Wiring a garage?

Tom W

Tom W

Active Member
The nights are drawing in now, and it seems to be raining more often so it looks like the time for spending long evenings on the drive fixing cars is coming to an end :( I have a garage, but there's no light and power in there yet. Penny pinching new build builders who think the only thing anyone wants to do with their garage is store some pots of paint and a mower :roll:

Anyone know roughly how much it would cost to have a couple of striplights and some sockets installed? I'd need to run an armoured cable down the garden and install a small breaker box in the garage too. It doesn't seem that complex to do myself, but with all the regs on having home wiring checked etc, it seems easier to get someone else to do it.
 
I did it myself back in 1992 never wondering if I needed permission or any regs applied but these days there's all sorts of regulations and factors to be considered regarding cable size/earthing etc

You could do the donkey work and get a friendly electrician to commision it
 
DaveHerns said:
I did it myself back in 1992 never wondering if I needed permission or any regs applied but these days there's all sorts of regulations and factors to be considered regarding cable size/earthing etc

You could do the donkey work and get a friendly electrician to commision it
Click to expand...

Would an electrician do that, though? These days, with insurance, regs, etc etc insisting the work be carried out by a competent electrician, in order to be sure that the work is to the necessary standard, the electrician would probably have to open every socket/junction/ etc etc to ensure the wiring and earthing inside was up to scratch before putting his/her name on the commissioning.
 
Just run a heavy duty extension cable out to the garage,and use a 4 or 6 point multi socket to run stuff.
Basic equipment like drill,light,radio etc shouldnt overload it.
I run my compressor,mig welder,2 strip lights,drills,radio,all without probs,but not all at the same time!
I made a real h/duty extension out of armour cable,and buried it,and I can un-plug it in the house when not in use.
No regs req for that! :wink:
 
You also need to notify the council of the installation, and they will certify it for a price, so you can install it all yourself.

These sorts of basic electrics are actually very straight forward, and the regs are quite simple. You can pickup a good "laymans" guide to the regs quite cheaply.

There's a big market for old stock red/black cable these days, as any installation must in theory pre-date the introduction of part p regs.

As Pilkie stated, if it plugs in then it is exempt from the regs.
 
PIlkie , don't you worry about overloading your ring main or the 13amp plug on the end of your extension lead melting ?
 
Not really,whats overloading it?
The occasional mig use,or ramp use is just the initial surge and then its fine,no wiring gets warm,checked it all,dont use it all at the same time.
One of our members,close to me, is an electrician,and he has all but certified it,if it were iffy he would say so!
 
webmaster said:
You also need to notify the council of the installation, and they will certify it for a price, so you can install it all yourself.

These sorts of basic electrics are actually very straight forward, and the regs are quite simple. You can pickup a good "laymans" guide to the regs quite cheaply.

There's a big market for old stock red/black cable these days, as any installation must in theory pre-date the introduction of part p regs.

As Pilkie stated, if it plugs in then it is exempt from the regs.
Click to expand...

Are you absolutely sure of being exempt if connected via a (I assume 13amp) plug? Regs seem to change a lot with hardly anyone knowing! :?
 
DaveHerns said:
PIlkie , don't you worry about overloading your ring main or the 13amp plug on the end of your extension lead melting ?
Click to expand...

In theory, if it's got a 13amp plug, it should be alright as anything pulling a massively heavy current would pop the fuse.

But in practice you're right; plugs and sockets can wear and get loose, they can heat up (one kettle my grandfather had years ago heated the plug, not so hot as to melt the plastic, but too hot to comfortably physically hold in the hand!), just like buried cables can heat up.

To be fair to Pilkie, he uses an armoured cable, which is designed for carrying heavy currents and being buried.
 
And i've fitted it with brand new heavy duty plug and socket attachments,supplied by my mate!
Also got a circuit breaker attached to where it plugs into the house!!
I have done everything to be as safe as poss!
 
Part P regs only cover fixed installations, whereas anything plugged in is covered by portable appliance regs, which only really apply in commercial environments.

As you say you shouldn't be able to overload a 13amp plug as the fuse protects the circuit, the plug itself can easily carry more than 13 amps, in an emergency situation I replaced the 13amp fuse with some 20amp fuse wire so I could run my compressor before installing a 20 amp circuit, and it worked fine, plug didn't even heat up. Same applies to ring circuits, most 2.5mm t&e cable is capable of carrying 25 amps, so in theory a ring could carry 50 amps, but they are generally protected with a 30 amp breaker allowing plenty of spare capacity in the cable.

The safest way is to over spec all the cables and then run the lowest amperage protection device (fuse or breaker) that will cover the loads you need to run, if you're cable is rated at 60amps and you've got a 30amp breaker, then you're going to be safe. All fuses should be appropriate for the load, don't just fit 13amp fuses in every plug.

