Am I allowed

[REN1]

Hi, Just got a new house and I want to run power to the garage which is about 8meters from the house

I want to keep costs doen so intended to do it myself as it should be fairly easy to acomplish but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do it as a DIYer - does legislation allow for me to do this... (i had a look but couldn't make my mind up!)

I'm intending to put a new MCB in my household consumer unit running an armoured cable to the garage leading to a small consumer unit in the garage with a seperate circuit for lights and power sockets with a RCD.

If I can't do it myself, any idea's how much an electrician would charge?

 

[ricicle]

You can do it yourself but it requires notification which will more than likely bump the cost up to more than if you were to use a registered Electrician and do some of the manual work yourself......

 

[Electrifying]

Hi, Just got a new house and I want to run power to the garage which is about 8meters from the house

I want to keep costs doen so intended to do it myself as it should be fairly easy to acomplish but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do it as a DIYer - does legislation allow for me to do this... (i had a look but couldn't make my mind up!)

I'm intending to put a new MCB in my household consumer unit running an armoured cable to the garage leading to a small consumer unit in the garage with a seperate circuit for lights and power sockets with a RCD.

If I can't do it myself, any idea's how much an electrician would charge?

Unfortunately, my friend, they are the words that have let you down.

The fact that you assume that something that you have no idea how to tackle, should be easy to accomplish.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

You are allowed but as stated because you live in England the work needs to be notified, have a look through this.
//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:part_p

 

[REN1]

Thanks for the super fast replies!

I suspected it would be notifiable, but thought I'd ask!

I did start to read that part-p but legislation twists my melon, I prefer straight forward writing!

@ ricicle - what do you mean by doing the manual work? If set up my garage with what I want, ie sockets, light fittings, consumer unit and get the electrician to do the actual cables and testing? Or can I do the cabling providing I don't touch the live wiring and the electrician make the live connection? Prob would be finding someone willing to do minimal work I guess!

@ Electrifying - whats wrong with my method? I'm pretty confident that what I want to do is the right way. If I'm totally on the wrong track something more constructive would be appreciated! Thats why I ask questions before starting something..

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

You need to talk to an electrician that is willing to sign your work off then!
or just let them get on with the job.
But the method you propose, as far as the installation is concerned, sounds fair.
What size MCB at CU?
What Size SWA?
What size load at garage?

 

[REN1]

You need to talk to an electrician that is willing to sign your work off then!
or just let them get on with the job.
But the method you propose, as far as the installation is concerned, sounds fair.

I imagine I'll have to cough up - it'll cost me as much in phone bills to find one who'll sign off a DIYer's work, I'll stick to putting pictures up

Thanks for the replies. Any sparkies here could give me an idea of cost before I log off for the evening? ...

 

[crunchynut]

Ren,

There are loads of things that yo have not probably considered or are aware of.

What are your current earthing arrangements, and can you export the earth.

Is main bonding in house up to scratch.

Is there a front-end RCD on main DB.

Can you satisfactorily terminate SWA correctly.

How will you test the circuit and interpret results.

Get quotes from 3 local sparks, ask questions and see from there. You could suggest that you will do some of the donkey work - shy kids get no sweets afterall!

I would be happy to give advice on a smaller undertaking for a DIYer. This is more than DIY though.

Regards.

 

[crunchynut]

£400-800 depending on a whole host of variables!

 

[REN1]

You need to talk to an electrician that is willing to sign your work off then!
or just let them get on with the job.
But the method you propose, as far as the installation is concerned, sounds fair.
What size MCB at CU?
What Size SWA?
What size load at garage?

I was thinking 60A at the main CU and 6mm SWA - I doubt I'd ever run enough power through it to need that, but I'd rather have it and not need it... inside I was thinking 6A for the lights and maybe 40A for the sockets.

I'm gonna speak to some tradesmen before I go any further though see what options i'll have

Ren,

There are loads of things that yo have not probably considered or are aware of.

What are your current earthing arrangements, and can you export the earth.

Is main bonding in house up to scratch.

Is there a front-end RCD on main DB.

Can you satisfactorily terminate SWA correctly.

How will you test the circuit and interpret results.

Get quotes from 3 local sparks, ask questions and see from there. You could suggest that you will do some of the donkey work - shy kids get no sweets afterall!

I would be happy to give advice on a smaller undertaking for a DIYer. This is more than DIY though.

Regards.

you're right, some of that is dutch to me - this is why I ask before I start! Hopefully I'll find a sparky who'll be able to agree a good balance so I can keep my costs down!

 

[crunchynut]

As you are the paying customer I would feel happy for you to carry out certain works to keep your costs down.

Unfortunately they would be limited to securing back boxes to walls and other simliar tasks that would take very little time to do anyway.

As I say get a few quotes and bite the bullet. I would prefer to pay £100 more and get the job done satisfactorily and not have to worry, rather than getting it done on the cheap. As the ole saying goes; if ya wanna pay peanuts.........

 

[REN1]

As you are the paying customer I would feel happy for you to carry out certain works to keep your costs down.

Unfortunately they would be limited to securing back boxes to walls and other simliar tasks that would take very little time to do anyway.

As I say get a few quotes and bite the bullet. I would prefer to pay £100 more and get the job done satisfactorily and not have to worry, rather than getting it done on the cheap. As the ole saying goes; if ya wanna pay peanuts.........

but monkeys are cool!

...Death by electrocution, not so cool..

Thanks for the help

Ren

 

[1john]

I was thinking 60A at the main CU and 6mm SWA - I doubt I'd ever run enough power through it to need that, but I'd rather have it and not need it... inside I was thinking 6A for the lights and maybe 40A for the sockets.

Get a spark in, you have to much to learn to do it safely.

 

[REN1]

I was thinking 60A at the main CU and 6mm SWA - I doubt I'd ever run enough power through it to need that, but I'd rather have it and not need it... inside I was thinking 6A for the lights and maybe 40A for the sockets.

Get a spark in, you have to much to learn to do it safely.

I'm already commited to getting a sparky now - but what's with the cryptic reply?

If that's wrong - just out of curiosity, I'd like to know what a pro would do differently?

 

[skenk]

Well for a start, where you gonna get a 60A mcb for your consumer unit? and what makes you think 6mm SWA will be suitable on that?