumably be extended for washing machine feeds.

The question is does this need to bonded back to the MET as the 'shed' cannot be accessed from the house?

 

[plugwash]

from a safety point of view as long as all services coming into the lean to come from the house then imo it should be able to be considered part of the same equipotential zone.

dunno if the regs have anything strange to say on thi.

 

[homespark]

Any harm in 'supplementary' bonding the pipework from the CPC of circuit in the shed?

 

[JohnD]

I expect the water pipe goes through the house wall, not out of the ground, so it doesn't need main bonding again. Supplementary equipotential bonding is not now required except in bathrooms.

BTW if it is a wooden hut, best to fasten all sockets to the brick wall of the house (not the wooden bits).

Sheds can be leaky so I would try to put some kind of weather protection in. Though the IP rated sockets with RCDs are extremely expensive.

Are you spurring off the ring or fitting a new radial? If a Radial, what make of CU is it? (can you guess what I'm thinking?) You mention two sockets for heavy loads so not a single spur and not a fused spur.

 

[C&GStudent]

Hi John,

Ah yes, I had considered what you were getting at. I intend to follow some other advice you offered someone else and use a dual accesssory box to break into the ring, so as not to make it notifiable work by installing new a new circuit.

The CU is an old wylex (which they asked me about replacing ), and there is a second empty CU with the tails hanging loose. I presumed this must have been for some old E7 heating no longer in use. I was tempted to reconnect via henlys and run a radial.

In the shed there is aslo a very old light with wooden backed bakerlite switch!
I might replace that while I'm at it.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice!.