Hard wiring an outdoor plug socket

[alan0259]

Looking to buy an outdoor plug socket so I can have power in my back garden.

Behind the wall where I would locate it is my boiler and alarm system.

In this room these is a socket like this (without the switch on the face plate)...

I know that this socket is mainly for my alarm system, I had a new boiler installed and the electrician hard wired the boiler into this.

Since the boiler install I've also had an outside security light fitted which is also wired into this.

Would I be able to hard wire this new plug socket through to this socket? Or is there only a certain amount of things/max load that it will be able to take?

Thanks

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Looking to buy an outdoor plug socket so I can have power in my back garden.

What other sort of sockets are there?

In this room these is a socket like this (without the switch on the face plate)...

That's not a socket.

Or is there only a certain amount of things/max load that it will be able to take?

13A.

If you can get any more conductors into it.

You do know how it works?

What sort of circuit is it - is it suitable for supplying a socket?

Is it RCD protected?

When you have fitted the socket, what will you do about testing for continuity and fault loop resistance?

Are you aware that you are required to get Building Regulations approval for this before you start?

 

[JohnD]

it is very likely to be an unfused spur, in which case you can't.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

In this room these is a socket like this (without the switch on the face plate)...

Sounds like an unswitched FCU to me, not something unfused....

 

[flameport]

Looking to buy an outdoor plug socket so I can have power in my back garden.

Notifiable work, so it will be cheaper to have someone to do this for you.

Or far more likely, the socket will be shoved in anyway, regardless of the safety implications or lawbreaking.

 

[alan0259]

Just got home so I could check exactly what the setup was.

There's actually two things on the wall, there's one of these...

that the alarm goes in to, the boiler has also been wired into this.

Then there's this next to it...

this is what the electrican put in for the outside security light and wired it in to the box shown in the first pic.

Thinking about it now, yeah it's obviously going to be putting out more than a spotlight so it's a lot more work than I thought.

I just assumed I could do what the electrian did before, and link it to the original source where the alarm goes.

I'll call the electrician I use and try and get a price off him.

Thanks

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Who knows how he wired it.

But installing an outside light with no means of isolation tends to indicate incompetence.

 

[stem]

If the FCU (first pic) is for the boiler / heating system, it should be fitted with a 3A fuse (max load 700 watts) and shouldn't be used for anything else.

Also your alarm should have a dedicated supply, not shared with other items.

 

[alan0259]

It used to be purely for the alarm system which does have a 3A fuse.

When I had to upgrade to a combi boiler the plumber had an electrician wire it in to this, there isn't any other mains in that room.

Is this dangerous? The plumber said he couldn't wire it in by law and had to get a proper electrician to do it, I assumed it had been done properly...

 

[stem]

The concept is not really dangerous, but it's not good practice. However the boiler FCU with a 3A fuse cannot exceed a total load of 700W.

Didn't you make mention of an outside light being connected to it as well??

Professionally installed Alarms will have their own dedicated circuit for security (which it probably did until the boiler was installed) so that in the event of a fault on another part of the installation, the alarm is not effected.

Also, it will depend upon how the existing units are wired together. For example do they just share a common 20A supply from the consumer unit, or is one fed via the fuse of the other? Like B-A-S said who knows how it's been wired.

 

[alan0259]

Not sure on that last part, not up on electrics that much (know how to wire a plug! lol).

All I know is that it's like this...

Untitled

• alan0259
• 7 Sep 2012
• 1

Hope that makes more sense to you.

 

[danechip]

800W outside light. Are you sure about this?

 

[alan0259]

800W outside light. Are you sure about this?

Just checked the Wickes site, ok maybe its a 400W light

 

[stem]

Untitled

• alan0259
• 7 Sep 2012
• 1

From that picture, it looks like the FCU with the switch operates both the alarm & the boiler, and the FCU without a switch is for the light. It's a dogs breakfast, I think that you need a to engage the services of a professional to sort it all out and wire it up properly and definitely don't connect anything else to it.