Splitting / Changing Circuits

[StudWall]

Hello everyone,

I would muchly appreciate a bit of advice as to a better way to arrange the electrical circuitry in my house.

my current situation is as follows:

1 - 50A - electric shower (will soon be unused / deactivated with new combi)
2 - 32A - oven and hob (happy days)
3 - 6A - lighting (happy days)
4 - 16A Radial feeds living room & dining room
5 - 20A Radial feeds kitchen, garage & bedrooms (2)

so my concern is having potentially quite a big load in the kitchen, dishwasher, washing machine, etc (plus tumble drier in the garage) i have to be very careful what i put on at the same time as to not trip the mcb, realistically its not such a problem, until the mrs comes home and wants to put the kettle on and probably an electric heater etc etc.

so i'm wondering if it would be a better idea to put the kitchen on its own 20A (living in a bungalow all the cables are in the loft making it nice and easy to change things around) and the rest of the house on the 16A (haven't discovered yet why this wasn't installed as a 20A) also a couple of the sockets in the kitchen could be put on the rest of the house supply, and maybe running a seperate feed to the garage?

opinions please

 

[EFLImpudence]

Well, you seem to be in a position to be able to do whatever you want as the cables are accessible in the loft.

Increase the kitchen to 25A if you can get one for your CU.
Separate the kitchen from the other rooms.
Make the kitchen a 32A ring.

Almost anything.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Would strongly advise keeping the electric shower as you already have the wiring and plumbing for it.

If your boiler should ever break down (and the newer it is the sooner this will happen), and it chooses to do so when the weather is cold and plumbers are busy, it will be your only source of hot water apart from saucepans and kettle for a while. Being able to have a hot shower will lighten the mood of everybody in the house.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

How long have you lived in the property and have you had any issue regarding overloaded circuits?

How do you intend to go about changing the existing circuits?

There is very likely room for improvement and some logical thought in to loads on circuits.

You have mentioned circuit breaker sizes, do you know the CSA of the cables?