Kitchen heater

[susan999]

Hi all,
I wanna fix an electric radiator to a wall in my kitchen but there is no socket on that wall. However, there IS a socket, in almost exactly the right place, on the other side of the wall.
Could I spur off this socket, through the wall, thereby putting the required outlet in the kitchen? There is only one ring main in the flat and the socket which would be spurred from seems to be a standard part of it.
Is this something I could do legally myself?
Susan.

 

[terryplumb]

What is the kilowatt rating of the electric radiator ?

 

[winston1]

Yes you can legally do it. But there are other things to consider such as whether the socket you spur from is perhaps already a spur.

 

[susan999]

What is the kilowatt rating of the electric radiator ?

Kitchen is 3.7 x 1.9, so I thought a 600W or 900W oil-filled rad

Yes you can legally do it. But there are other things to consider such as whether the socket you spur from is perhaps already a spur.

I've had the socket off the wall and there are two T&E cables feeding it. It looks like the original wiring.

 

[terryplumb]

A spur feeding another spur would also have two cables . You need to test ,to confirm the donor socket is part of the ring final circuit. If it is ,then you could spur from it ,or extend the ring .

 

[crystal ball]

Or it might be a radial circuit

 

[terryplumb]

Or it might be a radial circuit

Could be. The OP stated the flat has one ring main ,but may be mistaken on that point.

 

[susan999]

A spur feeding another spur would also have two cables . You need to test ,to confirm the donor socket is part of the ring final circuit. If it is ,then you could spur from it ,or extend the ring .

OK. So presumably I would need to disconnect some wires from sockets and do some continuity testing. What would be the best way to go about this?

Could be. The OP stated the flat has one ring main ,but may be mistaken on that point.

There are only 4 mcbs and only one marked 'sockets'. The flat had an electrical inspection test (when the new consumer unit was put in 2 years ago). Would it have passes if it wasn't a ring?

If the socket IS part of the ring, can I just add a third T&E from it to the new socket, without the need for a fuse?

 

[susan999]

Extending the ring sounds better. I presume you mean taking one of the T&Es from the original socket as a feed for the new one and putting new cable in from the new to old sockets thereby keeping the ring intact. Is this so?

 

[EFLImpudence]

If the socket IS part of the ring, can I just add a third T&E from it to the new socket, without the need for a fuse?

Yes.

Extending the ring sounds better. I presume you mean taking one of the T&Es from the original socket as a feed for the new one and putting new cable in from the new to old sockets thereby keeping the ring intact. Is this so?

It is so - but there is no advantage. You will then need an extra set of connections unless the cable reaches the new socket.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Yes you're allowed to do the job yourself.
Have a look at the MCB feeding the sockets- if it is 32A then yes you have a ring final circuit, make sure you aren't spurring from a spur (you'll need a multimeter unless you're in an ex-council flat with surface minitrunking everywhere ). If the mcb is rated at 20A then you have a radial final circuit, carry on with your plan

 

[conny]

One clue, to help see if it may, be radial or ring should be the cable size. 32A ring in 2.5mm T&E 20A radial should be 4.0mm T&E.

 

[winston1]

One clue, to help see if it may, be radial or ring should be the cable size. 32A ring in 2.5mm T&E 20A radial should be 4.0mm T&E.

Wrong. A 20A radial uses 2.5mm as well. 4.0mm is used for a 32A radial.

 

[ericmark]

You can make up two single sockets in a double back box, this

plate link here will take two sockets

the link here so you can split ring and take it else where, or of course use a twin back box and two standard sockets.

However you should test when working on a ring final, unlikely in a flat the ring final is near the limit, but this is the problem with DIY, doing the work is easy, testing after needs test gear, so in the main not done, so depends how confident you are that you will make no errors.

 

[susan999]

I guess to make sure it IS a ring, I would need to disconnect the cables from (what I assume to be) the previous and next sockets in the ring and check for continuity? is this correct?

Also, there is no heater in the bathroom and I am thinking of installing a heated towel rail. Could I do a similar thing here?

There is a socket next to the bedroom wardrobe. I am thinking to spur from this, along a short length of trunking, to a fused spur box with a flexible cable outlet sited in the bedroom, then take the flexible cable from the towel rail directly through the bathroom/bedroom wall into the fused spur box.

Would this be legal?