Electric supply in to outhouse

[RyeSt]

Hi.

Currently my outhouse has a electric supply from the house consumer unit via a 20amp mcb in to a older fuse type unit in the out house where it connets to a light fitting and a double socket. Im wanting to fit more sockets in the outhouse to power a large 25w air pump and multiple 50w aquarium heaters / space heater. Would the circuit handle this or should I be lookng to upgrde it ?

thanks

 

[Paul_C]

A 20A feed is good for over 4kW, so unless you're talking about a huge
number of such heaters, it should be more than adequate.

 

[RyeSt]

Thanks paul. So id be safe to add say 3-4 more double sockets?

 

[Paul_C]

Yes, it's the load which is the issue, not the number of sockets.

How many 50W aquarium heaters and what sort of power space heating are we talking about in total?

 

[RyeSt]

It either individual heaters or space heat. Im not sure on the best way to go yet. I havent looked in to space heaters as yet. Individual heater wise It will be 4 50w heaters at first. Then hopefully rising to 8 with an additional 4 150w heaters to finish.

 

[Paul_C]

It will be 4 50w heaters at first. Then hopefully rising to 8 with an additional 4 150w heaters to finish.

So 8 x 50W = 400W, plus 4 x 150W = 600W, for a total of 1kW.

That will still leave you over 3.5kW to play with for lighting, pumps, and whatever space heating you add. All assuming that the existing 20A circuit is wired with proper size cable etc.

 

[sparkyspike]

The circuit will easily handle 1000W. So that's no problem.

What you do need to consider is RCD protection - particularly as you are adding sockets. Does the circuit have RCD protection (either at the main consumer unit or at the small fuse box in the outhouse)?

Hopefully you do, otherwise a simple solution would be to replace the old fusebox with a modern unit with a 30mA RCD main switch.

I'm mentioning this because all your new socket outlets will require RCD protection.

 

[RyeSt]

Yeah the house CU in RCD protected. The wire to the small unit in the outhouse looks to be 10mm ish thick and the red and black seem to be 3-4mm thick(sorry I dont know much about the wires ect) . Thanks for the help so far chaps

 

[RyeSt]

anyone

 

[Paul_C]

Yeah the house CU in RCD protected. The wire to the small unit in the outhouse looks to be 10mm ish thick and the red and black seem to be 3-4mm thick(sorry I dont know much about the wires ect) . Thanks for the help so far chaps

I assume that's 10mm outside measurement across the widest part of the sheath and 3-4mm including the insulation of the inner conductors.

From those dimensions it sounds like 2.5 sq. mm cable.