Adding a New Socket

[troy.mclure]

Hi guys,

In one of the bedrooms we have one single socket, and I'm wanting to add another socket to the room. The plan is to turn the single to a double, and then run another socket from this one to another wall in the room. The questions are.....

1 - Am I allowed to do this / what are the regs nowadays?
2 - Whats the best way to do it - drop the cable under the floor and run through the joists, or run it through the wall plaster?


Cheers

 

[rebuke]

All domestic electrical work is covered by Part P, but only some work requires notification to the LABC. A bedroom is not a kitchen or special area, and by the sound of it you aren't adding any new final circuits or whatever, just extending an existing one, so I don't think it's notifiable. As long as you're competent (in the literal sense, not the Part P technical sense) then there shouldn't be a problem.

As for cable, either is fine, but note that you can only run cables in plaster in safe zones (directy above, below and to the sides of accessories, and in certain other areas - see the wiki for more info). Generally running it under the floor is easiest, if you're fortunate your joists might go in the right direction to make it easy, so you don't have to lift many boards and/or drill many joists. Note that if you do have to drill joists, try and keep the hole a reasonable size, and drill it in the centre of the joist, not too close to any end, don't notch the joist and run the cable over the top if at all possible as that weakens it more than drilling a hole through the middle...

 

[troy.mclure]

Thanks rebuke. So looking at the safe zones - my options are...

1 - Drop the cable and go under the floor then back up to the new point.

2 - Take the cable up to the top of the wall and then around the topof the wall the new point, and drop down to the point from there

.... I cant go horizontally from the existing point to the new point running around a couple of walls.

I didn't think this would have been a good idea, but thought I should check first.

 

[rebuke]

Yep, 1 and 2 are your options, you couldn't run right round the wall (and to be honest, why would you want to - chasing out that much wall would be a ridiculous amount of effort if you didn't need to). (option 2 depends on what you mean by around the top of the wall, I assume you mean in a loft space or whatever?).

Personally I'd go for 1, it's the 'normal' (if such a thing exists) way of doing it, and will be what most people would expect if working on a circuit...

 

[Spark123]

Is the existing socket part of a ring circuit? How many wires are there behind it? What size fuse supplies it at the consumer unit?
Is the socket circuit protected by an RCD?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Dropping down and under the floor will be much easier than chasing up and down and horizontally along two or three walls and round corners, and much less work to make good afterwards.

If your socket circuit is a ring, which is most likely, you must ensure that the existing socket is not a spur. If you can extend the ring to the new socket that would be preferable to spurring it - if you can't easily replace one of the cables running to the next socket from the existing one then instead of replacing the existing one with a twin, use 2 singles next to each other in a dual box so that you can loop off to the new location and back and keep the ring.

 

[troy.mclure]

Thanks for the responses guys, but..... rings!?... spurs!?

I don't know all the terms I'm afraid, so I'm going to need need words of 2 syllables or less! I'm not sure what the wiring is like leading into / out of the socket because I haven't had it off to take a look yet - I'll check it out and come back to you.

Whats a ring and spur? What do I need to look for?


Cheers

 

[ban-all-sheds]

OK - you need to stop right now and decide how urgent your need is for this socket, as you have some basic learning to do.

Check out the list of books here and get some of them.

Read the information on sites linked to here.


If all that is going to take too long, then go here.

 

[troy.mclure]

good old google helped me out with a diagram - now I know what you mean by a ring main and spur - sorry, I've never heard the term 'spur' before and it threw me. Anyway, like I said I dont know yet (I need to check when I get home) whether its a spur or ring, but other sockets have been on the ring so I'm guessing this one probably is.... either that or what I've see so far are two spurs, but I would've thought that unlikely? Is there anyway to know without ripping cables out of walls/lifting floors?

I think the circuit is protected by an RCD - again a bit unfamiliar with the term - I've got mechanical breaker switches rather than fuses.

 

[Richard C]

Please, please before you go any further make a serious effort to understand basic wiring principles, the Regulations regarding electrical work & what work you are allowed to carry out. It’s not rocket science but a failure to understand what you are doing could be fool hardy & at worst, outright dangerous. Or, preferably, call in a qualified spark!

 

[rebuke]

As others have said - you need to get yourself a thorough grounding in the principles, or you will not be able to do what you propose safely - is it really worth taking a risk with something, which if done wrong, might not be immediately obvious until at one point a cable overheats, starts a fire, burning your house down, and potentially injuring/killing people trapped inside?

Also, the 'mechanical breaker switches' as you call it, are most likely MCBs (Miniature Circuit Breakers), which are not the same as an RCD (Residual Current Device). They often look similar from the front, but the giveaway is that an RCD should have a test button on it, whereas an MCB will just have the lever bit.