Wiring garage sockets with steel conduit, how do I do this?

[shagster]

You can have that.

It's barking mad, but you can have it if you want.

Just some rough calculations, I did this in a hurry so there could easily be a mistake, but:

Putting 4 sockets on the side walls, individual breakers
2 metres T&E from CU to garage four ways --> 8m
Socket 1, drop of 2m from entry into garage --> 2m
Socket 2, across the ceiling 4m, drop of 2m --> 6m
Socket 3, along the wall 2m, drop 2m --> 4m
Socket 4, along the wall 2m, across ceiling 4m, drop 2m --> 8m total
Grand total of 28m

Putting 4 sockets on the side walls, ring circuit
2 metres T&E from CU to garage two ways --> 4m
Socket 1, drop of 2m, rise of 2m --> 4m
Socket 2, across the ceiling 4m, drop of 2m, rise of 2m --> 8m
Socket 4, along the wall 2m, drop 2m, rise 2m --> 6m
Socket 3,across ceiling 4m, drop 2, rise 2m --> 8m
Return: 2m along garage wall to close the ring --> 2m
Grand total of 32m

Costing:
T&E assumed 60p metre, £3 per breaker module, it doesn't look like there's a big difference in price between a 12-way CU and an 8-way so I'll ignore that and assume it's dwarfed by the overall price for the CU replacement.

Part cost for ring:
1 breaker: £3
32m T&E: £20
Total £23

Part cost for individual circuits:
4 breaker: £12
28m T&E: £17
Total £29

I just paid £6 for a HUGE increase in the flexibility of my socket arrangement, and that's mad?

I'll leave you to tell me the catch, as I'm sure you will

 

[Aragorn84]

Well lets take that approach and apply it consistently?

Why not install a 16A breaker and individual piece of T&E for every socket in the entire building?

 

[shagster]

Well lets take that approach and apply it consistently?

Why not install a 16A breaker and individual piece of T&E for every socket in the entire building?

This only works if the CU is close to the garage. At some point the cable costs will start to mount up. In any case, I didn't intend rewiring the rest of the house, redecorating and so on, which will cost some serious money and time, especially given my plastering skills (or lack of them ). The garage is pretty much bare at the moment, with all joists accessible, nothing's been wired yet.

 

[SimonH2]

If you're doing radials in 2.5mm you can put them on 20A MCBs I believe.
They don't need to be on separate MCBs, so you can run two sockets, with their own cables back to the board, and run them from the same breaker. Obviously then you are limited to 20A between the two sockets, but it's less ways in the board.

On the other hand, running a welder or compressor from a 20A breaker can be a PITA as the startup currents for even a smallish one of either can be enough to trip a 20A type B breaker while being within the limits of a 13A fuse.