Wiring in sheds

Hi all,

Currently living in a rented house and need to get some electric down to the 2 sheds in the garden. Currently using a damn long extension lead on an rcd plug. The landlord is going to pay for his electrician to connect everything up, but i said i would get the cable, sockets, lights etc and route everything.

The load will be what i would call fairly light.......... ceiling rose in each shed, couple of double sockets with one running a chest freezer, electric drumkit, cd player and maybe a tv. May take a kettle down there, but more likely to have a beer fridge! Am i right in thinking 1.5mm 22a will be enough or should i bump it up?

Few questions if i may........

In the kitchen there is an existing loose cable which goes into a junction box, which is still live and was used for the old under sink boiler before we had central heating installed. The electrician thinks this will be fine to tap off as it goes directly back to the CU to a 16a mcb. Whats the best junction box to use to go from armoured to the twin & earth? Junction will be indoors. Will one of the malleable iron through boxes be ok?

As for the armoured, i'm thinking of just using 2 core and putting a new earth spike next to the shed. Good idea / bad idea? It's probably about 60ft from the kitchen to the shed. Thinking stainless steel spike as i have a load of 1" round here, probably whack it in the ground a metre or so.

In shed 1 will be a small IP65 CU. If i get one with an RCD, will this trip if there are problems in the sheds, or will it still trip out the one in the house?

Will be insulating and boarding out the sheds, is there a preferred way to route the twin & earth for the sockets and lights? Up the walls, across the walls, doesn't matter?

Is it ok to use the twin and earth between the 2 sheds? They're about a metre apart so was going to run a bit of conduit between the two and put the cables through that, or would it be better to use the armoured for that too? Just thinking the t&e route would be easier!

Hope i haven't bored you all too much, but any pointers gladly revceived!

 

Fine, but the ONLY person who can tell you what cable etc to get, and where to route it and how to install it is the electrician.

Have you checked that the fridge and freezer will work in the lowest ambient temperatures you'll have in the shed?

Impossible to say without more information, and the fact that you've not provided that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you don't know enough to be doing the design work.

Do you really think you could sign this?:

I, being the person responsible for the design of the electrical installation (as indicated by my signature below), particulars of which are described above, having exercised reasonable skill and care when carrying out the design hereby CERTIFY that the design work for which I have been responsible is to the best of my knowledge and belief in accordance with BS 7671:2008, amended to................................(date) except for the departures, if any, detailed as follows:

You may, but of the person who will have to sign documents to say that he did the work (including the design), and that it all complied with the Wiring Regulations and the Building Regulations, not of us.

The thing is, designing and installing final circuits, installing new CUs, outside supplies, submains etc is not a trivial job, and I can assure you that it involves knowing far more than you think it does.

Asking questions here can be a useful part of a learning process, but they are not a substitute for proper structured studying. The key term there is "learning process" - you cannot learn all the things you need to know just by asking questions here. It isn't structured enough - it won't provide you with a way to progress where each step builds on what you learned before.

You can't carry out a job of this magnitude by asking whatever random questions happen to occur to you. You've already shown that you have some dodgy misconceptions - what if you get something wrong because you have no idea your knowledge is wrong? What if you miss something because you simply have no idea it even exists, and just don't realise you don't know it?

Please don't take on the role of designer for this job - you are way short of the necessary level of competence.

 

Oooooooooo shot down in flames

Freezer has been running for 4 years so far, so know thats ok.

Right, i'll ask the spark what he wants me to get then!

Hope to see you in the Cars & Maintainence section one day so I can return the favour

 

But not in order to make you feel small, or to score points.

There really, really is an awful lot more to know than you realise.

Good-oh.

Yup.

Ask him how he wants you to install it, too.

I'm sure that if someone said they were going to use plumbing fittings on brake lines, or repair rotted suspension mounting points by pop-riveting in some patches, or fancied building their own car by brazing some tubing and sheet steel together you'd question whether they had anywhere near enough knowledge to be doing things....

 

Hi neo

Do you have the sense to realise that the favour BAS has done is possibly to have saved your [or your loved ones] life...

Still laughing

 

delete

 

Care to explain how?

All I asked for was advice on what to buy and how is the prefered way to route the cabling so I don't have to pay electrician rates to roll out and secure some cabling.

Didn't say I was going to plumb it in myself. All he has done is possibly saved me buying the wrong stuff!

 

As already said, you shouldn't be designing this installation, the electrician should.

If it is essential that you supply the gear you need to speak to the electrician to make sure you get the correct stuff, and the right amount of it too.

You also need to decide between you just how much of the work he is willing for you to do.

I don't know the full circumstances, but seems sensible for the short bit of cable between the sheds to be armoured.

 

^neo^
The best advise is to talk to the electrician that is going do all the connecting, inspecting,testing and signing it off stuff.
See what they want and what they are happy for you to do, if I were the electrician, that is the least I would expect or you.
And I hope your landlords knocking something of the rent, if they are expecting you to route the cables.

 

You need to talk to him in case everything you supply or fit is wrong - then you've wasted your time and money.

I wouldn't be impressed if someone provided the wrong materials, particularly if some of them were already installed before I got there.

 

Next, the electrician will be on holiday.

Or moved to Australia.

 

Thanks for the sensible replies guys!

That's a mis-quote the News of the World would be proud of. The landlord is going to pay for the 'connecting up', as for putting the cables in place, that's down to me. Would prefer not to pay £50 h/r for an electrician to either dig a trench in the garden or screw some cable clips to the gravel boards on the fence, depending on which method he chooses during his design process (see, i'm listening).
The idea of this thread was to get some advice on how the 'experts' here would do it, what should / shouldn't be done. I don't know if this electrician is any good, so was looking for pointers of how it should be done.
And before anyone jumps in with 'if it goes wrong it's down to the electrician' it could be too late by then!