Help needed getting power supply to garage

[karlhurrell]

Hi Guys,

I am in the middle of building a double garage. The garage stands 20m from my house. I need to get electric up to it. I have some very heavy duty SWA that I will be running underground at a length of approx 31m in length.

Can anyone suggest the best way to hook it up to the mains supply.

Do I have to drill a hole though my wall and feed the armoured cable through to the main fuse box. ( is this wrong as the cable would be seen going in to the wall?

Can I hook it straight to my fuse bx, if so whats the best way, do I need a seperate fuse, do I have to get a new fuse box with extra switch to accommodate this?

I guess at the garage end I need to add a 6way fuse box or something along those line.

Any help on hooking it up would be well received.

Thanks in advance

Karl

 

[ColJack]

you are obviously out of your depth here if you have to ask these questions..
you also don't mention Part-P, so I'd suggest looking it up in the WIKI before you do something illegal.
In your situation it would be best for you to call in a "part-p registered" electrician to do the work for you..

 

[karlhurrell]

Im actually just being over precatious, and seeing if others would do it the same as me. Forums are supposed to be informative and getting an electrician is obvious and not really the response I was looking for.

Can anyone be of help please?

Thanks

Karl

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The questions you are asking display such a lack of fundamental knowledge that there is no way you can learn enough to be able to do a job like this through asking whatever questions happen to occur to you.

What about your unknown unknowns?

You haven't even, for example, told us what type of supply you have, or what the garage load will be or what size your cable is.

And how do you propose to test everything?

When you submitted your Building Regulations approval request, what did you say would be the way you intended to comply with Part P?

Im actually just being over precatious, and seeing if others would do it the same as me.

What - attempt a job like this when they don't have a clue how to do it properly? Some would....

Forums are supposed to be informative

There's a limit to how much they can successfully impart. You are way past that limit.

and getting an electrician is obvious and not really the response I was looking for.

Tough - it's the only responsible advice you should be given.

Can anyone be of help please?

Someone here can.

 

[Steve]

Hi Guys,
I am in the middle of building a double garage. The garage stands 20m from my house. I need to get electric up to it. I have some very heavy duty SWA

Heavy duty, ok. But any SWA could be described as "heavy duty" in comparison with bellwire for instance. What metric mathematical size is the cross sectional area of the conductors of this cable (the recognised method of sizing cable)? See here

that I will be running underground at a length of approx 31m in length.

Glad you included a distance, some DIYers dont realise the detrimental effect distance has on electricity. See here

Can anyone suggest the best way to hook it up to the mains supply.

Yes, I can. See here

Do I have to drill a hole though my wall and feed the armoured cable through to the main fuse box.

How else were you thinking you'd get it into the house? Osmosis? See here

( is this wrong as the cable would be seen going in to the wall?

I've seen hundreds of armoured cables going through walls?? . . . See here

Can I hook it straight to my fuse bx, if so whats the best way, do I need a seperate fuse, do I have to get a new fuse box with extra switch to accommodate this?

Depends what you already have, what is this device that you call a fuse box? See here

I guess at the garage end I need to add a 6way fuse box or something along those line.

You'll need 6 circuits? See here

Any help on hooking it up would be well received.

See here

Thanks in advance

See here

Karl

See here

 

[ColJack]

why do people take it personally when we tell them that we think they are out of their depth and to get a pro in?

we don't mind advising the odd person how to change a light switch or why their fuseboard doesn't work, but installing major circuits is best left to those who know what they are doing or are close enough to knowing that a gentle nudge in the right direction is all that's needed..
if we have to hold your hand and walk you through every single step and problem of an install then we've got better things to do..
we're not an online electrical installation course you know..
there's only so much knowledge we can impart in a few well phrased text replies..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

BAS has a way of being rude to people. The essence of what he says is ok, it's just the way he says it sometimes.

Please explain where and how I was rude.

NOTE - refusing to shilly-shally about trying to dress up what has to be said, and what a petitioner would rather not hear, in phrases dripping with emollients does not qualify as rudeness.

When you submitted your Building Regulations approval request, what did you say would be the way you intended to comply with Part P?

Karl - this is actually very important.

What did you tell them? Because if you don't do what was agreed you won't get a completion certificate.

 

[karlhurrell]

I dont need building regs, its a detached garage which is uninhabitable.

Seems very hostile here, maybe ill try ask somewhere else

Thanks anyway

 

[ban-all-sheds]

A double garage which is under 30m²?

That'll be a bit cramped. Yes, you'll be able to get 2 medium sized cars in, and be able to get out of one side of them, but it'll leave you no storage space and if the cars are wet and/or dirty you might struggle not to get like that yourself.

And I'm afraid you're wrong anyway - Part P applies to it, and the work is notifiable, so if you haven't applied for BR approval you will be breaking the law.

Hostile?

You're just interpreting perfectly valid refusals to give you the advice you want as hostility. The reason that all 4 people who have responded have given you the same advice is because it's the correct advice. There is a lot more to doing this work safely than you realise, and I can guarantee that there are important things that you don't know, and don't realise you don't know because you have no idea they even exist.

The extent of your lack of knowledge is too great for it to be corrected by unstructured asking of questions here.

I can understand that it's not the advice you wanted, but there's nothing that can be done about that, and the fact that you don't like it does not make it hostile. If you really are only interested in hearing advice which agrees with what you've already decided then you will be better off elsewhere - I'm sure that somewhere you'll find people who don't care if you stumble into illegality through ignorance, or if you kill yourself or others, or if you burn your house down.

