Outdoor electrics

[MattP]

Not sure if this is OK to do. I'm looking to install a double power socket in a summer house and a light. Has anyone out there got any advice on how to achieve this!? I guess I could take a spur off an existing indoor socket and run the cable from the house under the garden in the correct ducting but I'm not sure if this is safe or if there's any better way of achieving this.

Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated ?

Matt

 

[breezer]

You should run it in either galavanised conduit or use wire armoured cable (either way it is to give protection to the cable)

If buried the cable must be at least 2 foot below ground, marked with "caution eletric cable buried below tape"

It should have its own circuit at the consumers unit, also at the other end it should have a small two way consumers unit with rcd. Cable size should be 4mm

 

[loftus75]

As usual Breeezers advice is sound and generally correct, but I thought I'd just mention that there is no specific depth a cable has to be buried, beyond common sense that is. This particular issue came up while I was up-grading to the 16th Edition wiring regs. Like Breezer I believed that buried cables had to be well out of harms way, i.e. the deeper the better, but interestingly I had not found any specific reference to this in the regs. So I mentioned this to the course tutor who said that there was no regs specifically covering depth, though 300mm (about 1 foot) was acceptable in a domestic garden. I have to admit this seemed a little odd when you consider the regs go into great depths on so many areas, including telling you what constitutes a caravan park

One other small point. I would actually have an independent RCD in the shed and not rely on the one back at the house, the reason, RCD's respond slower the further they are from the demand source, and while a half of a second doesn't seem that long, when your hanging onto a live wire it can feel like a very long time

 

[breezer]

why not have two rcd's, i was not joking,i said havee it at the house end because if the out going cable is cut * the rcd will save your life.


* should really be under diy disasters.
Many years ago my uncle decided to change the incoming water pipe from out side, in the trench he found the old "coal gas" pipe, it didnt stand up to a hacksaw for long, then he found this "other pipe" so..... saw, saw, saw, blue flash, loud bang, melted hacksaw blade and "oh dear what was that" luckily he was wearing wellington boots and gloves at the time.

People do do sillly things ( he wont mind as he doesnt use a computer, so he won't know i have told you)

 

[MattP]

Thanks for all the helpful advice Breezer, Loftus75. I'll certainly take note of what happened to your uncle; Breezer and make sure I don't end up in the Diy disaster section!!!

All the best.....