Provision of electrical supply to fish tank

[narcosis]

Hi All,

I have recently purchased a new house and am in the process of decorating before moving in. I have a large marine fish tank that requires a power supply to ~12 electrical devices, mad I know! Most of these are small power items 1-10W with the larger items being 150W metal halide light, 300W heater (never really on) and a 60W pump. The smaller items are for smaller pumps, instrumentation etc.

In the new house I have decided on a prefered area for the tank location that happens to be near an existing double socket. My question is how should I best solve the solution of providing power to my tank?

In my current house, an extension of the ring main was achieved (added another double socket) and then two lots of 6way extension leads provide the solution. For the new situation I would rather not have lots of new double sockets added into the ring main so I guess that leaves me with a fused spur option or dedicated supply via RCD?

I will probably plug the light straight into the existing double socket removing some of the power requirement.

Any help/advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Neil

 

[jj4091]

If you mean new build "new house" then all your sockets should already be rcd protected & you can just use your exsisting extension leads plugged into the ring main, if the appliances you mention are the largest of the loads you will not have a problem with the current drawn & using multi socket extensions allows you to fuse items individually at the plugs.

 

[narcosis]

Thank you.

This is not a new house (1980).

Thank you for confirming that the loads are well within limits for the extension leads, however, I do not have enough plug sockets to accommodate the number of extension leads and other electrical components I require and I do not wish to add more double sockets on the wall as part of the ring main, can I run a dedicated supply via spur to sockets (x in number) near the tank?

cheers

Neil

 

[wingcoax]

Try the socket towers as used by the I T brigade, they usually have around 8-10 sockets on. Sorry cant provide link but no doubt someone can.

 

[Alastairreid]

happy to oblige http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=220694

 

[narcosis]

Thanks very much, but ideally I need these to be individually switched and I could only use one tower (not enough) with wanting to keeping one side of the double socket free. Is the spur option sensible/safe?

cheers
Neil

 

[ColJack]

what difference does it make if it's a spur or a socket... the principles the same and you'll still have the same amount of mess.

 

[narcosis]

I was thinking of a flexible blanking plate outlet with the supply running to lots of sockets in my stand.

cheers

Neil

 

[ColJack]

then no you can't do that.
you can't extend the ring to your stand.. it's not part of the building structure.

if you want individual switching then get an extension with switches on it..

 

[narcosis]

Apologies if I misunderstand but is this true even if it is a spur off the ringmain?

Thanks

Neil

 

[ColJack]

then it's not a "flexible blanking plate outlet".....

it's a FCU..

 

[narcosis]

Apologies, poor terminology! Yes, I meant running a spur from an FCU which is connected to the ring main or would I run power to the FCU as a spur? Either way, is this acceptable?

Thanks for your support.

Neil

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm struggling to understand all of this.

In the new house I have decided on a prefered area for the tank location that happens to be near an existing double socket. My question is how should I best solve the solution of providing power to my tank?

You've got a double socket near where the tank will be, but you don't want to use it?

Why?

In my current house, an extension of the ring main was achieved (added another double socket) and then two lots of 6way extension leads provide the solution. For the new situation I would rather not have lots of new double sockets added into the ring main

So you've currently got what you need via the addition of one socket, but in your new house you would need lots of sockets to allow the same use of the same two 6-way extensions to supply the same 12 items?

Why?

so I guess that leaves me with a fused spur option or dedicated supply via RCD?

However many sockets you want to add, what's preferable about having them on a fused spur instead of on the ring?

I will probably plug the light straight into the existing double socket removing some of the power requirement.

Won't that mean you're using half your outlet capacity for 1 of your 12 items whereas if you plugged it into one of the 6-ways you'd only be using 1/12th?

I do not wish to add more double sockets on the wall as part of the ring main, can I run a dedicated supply via spur to sockets (x in number) near the tank?

So you don't want sockets on the wall which are directly on the ring final, but you do want them on the wall spurred from the ring final.

How does that work, then?

 

[Dazz0i]

Is he not saying he wants to fit and FCU with some flex from it, into a bunch of double sockets that're installed in his fish tank stand.

So creating a radial circuit from his final ring, meaning all 12 items could be switched individually.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I don't know - is he?