Modify Shed Electrics

[Paul Cooke]

Hi I would be grateful for some advice on a new project I'm just about to commence.

I am turning my summerhouse into a home office and recording studio.

As it stands the summerhouse is powered by 'normal' grey cable run directly from my main consumer unit with its own RCD to a socket in my garage and from this socket Armoured cable (I think the cable is 6mm) through the garden into the summerhouse and from there it is spilt off powering 2 double sockets and 1 light. All of this was installed by a qualified electrician.

I would like to put a small consumer unit into the shed so that I can add extra sockets and lights but mainly so the feeds between the power and lights are separate e.g. if the light blows the RCD then the power wouldn't go at the same time. (is that correct?)

I am competent and confident with working with electrics although not qualified in anyway and my line of thought is all I need to do is use the current armoured cable as the feed to the new consumer unit and then run circuits of that around the summer house.

Can anyone see anything wrong with what I'm proposing both legally and practically Safety is my main concern not the cost of getting someone in to do it.

Many thanks for any advice offered.

 

[winston1]

Seeing as the RCD is feeding the cable to the garage and on to the shed anything tripping it will also affect the shed lights and power anyway. Putting a second RCD "in series"in the shed won't help as most likely both would trip but even if only one tripped you cannot guarantee which one it will be.

You don't need a CU in the shed, the lights and power sockets can be extended off what you already have. I assume the lights are fed via a fused connection unit. If you are worried about being plunged into darkness due to either a fault trip or power cut you need to fit battery powered emergency lights.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I am competent and confident with working with electrics

I'm afraid that confidence is misplaced, because you are not the former. I don't doubt your sincerity, but you've got the old "unknown unknowns" problem going on.

 

[Paul Cooke]

Winston1 - thanks for your reply, point taken on both possibly tripping out. As far as I can see the lights are not on a fused connection unit, it seems its just fed into a normal switch (although I haven't investigated the exact wiring setup in the summerhouse yet so it may be but I haven't seen it !) I may just put a small CU in there anyway as it would make it easier for me to wire in the various sockets / lights inside the walls which will eventually be dry lined. I'm assuming from my original post there is nothing illegal about doing this?

Ban-all-sheds - not sure how your post is helpful but if it makes you feel superior - thanks for the comment

 

[JohnW2]

I may just put a small CU in there anyway as it would make it easier for me to wire in the various sockets / lights inside the walls which will eventually be dry lined. I'm assuming from my original post there is nothing illegal about doing this?

Not illegal to do the work, but the way that many people interpret the rules, 'putting in a small CU' would be 'notifiable work' (failure to notify being illegal - even though no-one ever seems to get prosecuted!) - and notification could cost you at least a couple of hundred pounds (but would cost virtually nothing if a registered 'self-certifying' electrician did it).

Kind Regards, John

 

[Paul Cooke]

Thanks John, on that basis I will get the original sparky in to modify it as I would prefer to stay legal even if there is little chance have getting caught !

 

[JohnW2]

Thanks John, on that basis I will get the original sparky in to modify it as I would prefer to stay legal even if there is little chance have getting caught !

The alternative would be to forget the CU, which is probably unnecessary - and then the work would probably not be notifiable.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Paul Cooke]

Point taken - once I've assessed what I actually need in there power wise I will speak to my spark and see what he recommends is the best option

Thanks again for the advice, very helpful

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Ban-all-sheds - not sure how your post is helpful

I thought it would be helpful to you to draw your attention to the fact that the reason you think you are competent is that you don't realise that you don't know the things you should, because you have no idea about them.

but if it makes you feel superior

Not at all.

 

[Paul Cooke]

Thank you - I understood the purpose of your reply just couldn't see the point of you making it or how it helped in my quest for information

 

[JohnW2]

Thank you - I understood the purpose of your reply just couldn't see the point of you making it or how it helped in my quest for information

You're not alone. Virtually everyone comes to a forum like this to ask questions, and, as far as I can make out, BAS appears to take the view that almost anyone who needs to ask questions is therefore not competent.

By that definition, there can't be (m)any people in this world who are competent in any field!

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I think I might take the view that you are competent at neither reading nor comprehending.

I do not take the view that people who need to ask questions because they are aware that there is something they do not know are ipso facto incompetent.

But people who believe that they are competent because they are ignorant of their ignorance of something important are incorrect in their self-assessment.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I understood the purpose of your reply just couldn't see the point of you making it or how it helped in my quest for information

You said that safety was your main concern and you were clearly mistaken in your belief that you were competent. If it did not help you to have that drawn to your attention, then I can only conclude that you don't really care about safety because you don't care whether you are actually competent or not.

 

[JohnW2]

But people who believe that they are competent because they are ignorant of their ignorance of something important are incorrect in their self-assessment.

I'm not sure that someone who comes here specifically to ask "is that correct?" and "Can anyone see anything wrong with what I'm proposing ...?" can really be regarded as being ignorant of their possible ignorance.

Kind Regfards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

"Competent" was/is not the right word to have used because (lately) it has been the only requirement for an 'electrician' to be sent out into the world to work in other people's houses, where they should not need to ask how it's done.