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

Hi Karl,

The bedside manner of some people here is disgraceful. I can totally understand why you feel this attitude is hostile. Simply being factually correct does not validate a stinking attitude!

However, to answer your question in a less aggressive manner.

The work you describe really should be undertaken by a professional, there are issues which may be at play here of which you don't seem to have appropriate knowledge.

I'm all for giving advice, but if that advice is 'get someone in' then im sorry, but thats the way i feel.

consider the following points before proceeding:

Nature of supply.
Exporting earth under possible PME conditions.
Potential demand within garage.
Fusing, cable size of final circuits in garage.
Diversity.
Possible need to TT locally.
Disconnection times, Zs, thermal constraints.
Nature of use of surface under which the cable will be run.
appropriate terminations of SWA.
Inspection and testing, appropriate certification.
Notification to LABC, Part P requirements.

Given the above, i hope to illustrate why i agree with the other contributors here who say 'get someone in'

It may be the case that a spark may discuss your needs and agree which parts of the work you can happily do yourself to keep your costs down.
(digging trench, drilling holes, laying cable etc.)

 

[Goldberg]

Hostile?

No, not hostile, but read between the lines, which you're perfectly capable of doing.

You were abrupt and unkind, and there's no need for it.

It's foreseeable that you'll be tempted to drag whatever feelings you have about me into the mix. See if you can resist it, because it's your manner and behaviour that's being found unpleasant by an increasing number of people.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You were abrupt and unkind, and there's no need for it.

I was efficient and to the point, and didn't waste my time trying to make the same message appear superficially more attractive.

The message is the message is the message, and I was neither rude nor abusive.

It's foreseeable that you'll be tempted to drag whatever feelings you have about me into the mix.

How long are you going to carry on behaving like this?

See if you can resist it, because it's your manner and behaviour that's being found unpleasant by an increasing number of people.

That is entirely their fault.

If they want to behave as if there are hidden meanings or sub-texts in what I write, when there are absolutely none, and if they want to regard being to the point, or using factual terms like "ignorant" or "incompetent", as pejorative when they are not, or if they want to "read between the lines" to decide that there's something there which they don't like, when there's nothing there, then that is their failing, not mine.

 

[Goldberg]

You were abrupt and unkind, and there's no need for it.

I was efficient and to the point, and didn't waste my time trying to make the same message appear superficially more attractive.

To the majority of people, being friendly and kind takes little or no extra effort, and isn't a waste of time.

If you regard friendliness and kindness as superficial attributes, then you're in that set of people who share a tendency to have a vastly inflated view of their own importance and capabilities.

The message is the message is the message...

I can't reconcile your desire to avoid wasting time with the words you wrote there.

I was neither rude nor abusive.

I don't know why you see the need, on this topic, to refute an accusation that I haven't levelled at you on this topic.

It's foreseeable that you'll be tempted to drag whatever feelings you have about me into the mix. See if you can resist it, because it's your manner and behaviour that's being found unpleasant by an increasing number of people.

How long are you going to carry on behaving like this?

Please try and stick to the point.

See if you can resist it, because it's your manner and behaviour that's being found unpleasant by an increasing number of people.

That is entirely their fault.

The assignment of blame to an independant observer isn't sensible enough even to be classed as a non-sequitur.

If they want to behave as if there are hidden meanings or sub-texts in what I write, when there are absolutely none, and if they want to regard being to the point, or using factual terms like "ignorant" or "incompetent", as pejorative when they are not, or if they want to "read between the lines" to decide that there's something there which they don't like, when there's nothing there, then that is their failing, not mine.

Nobody is 'behaving' "as if there are hidden meanings" - your failure to regard other people's feelings as having a shred of importance is abundantly clear. Your opinion that your own feelings justify all facets of your rudeness is equally clear, but you believing that you're right is very much not the same thing as you actually being right.

However, I'm beginning to see why you view the terms "tw@" and "w*nker" as being factual instead of abusive.

The natural collorary to your bizarre statement is that it is your failing in regarding observations of you as being abrupt, rude, unfriendly, unkind, abusive, hyprocritical, and pathetic as being pejorative, since they are merely "factual terms" (sic.).

 

[karlhurrell]

Hi Karl,

The bedside manner of some people here is disgraceful. I can totally understand why you feel this attitude is hostile. Simply being factually correct does not validate a stinking attitude!

However, to answer your question in a less aggressive manner.

The work you describe really should be undertaken by a professional, there are issues which may be at play here of which you don't seem to have appropriate knowledge.

I'm all for giving advice, but if that advice is 'get someone in' then im sorry, but thats the way i feel.

consider the following points before proceeding:

Nature of supply.
Exporting earth under possible PME conditions.
Potential demand within garage.
Fusing, cable size of final circuits in garage.
Diversity.
Possible need to TT locally.
Disconnection times, Zs, thermal constraints.
Nature of use of surface under which the cable will be run.
appropriate terminations of SWA.
Inspection and testing, appropriate certification.
Notification to LABC, Part P requirements.

Given the above, i hope to illustrate why i agree with the other contributors here who say 'get someone in'

It may be the case that a spark may discuss your needs and agree which parts of the work you can happily do yourself to keep your costs down.
(digging trench, drilling holes, laying cable etc.)

Thats much more friendly approachable advice.

Thanks mikhailfaradayski