Electricty to Garden shed

Joey1 · 12 Mar 2019

Building a shed which will be 50m from meter in the house. Will have 3 double sockets and 2 lights. Not to be used for anything heavy apart from occasional use of an industrial sewing machine.

Looking to have a rcd protected cu in shed: something like this
https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-5-module-3-way-populated-garage-consumer-unit/1926g

Will lay 6mm swa cable at a depth of 500m under lawn and ideally would like it connected directly to fused switch which was initially used for economy 7 cu that is now obsolete.

Will do all the manual work myself to save costs, with the electrician doing the connections at both ends. Will this be ok, connecting directly to fused switch?

Joey1 · 12 Mar 2019

ToastyToes · 12 Mar 2019

500m underground will take some effort.

Do you have a picture of your consumer unit/fuse box? The picture supplied is your meter and supply.

Notch7 · 12 Mar 2019

Joey1 said:
Building a shed which will be 50m from meter in the house. Will have 3 double sockets and 2 lights. Not to be used for anything heavy apart from occasional use of an industrial sewing machine.

Looking to have a rcd protected cu in shed: something like this
https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-5-module-3-way-populated-garage-consumer-unit/1926g

Will lay 6mm swa cable at a depth of 500m under lawn and ideally would like it connected directly to fused switch which was initially used for economy 7 cu that is now obsolete.

Will do all the manual work myself to save costs, with the electrician doing the connections at both ends. Will this be ok, connecting directly to fused switch?

do you know what earth you have?
metal shed?

winston1 · 12 Mar 2019

This is notifiable work. Have you notified or got a spark yet?

cwhaley · 12 Mar 2019

I did a similar project only last week. I'll post my experience as it may offer some pointers. I took a spur from a ring main socket using 2.5mm T&E, took it (via safe zones) to an FCU on the wall with a 13amp fuse, out the wall to an IP66 rated junction box where the T&E terminates to 3 core SWA.

The SWA then goes down the wall to a socket on the outside wall (IP66 rated) and then on down the garden (clipped to concrete post fencing) to another socket in the shed.

The entire length of SWA is earthed at every socket and junction box outside. I used earthing nuts as opposed to banjo rings. I had the next-door-but-one neighbour test for earth continuity and this was achieved. I also have a note on the outside sockets detailing the maximum load after I had calculated voltage drop and wire properties, although the FCU does protect the supply cable.

No need for separate RCD protection either as the consumer unit in the house is already protected by an RCD.

Joey1 · 12 Mar 2019

It will be a wooden shed and 500mm depth of cable.

I have had a spark in but he wants to change my house consumer unit to comply with 17th regulations, add another CU where the meter is and then another in the shed. This simply will add up in costs which I'm trying to avoid. Just need to know what my options are before I go back to him.

Have attached pics of the cu's.

EFLImpudence · 12 Mar 2019

Joey1 said:
I have had a spark in but he wants to change my house consumer unit to comply with 17th regulations,

Why? it's 18th now.

add another CU where the meter is and then another in the shed. This simply will add up in costs which I'm trying to avoid. Just need to know what my options are before I go back to him.

Don't go back to him - get someone else.

Joey1 · 12 Mar 2019

Sorry, what he said was, I needed to replace the plastic cu(not add) with a metal cu to meet new regulations

EFLImpudence · 12 Mar 2019

That would be true if you did replace the CU but you don't have to.

Not a police state yet.

flameport · 12 Mar 2019

Joey1 said:
ideally would like it connected directly to fused switch which was initially used for economy 7 cu

That appears to be connected to the 5th terminal of the electricity meter, so would only be on at E7 times, rather than all the time.
Moving it to the permanently supply would be possible - but the fuse in it will probably be a 60A or 80A, so not suitable for use with 6mm² SWA. Smaller fuses are physically smaller so won't fit in it.

Joey1 said:
I have had a spark in but he wants to change my house consumer unit to comply with 17th regulations, add another CU where the meter is and then another in the shed.

New switchfuse in the house next to the meter - armoured cable to shed - new CU in shed.
House CU is unrelated.

Notch7 · 12 Mar 2019

Joey1 said:
Sorry, what he said was, I needed to replace the plastic cu(not add) with a metal cu to meet new regulations

Your electrician is either not understanding the rules or touting for business.

Just for clarification: the rules are not retrospective. Which is obviousvreally, otherwise everytime a new set of rules are released, every house in the UK would need their electrical installation updated.

Joey1 · 13 Mar 2019

Notch7 said:
Your electrician is either not understanding the rules or touting for business.

I have a feeling it's the latter.

So what should I expect to pay for a new switch fuse?

What about using a small fcu instead?

JohnW2 · 13 Mar 2019

Notch7 said:
Just for clarification: the rules are not retrospective. Which is obviousvreally, otherwise everytime a new set of rules are released, every house in the UK would need their electrical installation updated.

Indeed - and retrospective or not (which, as you say, they clearly aren't) the regulations (i.e. BS7671) are not 'mandatory', anyway - i.e. it's not a legal requirement, per se, that electrical installations comply with BS7671!

Kind Regards, John

Joey1 · 14 Mar 2019

He was kind of implying I needed it changed.
Guess I be looking for another spark.

Any help with a switch fuse which is fairly cheap?

Just Want to source all the materials myself and install them before I get a spark in who is willing to check everything, connect the swa at both ends and pass it off. Not really mess with my house wiring.

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Electricty to Garden shed

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