OK to spur from one room to another?

[Foolonthehill]

I have two adjacent rooms each of which have a socket on the same (exterior, front-facing) wall. Both sockets are mounted at the same height, located towards the lhs of each room's wall. I want to install an additional socket on the same wall in the first room, towards the rhs of that room. Presumably because there is a safe zone running at socket height across the wall of each room, would it be acceptable for me to run the proposed new socket in room 1 from the socket in room 2 (chiselling through the party wall in the process)?

Since a picture paints a thousand words, I've attached a picture (proposed new socket in red).

Many thanks for any advice.

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• Foolonthehill
• 25 Jun 2013
• 1

 

[riveralt]

There is no problem running a spur from one room to another - it is done all the time.
However, there are conditions attached to this:
On a ring finall circuit you are only allow a one additional double socket per socket on the ring. You can add more but you will need to introduce a 13amp fused connection unit into the circuit.
Also see wiki:
http://www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:socket_circuits

Depending on the thickness of the wall you might be better offsetting one of the sockets from the other. Otherwise you may not have enough wall to screw the back box in place.

 

[Foolonthehill]

Thanks for your swift reply. Note that I'm not looking to mount the two sockets either side of the same wall... the picture (which, looking at it now can probably be misinterpreted) is looking 'face-on' (ie the wall in the picture would be coming straight out of the screen towards you); hence to chisel out the red line in the picture I'd have to chisel out a channel from the socket in room 2 to the wall separating the two rooms, then go through the wall, then continue the channel in room 1 until reaching the point at which I'd like to mount the socket.

 

[JohnW2]

In terms of the regulations, one other thing to bear in mind is that any new socket needs to be RCD protected. If the existing ring circuit is already RCD protected, then that's fine. Otherwise, you would (to be compliant with regs) have to either arrange for RCD protection to be applied to the whole ring circuit (the best option) or, alternatively, use an RCD-protected socket for the new one.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Foolonthehill]

Thanks John, the existing ring circuit is protected at the CU with an RCD (the CU was replaced only a couple of years ago by a NICEIC-registered contractor).

 

[JohnW2]

Thanks John, the existing ring circuit is protected at the CU with an RCD (the CU was replaced only a couple of years ago by a NICEIC-registered contractor).

That's fine then - I just thought I should mention it!

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Untitled

• Foolonthehill
• 25 Jun 2013
• 1

Why is it not less work to run a cable up the wall to the new socket?

 

[Foolonthehill]

Because I have concrete floors, thus the cabling is not easily accessible anywhere but at the sockets.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

How are the sockets currently wired?

 

[Foolonthehill]

All cabling and other services are run in the void between the concrete slabs. Any sockets are fed in the traditional manner from the ring circuit (cabling comes up behind skirting and is sunk into the plaster). It's definitely a standard ring circuit so running a spur from a socket should be fine. I just wasnt sure whether it would be permissable to channel from an existing socket in one room to a new one in another (in particular whether running the cable through the wall would still be deemed being in the safe zones defined by the existing sockets in each room).

 

[ban-all-sheds]

OK - fine. Just wanted to check, because sometimes houses with concrete floors have G/F sockets supplied as spurs dropped down the walls.

 

[OwainDIYer]

if the two existing sockets are 'in sequence' on the ring, you could disconnect the piece of cable that runs between them, and come full along the wall from one to the next, extending the ring with as many new sockets on it as you wanted.

Then you can spur in the other direction off the socket on the right to give another double in that room.

 

[Foolonthehill]

Thanks for your suggestion Owain, and yes, it would be the most sensible option if 1) I needed any further sockets (one new double in room 1 is actually sufficient - I have further sockets in the second room); and 2) I had access to the cabling between the sockets. As it is I still think the solution I proposed is my best option. So, since no-one has actually said that it wouldn't be permissable, am I good to go with it? I'm going to assume that the horizontal safe zone created by the existing sockets, plus the safe zone created by '150mm of the angle formed by 2 walls' would cover my new spur route.