You do have to be carefull with extension cables though, make sure you get one that really is rated at 13 amps, I've seen plenty of lower rated extensions, which are ok until somebody replaces the fuse with a 13 amp one.

Also make sure if you have a coiled extension, that you fully unroll it before trying to pull high loads through it, my wife ran a 3kw fan heater on an almost fully coiled 15m extension, luckily I spotted it before it melted, it certainly got very hot.

I've always wondered why there are no "home electrics" courses available, so a home owner can be more confident about any work they do. It's suprising how much work you can carry out yourself under part P regs, it's not widely advertised because the sparkys want all the work.
 
Here you go..

The following types of work are non-notifiable:

•Replacing accessories such as socket-outlets, control switches and ceiling roses
•Replacing the cable for a single circuit only, where damaged, for example, by fire, rodent or impact (1.)
•Re-fixing or replacing the enclosures of existing installation components (2.)
•Providing mechanical protection to existing fixed installations (3.)
•Installing or upgrading main or supplementary equipotential bonding (4.)
•Work that is not in a kitchen or special location and does not involve a special installation (5.) and consists of:
◦Adding lighting points (light fittings and switches) to an existing circuit (6.)
◦Adding socket-outlets and fused spurs to an existing ring or radial circuit (6.)
Notes:

1.On condition that the replacement cable has the same current-carrying capacity, follows the same route and does not serve more than one sub-circuit through a distribution board
2.If the circuit's protective measures are unaffected
3.If the circuit's protective measures and current-carrying capacity of conductors are unaffected by increased thermal insulation
4.Such work shall comply with other applicable legislation, such as the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations
5.Special locations and installations are listed below
6.Only if the existing circuit protective device is suitable and provides protection for the modified circuit, and other relevant safety provisions are satisfactory
Special locations and installations (5.)

•Locations containing a bath tub or shower basin
•Swimming pools or paddling pools
•Hot air saunas
•Electric floor or ceiling heating systems
•Garden lighting or power installations
•Solar photovoltaic (PV) power supply systems
•Small scale generators such as microCHP units
•Extra-low voltage lighting installations, other than pre-assembled, CE-marked lighting sets
Click to expand...
 
I must add, if you are in any doubt (and maybe the fact that you are asking the question suggests you are) then you should get a sparky in, at least get a couple of quotes, you may find the cost of getting a pro in isn't worth the hassle or risk of doing it yourself.
 
I wasn't intending to do the work myself, unless it was significantly cheaper/easier. I was mainly wondering if anyone had done this recently and what was a fair price to pay?

Tom
 
The bit you can do yourself to save money is digging the trench for the cable and backfilling afterwards
I believe underground cable has to be 18" below the surface
 
webmaster said:
Part P regs only cover fixed installations, whereas anything plugged in is covered by portable appliance regs, which only really apply in commercial environments.
Click to expand...

And for all you people reading this in Scotland, Part P regs do not apply up here. We have a completely different set of building regs up here.

Dave
 
webmaster said:
Here you go..

The following types of work are non-notifiable:

•Replacing accessories such as socket-outlets, control switches and ceiling roses
•Replacing the cable for a single circuit only, where damaged, for example, by fire, rodent or impact (1.)
•Re-fixing or replacing the enclosures of existing installation components (2.)
•Providing mechanical protection to existing fixed installations (3.)
•Installing or upgrading main or supplementary equipotential bonding (4.)
•Work that is not in a kitchen or special location and does not involve a special installation (5.) and consists of:
◦Adding lighting points (light fittings and switches) to an existing circuit (6.)
◦Adding socket-outlets and fused spurs to an existing ring or radial circuit (6.)
Notes:

1.On condition that the replacement cable has the same current-carrying capacity, follows the same route and does not serve more than one sub-circuit through a distribution board
2.If the circuit's protective measures are unaffected
3.If the circuit's protective measures and current-carrying capacity of conductors are unaffected by increased thermal insulation
4.Such work shall comply with other applicable legislation, such as the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations
5.Special locations and installations are listed below
6.Only if the existing circuit protective device is suitable and provides protection for the modified circuit, and other relevant safety provisions are satisfactory
Special locations and installations (5.)

•Locations containing a bath tub or shower basin
•Swimming pools or paddling pools
•Hot air saunas
•Electric floor or ceiling heating systems
•Garden lighting or power installations
•Solar photovoltaic (PV) power supply systems
•Small scale generators such as microCHP units
•Extra-low voltage lighting installations, other than pre-assembled, CE-marked lighting sets
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


Thank you, that's very informative!

My main point was that worn/well used sockets and plugs can heat up, even when pulling less than 13A. If the socket and plug are new or in reasonably good condition, then it may well not heat up even with, say, a 20A draw.

Good point about some extension cables being banded around, BTW!
 
Virtually everything has to be RCD protected these days so at the very least , use an RCD plug in adaptor to protect the whole circuit
 
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