Fitting Electric Sockets in shed

[dark_stranger]

Morning, I am currently insulating a large garden shed to house fish tanks and will be getting a friend to connect up electricty to the shed, but he cant get round for a while & therefore to save time I was planning on fitting surface mounted double sockets to the internal walls & do all the cableing under the floor before I lay the floor and then my mate can just connect the shed to the house supply. How easy would it be to wire the sockets together and is there a specific way it needs to be done? I have very little sparky experiance & simply want to wire the sockets together so that i dont have to relift the flooring.
Tar.

 

[stem]

As this work will be notifiable to your LABC under Part P of the building regulations, and as your friend is making the connection to the electrical supply he will have to be responsible to the LABC for the design and testing of the installation (Tested by him if able to celf certify, or if not tested by the LABC) Therefore, I would suggest you ask him what needs to be done.

There is a lot more involved in wiring an outbuilding than stringing some cables together. You will need to consider earthing, mechanical protection, RCD protection. overload protection and the cable sizes will need to be calculated according to the circuit loads and length of the runs. These calculations will have to include an allowance for the insulation if the cables are surrounded by it.

To design an installation properly a lot more information is required than "How easy would it be to wire the sockets together and is there a specific way it needs to be done?"

 

[Softus]

Has your "mate" agreed to do this without advising you on cable gauge and circuit protection?

If so, then get someone else because he's not going his job.

 

[dark_stranger]

i have briefly spoken with him and he has agreed to do it, but as yet not come round to check what needs doing. I was looking at the approach of why getting him to screw sockets to the wall when i could do it, plus i wanted to take the approach of connecting the sockets together with appropriate cable and place under the floor so that i can then lay the flooring. Then when he is ready or fed up of me chasing him he will do the proper part and connect to the source.

Therefore i need advise on what cable to wire sockets togather and is it simply wire one to the other in parrell or more like a daisy chain where eventually the last socket will be wired up to the last? I was also considering a consumer unit in the shed so that there could be 1 circuit for sockets, 1 for lighting & maybe 1 for external sources (pond pump, decking lights). Does this sound feasible?
__________________

 

[Softus]

...he will do the proper part and connect to the source.

It seems to be a common misconception that easily understandable tasks such as drawing cable and connecting up accessories are straightforward, and that there's some magic about the more scary task of energising the circuit. However, the installation of the circuit is no more important than the design, and both of those need testing.

Therefore i need advise on what cable to wire sockets togather and is it simply wire one to the other in parrell or more like a daisy chain where eventually the last socket will be wired up to the last?

You do need advice, and you need to get it from the person who's going to certify that the circuits who install have been tested and are safe.

Single phase domestic installations are all about putting the right amount of resistance in the right place. If you start to regard a ring circuit as just "wiring sockets together", you're on the wrong track.

I was also considering a consumer unit in the shed so that there could be 1 circuit for sockets, 1 for lighting & maybe 1 for external sources (pond pump, decking lights). Does this sound feasible?

What can I say? People do have circuits in sheds, but I can't let you fool yourself into thinking that you've just designed them.

Seriously - what is this "mate" of yours intending to do, and why isn't he involved yet?

 

[dark_stranger]

my mate works full time & has a young family so always busy & therefore the delay in inspecting the outbuilding - as to what my mate will be doing is ... as he hasnt seen the site yet. I was just looking at speeding up the job as I cant progress any futher until the electircs are done. Maybe i should wait, but I need this project finsihed. Maybe I will have to pay a third party to do the job, but thats more expense.

 

[Lectrician]

Just get on with the building works.

If its for fish tanks, I would want to see IP56 sockets mouted high up on the wall clear of the tanks, and the best way to wire these in my opinion would in PVC conduit AFTER the building work was finished.

I would fit a CU, and then run a couple radials to a couple sockets. Why do DIY'ers think rings are the 'be all' of wiring?

I would hate to come into a job half way through when you can't see where cables have been run, how they where installed etc.

 

[lazygit]

I am currently insulating a large garden shed

What with? Polystyrene and PVC cable are a terrible mix so conduit or trunking is the only option if thats what you are using.

Is the house TN-C-S? There is a debatable issue about exporting the earth from this type of arrangement.

I think you need to get a professional in to look at it before you end up needing to rework the whole lot

 

[dark_stranger]

as I am simply trying to reduce the work a sparky would need to do, I know I can fit the sockets to the wall, but was also wondering if i could connect them all up so that I could then panel over the cable.

Excuse the crude plan, but i was planning on fitting the sockets & the wiring them up, then the spark would connect the supply (thick white line) in a suitable way. Also, would it be better to create a loop (daisy chain)(see ?) or just have the sockets on a parrell setup? If so, what cable would i use?

oh yer, the walls will be insualted as per the floor.

Cheers,

Stu

 

[Adam_151]

Is the box on the far right an isolator?

 

[securespark]

Could it be the CU?

 

[sm1thson]

you need to speak to your spark regarding what he will allow you to do. if he does let you do any of the work he wont want you to cover it before he has seen it anyway. yyes its convention to wire sockets in a 'ring' as you can supply more power, look in the wiki here (and also look in the wiki at 'safe zones' here. the main cable that comes in will need to go to a consumer unit (modern fuse box) fist so you might want to think about the best location for that (and check with your spark it is suitiable) and also there are the lights to consider!

edit: links added

 

[comms]

What ever it is he's gonna have to take the thermal insulation into account when selecting cable, if using the route marked out.
Me personally I'd go for radial in 4mm singles in plastic conduit run around just below the roof, with drop downs to the sockets mounted at window height (above the tanks).

 

[sm1thson]

^he will need mechanical protection if he uses the routes marked out! -to the op if you follow m link above and read about safe zones you will see what i mean.

i like the idea of drops in conduit.

to the OP- you may want to increase the socket height to whatever the regulation is (dont know if it applies here, but its always better practice anyway, but i cant remember what the height is?)

 

[Lectrician]

What ever it is he's gonna have to take the thermal insulation into account when selecting cable, if using the route marked out.
Me personally I'd go for radial in 4mm singles in plastic conduit run around just below the roof, with drop downs to the sockets mounted at window height (above the tanks).

Yep - I would 100% agree with going this route.

No need for flushing in cables / boxes in a shed, especially if covered by tanks etc.

Sockets low level below tanks is asking for trouble.

Could even go for 2x4 MT maxi-trunking at high-ish level, with sockets fitted into the maxi-trunking using the TSS04 boxes.