garage

[melody]

Hi. I've recently had a new garage built and intend to use part of it as a small workshop. I've had six quotes from qualified electricians for providing power from the main distribution box in the house.The run is approx. 35 meteres but all the quotes varied wildly from £400 to £1,380!
One electrician was totally snookered when he realised that there were no free circuits on the board."I'll need to get back to you on this one," he said.
Does this prove that tradesmen these days just pick a figure out of the air? And just HOW DO YOU supply power when all fuseways are occupied? I'd love to know so that I can show off if/when he replies.
Many thanks in advance. 'Melody'.

 

[Hamiltonandy]

Need another consumer unit. Say £60 including RCB and 4 MCB. Single phase armoured cable say 6mm in case you would need 30A costs £70/50m. Then you have lights switches, sockets, etc.
Main cost is labour to run cable to garage under ground and time taken to wire up lights and outlets. £400 seems good value if done properly but get it in writing what he will do before you agree to go ahead. Do not forget you might want to extend phone cable at same time.

 

[loftus75]

I agree with the last post, but this isn't the only way you could run the cable. You could use an overhead cable or run in plastic conduit which might be more cost effective. You will need an additional consumer unit with preferably RCD or some other earth leakage protection. As for the pricing. When quoting I often use Spon's estimatimng costs guide to electrical works, available from amazon if you'd like a copy. However, this is a guide and not a bible. Labour cost will very with time and contractor. If your local I'd be happy to have a look.

 

[AnonymousImport]

then again there is another way....... but if someone says yes i know what it is tell them to go away, it can be done differntly but it is not really that safe, si i would agree with the previous post have the £400 job but get it in writing, also going overhead on cateanary wire is cheaper, but unsightly

 

[loftus75]

If Anonymous would care to check the IEE Wiring Regs, 16th Edition he might find that I'm actually correct, still if he were an electrician he'd know that wouldn't he. Some folks seem to believe there's only ever one way to do things, that's usually the one that fails to explore all the other ways. Or are you the person that put the £400 quote in?

 

[AnonymousImport]

not guilty, but there is another way to do it if you think about it.

I do not want to go into details incase some one tries it, it is perfectly safe, (electrically too) just a bit un ethical

 

[AnonymousImport]

If you are the poster who wrote "it can be done differntly but it is not really that safe" then how come it's now " perfectly safe, (electrically too) just a bit un ethical ". Running your garage off the street lighting is it?????

 

[AnonymousImport]

No, it isn't lets just leave you to think about it and me to know.

It is very easy and obvious, but if i told you then some joker would no doubt try it not get it right and try and blame me.

 

[AnonymousImport]

Plug in a long extension reel from the house into a conduit in the ground and run a 4 way adapter from it in the garage.

 

[muppet]

Hmm, are you sure a 4 way gang is safe? For tools, in a wet garage? You sure you dont even want to put an RCD on that?

Anyway, I have a similar problem, I have recently bought an ex-site office and need to wire it as a workshop for myself. Unfortunatly I cant find anyone to give me any advice about wiring regulations. [I cant spell eithier but thats a different forum!]. Im planing to use it as a workshop/office and plan to run maybe 5 computers and a selection of power tools as well.

I feel confident doing the wiring, as I have attempted smaller jobs and managed to accomplish them successfully!

What I would like is an electicians advice on several points.

First of all what cable should I use?

I was thinking 6mm armoured, would this be enough?

Secondly I would like to know is it safe to run 6mm unarmoured through condiut (like water pipe)? The are is well travelled (Im digging under the drive way) so I really would prefer the safer option!

Thirdly to wire it into the mains supply I would need to split the existing mains feed, which would require contacting my mains supplier, is that right? And do I need to purchase all the parts and just pay the engineer for his time?

Hope someone can give me advice!

If you want to email me feel free to:
[email protected]

Thanks!

Dave.

 

[amtodd]

First of all what cable should I use?

I would highly recommend armoured cable for external use. Pipes are easily broken by even old ladies digging, then there is no protection. Used to have to bury it over 600mm deep (300mm in a graveyard) and cover with yellow warning tape.

I was thinking 6mm ... would this be enough?

Depends on the type. 6.0mm 6943X 3 or 6944X 4core for example http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Index/Armoured_SWA/index.html will carry up to 53 amps, and the 6mm two core 6942X will carry 63A. the 10A 3 core will carry 73A, the two core 85A. (A standard domestic consumer unit would have a max rating of 100A.) I would generally use two core for a project like this - the armour shield carries the earth. You will need to use the correct gland kits at either end and have a CU in the cabin.

Thirdly to wire it into the mains supply I would need to split the existing mains feed, which would require contacting my mains supplier, is that right?

Well that is one approach, however it might be lots easier to take a feed directly from the main CU (on the RCD protected side) or to split tails out to an additional RCD. (How to has been explained on the site before.)Boxes for these can be obtained metal clad which is better to attach SWA glands to. That way you won't have the board doing a right lot.

 

[Sam Gangee]

I liked the suggestion to include a phone cable. I would also include a satellite TV cable or two as well. If you use the proper double-shielded stuff it can be used for ordinary TV, Freeview or satellite. You never know when you might want to convert the garage into a granny flat!

I had a friend who "pooh poohd" this idea some years ago. Then he came off his motorbike, broke his back and ended up in a wheelchair. Now he spends his time in his converted garage playing with his computer and his satellite system. Cost a fortune to lay the cables because he'd had the driveway concreted shortly after asking my advice (and ignoring it!)

And you might want to include twin flex for a doorbell extension!

Oh, keep the extra cables well away from the mains cable or you'll get inteference.

Sam

 

[amtodd]

Good point about the phones etc. You should lay these in grey pipes. Although they still may get broken, they are unlikely to kill you.

Whilst you've got a trench, you might consider a water feed and soil pipes too, so you can have a hand basin and loo etc in your workshop. You should check to see if the various services need burying at different depths or in different medium (pea gravel for example). I know we've run gas and electric and data in the same trench before, but not sure about the water.

Using a multicore telephone cable, you can use a pair of wires for your phone, a pair for your fax and still have some left over for the door bell.....

 

[breezer]

For the cable for the telephone etc you can take your pick from


http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/module.asp?CartID=030130123304930&moduleno=65&modulecode=

I would have the eight core