Power to garage, what about earth

I have read that when running a power supply from the house to a shed or garage, that the earth should not be connected to the house supply but through an earth rod instead. Any advice would be welcome.
Also, are there any diagrams available that would explain how to run electricity from house to garage?

Thanks
John

There are lots of regulations regarding electricty out side, wire armoured cable, rcd protection etc.

this has also been mentioned several times in this forum.

gets on soap box (this is not to be taken personally)

"I feel that if you have to ask you should get several quotes from a professional in. But to save money you could offer to dig the trench for the wire armoured cable.

In theory it looks easy, but all good professionals make their job easy
I have seen blokes from the electricty supply company joing to a live cable outside in a hole in the road, although i know how to do it.......no thanks

I do not think that diy stores should sell wire armoured cable and its glands, as one mistake and .............

Although this is a DIY forum i think some jobs hould not be done by the DIY person, and this is one of them

electricty has no prejudices.....it kills anyone."

gets off soap box

I agree with breezer, if you gave to ask don't do it!

If you do wish to know more here are some hints.

Install a fuseboard in the garage with at least 1 16A and 1 6A trip. It should also have an ELCB.

The cable can be run underground. In which case it should be at least 24" deep with warning tape. The cable must be SWA.

if you run it above ground you will need catenary wire to support the cable.

If the garage is not connected to the house you will need a seperate earth. provided by an earthing stake.

Install a seperate curcuit from the fuseboard in the premises.

Buy the Which book on electrics. This has all of the cuurent IEEE regs in a n easy to read format.

Watch the electrician do the installation and ask questions and take notes, that way you will able to do the work yourself next time round.

KEEP SAFE.

Ok Point taken.
I'm not a complete numbskull and I do have a general idea, I'm also very aware of the dangers of electricity, that's the reason that I wanted to obtain as much info as possible and have the job done properly.
My faith in so called professionals has waned over recent years, and while I wouldn't tar all with the same brush, it is very expensive to pay for a professional job and then have it turn out to be less than amateur. (I'm on my soap box now!)
Recently I had a new combi boiler installed and the electrician fitted the relevant wiring and new timer unit. The system stopped working after 2 weeks, I checked everything and came to my amateur conclusion that the timer was faulty, electrician was called back out examined everything and told me that timer was ok, roomstat was faulty, I replaced roomstat, still didn't work, so I replaced timer and hey presto the heating worked again, put the old roomstat back and it was in perfect working order!! Electrician sent me a bill for £75 for his callout and he was wrong. Needless to say he didn't get paid.
This isn't an isolated incident of poor so called professional workmanship, and whilst I appreciate that some work has to be trusted to a tradesperson, given experiences such as this you can't blame people like myself fom trying to get the job done properly themselves.
Just to reinforce, I know that there are many good tradespersons out there, but finding one through trial and error is expensive and annoying.

John.....

I know were your coming from with the tradesmen from hell.....I've been had myself (mainly mechanics...but nevermind)........

As above.....dont use an ELCB (especially for protection for outdoor use) these do not comply with "current" regulations, use an RCD........make sure that the swa is buried 2ft deep (use 3core swa; phase/neutral/earth, size depends on what your installing in the garage/shed) as for the earth rod thing...it depends on what type your system is but otherwise its getting its earth from the main intake.......your picking the wrong time of year to dig a trench aswell....thats a summer job

when i first started (countless moons ago) i used to think that an elcb was an Extra Large Cicuit Breaker

I suppose now it'd be the name of a female R&B singer or rap artist - Elsie B.