Garage Power Feed

[CPEA]

Hello,

We currently have an outdoor double socket IP56 rated which is a spur off the internal socket circuit, which is protected by RCD at the main house fusebox.

We want to run an armoured cable 25m down the garden into the garage to an RCD fuse box, to then feed x2 outdoor and x2 indoor lights for in/around the garage.

The outdoor IP56 socket has x2 indents (top and bottom) on the casing where it looks like they can be drilled through to allow an outdoor cable to be attached into the socket.

In this situation is it safe/ok to do this or would the garage feed need to come directly from the main house fuse box having its own dedicated RCD at source?


Thanks

 

[Lectrician]

You cannot spur from spur.

Having a second RCD in the circuit is pointless.

If it is only for lighting, then you could make the outside socket a FUSED spur by placing either a switched or un-switched fused spur inbetween the outside socket and where it is spurred from. You could then run an SWA cable glanded into the original socket, down the garden to your garage. Here you would be best to terminate into a Switched fuse spur for the lighting. Use the switched fuse spur as the switch. If you want two switches, loop the IN terminal of the first switch fuse spur to the IN terminal of the socket. A socket could also be incorporated if you like. NO need for a consumer unit or RCD the garage end.

Bear in mind that this way, you only have 13amp available shared between the socket and the garage.

The otherway, as you say, is to run a new cable from the consumer unit to the garage, and then fit a small consumer unit in the garage for lights and sockets. The cable size from the house could then be selected (size) accordingly for the anticipated load.