Getting power to outside shed.

[John506]

I am wanting to run a cable to a shed in the garden which sits about 1m away from the side of the house.

I want to run the cable externally preferably clipped into a mortar line about 8-10foot high.

If I were to buy 10mm SWA cable, how good is it at bending 90degrees around corners?

I primarily want the cable to power a shower in the shed, but it would be great to run a double socket and a fluorescent light off it too, is this possible?

Can I run the 3 things off the one 10mm cable, and just have 1 breaker at the main fuse board labelled "Shed", or would it have to be 3 seperate cables with 3 seperate breakers, "Shed Shower" "Shed Light" "Shed Socket" ?

I've seen cables ran to an outside shed before and as the wire had to travel through the air to get to the shed, there was a metal tube screwed to the house and screwed to the shed above head height which the cables were situated inside, do these have a special name?

Thanks in advance

 

[flameport]

If I were to buy 10mm SWA cable, how good is it at bending 90degrees around corners?

If you are talking about the corner of a brick wall, forget bending it round there.
10mm SWA is far too big to 'clip into a mortar line' as well. It's about 20mm diameter.
Generally, it would be fixed with cleats screwed into the bricks.
Assuming 10mm SWA is the correct cable in the first place.

I primarily want the cable to power a shower in the shed, but it would be great to run a double socket and a fluorescent light off it too, is this possible?

The presence of a shower means many more things must be considered.

Can I run the 3 things off the one 10mm cable, and just have 1 breaker at the main fuse board labelled "Shed", or would it have to be 3 seperate cables with 3 seperate breakers, "Shed Shower" "Shed Light" "Shed Socket" ?

Possibly / yes but unlikely to be the best choice / could do if you like wasting vast amounts of cable for no reason.

I've seen cables ran to an outside shed before and as the wire had to travel through the air to get to the shed, there was a metal tube screwed to the house and screwed to the shed above head height which the cables were situated inside, do these have a special name?

Metal conduit.
Also totally unsuitable.

 

[Chri5]

What you should be doing is consulting a spark who will need to sign the job off.

You may not have the skills to terminate the swa either.

A garage cu with rcd and a set of mcb's to cover each of the circuits you want would be the way forward.
My concern is you would have to assume load based on circuits 1+ 2+ 3. Depending on shower kw this is likely to mean 16mm swa run as a sub main, so terminated on a Henley block.

If the existing arrangement is meter direct to house cu on tails the supply will need isolating, the tails diverted to the Henley, and then you terminate the swa and the tails on to the cu at the Henley block.

 

[Robin0577]

View media item 45891
I suspect that you may not have thought this through sufficiently....

First of all this is notifiable work, so although it is possible to notify building control and DIY this, it's likely to work out cheaper just to employ a registered sparks because building control tend to charge £200-£400 a go for notification, depending on which part of the country you're in.

Secondly, this is not a "standard circuit arrangement" where the design work is minimal, this is going to require a proper design process, to work out cable sizes, protective devices, earthing arrangements, etc.

Thirdly, this will require proper testing with appropriate, calibrated equipment. If you don't have this, it'll be expensive to hire, plus you need to know how to use it properly. Either that, or pay building control even more money to send one of their testing guys round.

 

[John506]

I did speak to a spark in work as my first question was can I put a plug on a shower and power it that way and he said no it has to be 10mm.

So I agreed to run the 10mm from the fuseboard to the shed and he connect it up both ends, but now a light and sockets have come into the equation seems to be alot more complicated!!

I will speak to him tomorrow and ask him to sort it for me, thanks chaps.

 

[bhm1712]

have things really got that bad.....showering in the shed?

 

[martinxxxxxx]

have things really got that bad.....showering in the shed?

It's worse than that he is going to move in there (sockets and lights), he has also posted a question about Sky Sports in the AV forum

 

[sparkybird]

maybe it's at the request of his missus...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Why?

What is it she wants to do with him which needs a shower and can't be done in the house?