Power to an Outbuilding

[homeworld]

Hi

I have a brick outbuilding which I wish to convert into a studio.

There is already power supplied to it this is as follows:

From the main house consumer a unit heavy duty cable has been run to the outbuilding and conected to a mini consumer unit/ RCD. From this there are three 13amp sockets and a single light.

My questions are:

How many double sockets can I run off this circuit?

And I also wish to extend this power into an adjoining shed. Can I add another 2 way consumer unit to the shed to power a freezer and a 30W Light?

Many thanks.

 

[phil28]

a bit more information please

1) size of the rcd you got (what amps it can give out)
2 you need to find out the size off the cable you have (i.e is it 2.5mm,4mm,6mm,10mm)
3) how many wires in the cable
4) is it armoured cable
5) how far is your out house away from the rcd and how far is the rcd away from the board

 

[homeworld]

Cheers

OK, from the main consumer box an armoured cable of about 10M in length enters the studio into an RCD Box of 63amps.
From this box are 1.5mm2 lighting cable and 2.5mm2 power socket cable feeding 1 double and 2 single 12amp sockets.

I intend to convert this into a ring main for the sockets now, how many double sockets can I put on this ring main?

Also is wish to run power from this circuit into an adjoining shed via an RCD box of 63amps in the shed. I wish to have 2 double sockets in the shed and a lighting cable for a 30w fluorescent strip light.

Thanks

 

[Big_Spark]

Homeworld, firstly, converting the existing into a ring is perfectly acceptable and desired as you intend to change the use of the building.

I think that before you add sockets here, there and everywhere, you should consider what electrical requirements you will have for this studio, but regardless of this I would not recommend putting more than 10 single or double outlets on any one ring main.

The other shed you intend to supply will not need a 63A supply, I would run this from a 20A 30mA RCBO in the board your studio will run from, use this to supply a few metalclad sockets in this other shed, where you intend to run your freezer from. If you also get a metalclad spur and fuse it down to 3A, this will also serve to power you light.

The cable from the studio board to the sockets in the other building need only be 2.5mm2 3 Core Armoured cable. Ensure that it is three core as you can use the third core as an earth connection rather than using the sheath armouring, however I would still urge you to terminate the armoured using the correct procedure.

The link between the sockets should also be armoured.

 

[homeworld]

FWL_Engineer, many thanks for your help. Very useful. One question though, would I need armoured cable to power the shed?

The shed is attached to the studio so the cable will not be seen or accidently chopped when gardening. Or have I missed the point of armoured cable?!

Thanks