Hi new member here, first post so please be easy on me!
I have recently had a new conservatory built by a reputable company that came highly recommended in the area. I have been very happy with the work done, at least as far as the building and plastering goes. But have some slight concerns about the electrics after doing some reading up on Part P and now wonder how best to proceed.
When we first agreed to the work it was explained that as they do not have an electrician with the necessary credentials to certify the work they could only run the cabling and boxes around the new room and up to the nearest socket leaving it for me (or a qualified electrician) to fit the sockets and hook up to the ring main via the existing socket.
Having converted several single sockets to doubles in the past and spurred a new single socket elsewhere in the house, this seemed like a reasonable thing to do at the time. But having done some research on the matter it seems that the configuration I have been left with is less than ideal and would not comply with part P if I was to attempt to have electrics certified at a later date.
The new room has 3 sockets (2 doubles and a single) in a loop of 2.5mm along with a switched FCU for a light fitting running 1.5mm to a dimmer switch and then to the fitting. The 2.5mm loop runs out into an adjacent room (the dining room) up to a single socket (which is rarely if ever used) . My understanding is that this setup will not comply with Part P regs as spurring more than 1 single socket from an existing ring final circuit socket is not permitted unless protected by an FCU. I believe that ideally the new circuit should have been created by extending from two sockets in order to maintain the RFC integrity and keep the load balanced across the system.
I have 2 questions, firstly based on what I have described, I am correct in my assessment or is this a perfectly normal setup to effectivley spur a loop of of the ring main socket?
Secondly given the current setup, how should I proceed? Is there any reason why I should not simply convert the single dining room socket to an 13 amp FCU to supply the new conservatory circuit? We plan to run a LCD TV + Sky Box and a few low power lights. Easily below 13amps by my estimations.
I have recently had a new conservatory built by a reputable company that came highly recommended in the area. I have been very happy with the work done, at least as far as the building and plastering goes. But have some slight concerns about the electrics after doing some reading up on Part P and now wonder how best to proceed.
When we first agreed to the work it was explained that as they do not have an electrician with the necessary credentials to certify the work they could only run the cabling and boxes around the new room and up to the nearest socket leaving it for me (or a qualified electrician) to fit the sockets and hook up to the ring main via the existing socket.
Having converted several single sockets to doubles in the past and spurred a new single socket elsewhere in the house, this seemed like a reasonable thing to do at the time. But having done some research on the matter it seems that the configuration I have been left with is less than ideal and would not comply with part P if I was to attempt to have electrics certified at a later date.
The new room has 3 sockets (2 doubles and a single) in a loop of 2.5mm along with a switched FCU for a light fitting running 1.5mm to a dimmer switch and then to the fitting. The 2.5mm loop runs out into an adjacent room (the dining room) up to a single socket (which is rarely if ever used) . My understanding is that this setup will not comply with Part P regs as spurring more than 1 single socket from an existing ring final circuit socket is not permitted unless protected by an FCU. I believe that ideally the new circuit should have been created by extending from two sockets in order to maintain the RFC integrity and keep the load balanced across the system.
I have 2 questions, firstly based on what I have described, I am correct in my assessment or is this a perfectly normal setup to effectivley spur a loop of of the ring main socket?
Secondly given the current setup, how should I proceed? Is there any reason why I should not simply convert the single dining room socket to an 13 amp FCU to supply the new conservatory circuit? We plan to run a LCD TV + Sky Box and a few low power lights. Easily below 13amps by my estimations.
