workshop/shed power

[scott25]

Hi new to the forum

I been on other diy forums and no seems to want to give advise I hope someone can help

I have a 12x8 shed/workshop at the bottom off my garden and I would like to run power to it I have a blangdon power safe in there at the moment but there is only some tools I can use.

The power tools i will be using is compressor and a welded both i been using on the blagdon set up as both have 13amp plugs and a 1kw heater they r not use all at the same time thou.

The shed is about 30ft max for my back door and 58ft to the cu in the house heres where the problems begin.

I cant run 6mm swa in the house as the route i have to run swa would just not be idle but in the garden swa would in a trench feed thou solvert weld pipe then gravel on top off that then warning tape and the back filled with top soil.

Can i run 6mm t&e from the house cu to the 6mm swa i been reading up that i would need a metal junction box for this ?

then can the swa go straight in the cu in the shed/workshop or would it have to be done back to t&e

wot cu for the workshop would be good would it have to be metal or can i use a insulated plastic cu

can the welder/ compressor have there own fuse in the cu same with the heater

i have been told i can use the electric cooker fuse in cu in the house as it not used is that true if so how would it be possible to do so

am sorry about all the questions i hope u don't mind me asking

i done quite abit off electrical work before which have all pass when tested

i want to do all the labour work myself then get sparky to connect it to the house cu

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Please get an electrician. This work is notifiable, and it requires an EIC, so "i want to do all the labour work myself then get sparky to connect it to the house cu" is no good - it doesn't work like that. The electrician won't be able to say that he did the design and he did the construction if he didn't.

You should be able to find one quite happy for you to dig the trench (few electricians are wannabe navvies), and possibly do other bits of labouring, but you must get him on board first, and everything you do must be under his supervision and direction. In other words the job must be his from start to finish with him using you as his labourer. It will also save you a few £00 in LABC fees.

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?

There's no reason to assume that you couldn't learn, and people here can help you with that, but the time that will take you may well not fit with your schedule for getting the work done. If you can spend some months learning then fine, but if not I have no hesitation in saying that based on the questions you are asking and the assumptions you have made you have nowhere near enough knowledge to do this and you need to get an electrician.

I been on other diy forums and no seems to want to give advise

TBH I am not surprised.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Welcome

The work you are planning needs proper planning. You must first determine the loads and work out items like volt drop, before you do anything

i done quite abit off electrical work before which have all pass when tested

Yes, but this is a bit more involved and your post shows that you have huge gaps in your knowledge.

i want to do all the labour work myself then get sparky to connect it to the house cu

I suggest you find your sparky right now, have him do the brain work (ie the things you don't know about). Have him agree what you can do yourself and then he can oversee your bit, do his bit and sign it off.

PS Your post is really hard to read and understand. It would really help if you could use the handy SPELL CHECK button, and then read your post before you submit.

 

[ericmark]

Likely the 6mm² SWA would be ample and you could use plastic of metal but the problem is you can’t use a single signature installation certificate where you are signing for design and installation and the electrician is signing for inspection and testing so can’t use the electrician’s scheme membership even if he’s a member and LABC charges are so high to be silly.

So unless the electrician is going to charge over £500 for labour just not worth you running the job. For you to labour for the electrician is fine. However many electricians have been caught with clients labouring and will just not do it.

 

[scott25]

You have to bear with me as I'm dyslexic and I can only use my iPhone through talking type but my laptop doesn't do it for me i'm not looking to get the work done now I don't mind waiting to the summer so I can learn a bit more but I'm just asking a couple of questions i'm not going to budge anything I want done the right way but if I can do some of the work and save money where's the harm in that i've done the same with my brother is Gym I've done all the legwork with the SWA and wiring the actual gym itself then I had the electrician in to do the connection to the consumer unit inside the house and they consumer unit inside the gym he tested all of it and it all past

 

[scott25]

What about if I break my questions down can I use 6mm twin and earth from the consumer unit to a metalclad junction box that will be in doors then connect my 6mm 3 core armoured cable that will run from the metalclad box to the shed

 

[JohnW2]

... i'm not looking to get the work done now I don't mind waiting to the summer so I can learn a bit more but I'm just asking a couple of questions i'm not going to budge anything I want done the right way but if I can do some of the work and save money where's the harm in that ...

That's fair enough. As has been said, I think that by far the best approach would be for you to involve an 'self-certifying' electrician soon, and discuss with him/her what parts of the work you can do (whenever), and what degree of involvement and 'supervision' on the part of the electrician will be necessary in order for the electrician to be able to 'sign off' and notify the work.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Astra99]

EricMark wrote /quote and LABC charges are so high to be silly. /end quote

This is why so many people ignore the requirement to notify or misrepresent notifiable work as non-notifiable.

 

[Taylortwocities]

It is a new circuit

It is notifiable

Elecrical safety is part of Building Regulations for very good reasons - people have died becasue of bad electrical work

LABC charges for DIY electrical work may be "silly" but the solution is to involve a registered electrician

Living in a democracy, there is a ready solution if you do not like the law.

 

[JohnW2]

LABC charges for DIY electrical work may be "silly" but the solution is to involve a registered electrician

I totally agree with everything you say, and have already given my advice to the OP. However, in terms of your statement above, I fear that we will always be up against the fact that, in the eyes of many would-be DIYers, what you suggest would only be a 'solution' if the electrician's charges were going to be less than the LABC charges.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You have to bear with me as I'm dyslexic and I can only use my iPhone through talking type but my laptop doesn't do it for me

Eric - you use speech-to-text s/w on your PC, don't you? Can you advise Scott?

 

[scott25]

Thanks for your help your help but can I ask one question is it possible for me to run 6mmTwin and earth from the house consumer unit to a metal clad box Then from the metalclad Box 6 mmSWA to the garden shed is that possible as I can't have armoured cable run Thou the house spoken to an electrician and he's saying that the armoured cable can go above Muscoe in to the fuse box in some trunking but I have pipes there



Any help would be gratefully appreciated but I am not going to do the work myself

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There's no reason per se why the electrician should not use T/E inside and join it to SWA at the point of exit from the house, either on the inside wall or outside.

Has he said why he's reluctant to do that? Is he not aware that there are pipes where he said he could run SWA?

If it makes sense to have one there you could have him install an MK Masterseal double socket on the wall outside - join to the SWA and provide a socket at the same time.

 

[aesmith]

There's no reason per se why the electrician should not use T/E inside and join it to SWA at the point of exit from the house, either on the inside wall or outside.

Has he said why he's reluctant to do that?

Requirement for RCD at the house end if not SWA end to end, and the T&E not suitably protected?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There's no reason per se why the electrician should not use T/E inside.....