Radial circuit problem

[securespark]

Hello folks.

I have a customer with a radial power circuit comprising four outlets in the cellar feeding (amongst others) a TD and WM.

Also on the circuit are a single in the hall and a single in the lounge.

The circuit is current fed through a fused spur at 13A, but it blows frequently.

Bearing in mind the floor area limitations of a 20A radial, what is the most cost-effective way to re-arrange this circuit to give compliance without nuisance tripping of the protective device?

 

[andy]

make it into a ring?

 

[plugwash]

i presume its 2.5mm cable
it depends a bit on the run lengths and difficulties involved in different cable routes but i would imagine taking a cable from the last socket back to where the spur starts and inseting the sockets into the ring is the best soloution

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Even a 20A radial can serve 50m², which is nearly 540ft² in old money - a square over 7m/23' on each side.

How big is the cellar?

Do other circuits supply the hall or the lounge? I've never heard of any official guidelines, but if a room is served by more than one circuit then it would be reasonable to argue that its floor area should be divided between the two for area-served purposes.

Could the 1 socket in the LR be removed, or put on another circuit, thus reducing the area served by that radial?

 

[securespark]

Yes, it is 2.5.

The cellar alone is 23' x 18'.

Other circs do supply the hall & lounge - a ring common to both.

I think I should bite the bullet and wire the two singles on the ground floor into the ring, either on ring or as spurs, then create a new circuit downstairs as a radial 20A just for the cellar. This way, the TD & WM will be able to be on together.

Just as an aside, a customer asked me today: If you can take a spur from either a jb or an accessory or from the origin of the circuit, what is there to stop you taking two spurs from the same point?

His argument was: What's the difference between taking two spurs from immediately adjacent jb's and taking two spurs from the same jb?

Is this in the regs?????????

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yes, it is 2.5.

The cellar alone is 23' x 18'.

That's 26.71m². Oo-err, no it isn't - thanks to the aptly named alertelec for spotting my stupid mistake. It's 38.46m²

Other circs do supply the hall & lounge - a ring common to both.

If the hall + lounge don't add up to more than 46.58m² (23.29 x 2) you need do nothing except put in a 20A breaker... So of course that target for hall + lounge is now 23.08m² (11.54 x 2)

Oh dear.

 

[alertelec]

Dividing 23' and then 18' by 3.3 and then multiplying to get the area I get 38m2

I can't advise on the sparkying and I haven't used the exact metric/imp conversion but I was a little concerned on the calc.

PS. How do you put the metres squared symbol in?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I haven't used the exact metric/imp conversion

It was closer than mine - thanks for spotting that!

PS. How do you put the metres squared symbol in?

Assuming you're running Windoze, fire up Character Map (Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools).
You can then select, and then copy/paste a range of useful characters, including ² & ³, fractions such as ¼ ½ ¾, ones that are useful if you want to observe the strict legalities with tradenames etc, such as © ® ™, handy symbols like ° ± µ (but sadly not the Greek letter Omega - the Ohms symbol, which would be extraordinarily useful on this forum), and so on.

You can also (sometimes) use accented characters to stop the automatic filtering here from büggering up any invective you want to write, but the mods are getting wise to that...

 

[alertelec]

Ban all sheds

Thanks for that, I'll save that info on my PC.

 

[comms]

Ban all sheds
For the omega symbol on windows word go to top tool bar - insert - symbols - there you should find the omega/ohm sign.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Ban all sheds
For the omega symbol on windows word go to top tool bar - insert - symbols - there you should find the omega/ohm sign.

But I was talking about posting here - and if you copy the symbol from a Word doc and paste it here you get &#8486, just like you do if you use Character Map.....

 

[masona]

[You can then select, and then copy/paste a range of useful characters, including ² & ³, fractions such as ¼ ½ ¾,

Just wondered if it's possible for diynot.com to upgrade the fractions & useful characters on the ' Post a reply' tool bar menu ?

Sorry SS, off topic here.

 

[pipme]

Ooops !! mispost, sorry !!

 

[paulh53]

Ohms Symbol Ω

 

[pipme]

Tis a bu99er that ... ok in post wndow.. but.... Then you said it :.... people watching may not be able to tell the difference..... Trouble is, we can !