Spur to garage, what to expect from quotes ?

[Fatboy40]

Hi,

I need to get power out to my garage which is not joined to my house and is around 3.5 meters away from the rear of the building.

Laying an underground cable is a no go as it would cost me too much and I don't fancy having my patio dug up/damaged.

A house just up from us has power run to their garage, which is identical to ours, and the power appears to have been run from a rear bedroom then along a catenary wire to the garage. Looking at what people state on the forum the caternary is far too low though to meet regs and the cable looks quite thin (and maybe not the correct one for outdoors use).

I've had one guy round to look at the job, and he was straight out of one of those 'builders from hell' prgrammes

I'm going to get a few more quotes and hopefully find a guy that I have faith in.

Is anyone able to describe exactly what I need ?. I think that it's going to be...

# A 'spur' from the power point in a back bedroom.
# Does an RCD/fuse need to be used before it leaves the bedroom ?.
# Then run to the garage at a minimum height of 3 meters using a catenary wire. I've seen the term 'SWA' used for the cabling, what does SWA stand for ?.
# The cable then runs to a consumer unit (?) in the garage, which then feeds two double power points and two lights.

... please tell me if the above is totaly wrong or what needs to be changed.

Thanks

p.s. if anyone here is near Andover in Hampshire you're more than welcome to pop round and give me a quote.

 

[lazygit]

# A 'spur' from the power point in a back bedroom.

It would have to be a fused spur

# Does an RCD/fuse need to be used before it leaves the bedroom ?.

The existing circuit will need to comply with current regs so I think you will need an RCD at the consumer unit

# Then run to the garage at a minimum height of 3 meters using a catenary wire.

It might need to be 3.5M, but im sure someone else can confirm this

I've seen the term 'SWA' used for the cabling, what does SWA stand for ?.

Steel wire armour.
Whatever cable is used must be suitable for outdoors & direct sunlight. Twin & earth would not be suitable for instance.

# The cable then runs to a consumer unit (?) in the garage, which then feeds two double power points and two lights.

No need for a CU.
When the supply comes into the shed take it to a double pole switch, then feed the sockets from it. You can then take a switched fused spur from the double pole switch or sockets to feed the lights.
If you use the shed for storage then wiring should be enclosed in PVC trunking at the very least.

Thats my opinion on the matter, and im sure there will be others

EDITED to add a usefull link:

http://www2.theiet.org/Publish/Wire...matters_electrical_installations_outdoors.pdf

 

[Fatboy40]

Thanks lazygit, very helpfull