Outside sockets

[sparxy]

Hey guys,

We had our garage converted into a bedroom, and so while that was being done our electric consumer unit was moved and a new one was fitted (we had an old style wired fuse one before that). Now we have also covered over the passage up the side of our house, and want to place a couple of sockets in there so that we can use electrical devices (and power the lawn mower while in the front, etc).

At the moment, the only electrical connection outside is the power for the outside light, running off a 6A fuse powering the lights in the new bedroom, the outside light, and the downstairs smoke alarm + heat alarm in the room with the boiler - the upstairs alarm is battery powered). At the moment we are using an extension lead while we are out there but that is quite tedious when winding it back up when finished!

I'm actually looking to find the best plan of action regarding getting sockets to run off this circuit (if that is at all advisable). I was thinking replacing the breaker in the consumer unit for this circuit with a higher rated one (16A?), and then running a couple of appropriately rated sockets off this circuit - however I do not know whether this would be acceptable practice as this is a lighting circuit and if there were a fault it could draw more than 6A. There are no free spaces in our consumer unit for an extra breaker.

Cheers

(Lights are 5x12v halogen, and 1x240v halogen in the en-suite, along with the outside light which I don't know the rating of off the top of my head!)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm actually looking to find the best plan of action regarding getting sockets to run off this circuit (if that is at all advisable).

It's not.

I was thinking replacing the breaker in the consumer unit for this circuit with a higher rated one (16A?), and then running a couple of appropriately rated sockets off this circuit - however I do not know whether this would be acceptable practice as this is a lighting circuit

It's not.

and if there were a fault it could draw more than 6A.

Of course it could if the breaker is a 16A one.


[code:1]There are no free spaces in our consumer unit for an extra breaker.[/code:1]
FGS - empty space in a CU costs virtually nothing - why on earth did you have a new one installed that was full up on day 1?

You'll have to extend or spur from a nearby socket circuit.

Installing outside sockets is notifiable and the work requires testing - you should seriously consider getting an electrician.

 

[sparxy]

Thanks ban-all-sheds, that's what i'd thought - thanks for the links!