Tumble Dryer 15mtrs from Socket

[lbarnard10]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some advice,

I'm looking to put a tumble dryer in my shed, however the closest wall socket is roughly 15mtrs away. I know i need to keep away from a extension lead.
I'm guessing I need some armoured cable but other than that i need advice.

Thanks

Louis

 

[JohnW2]

I'm looking for some advice, ... I'm looking to put a tumble dryer in my shed, however the closest wall socket is roughly 15mtrs away. I know i need to keep away from a extension lead. I'm guessing I need some armoured cable but other than that i need advice.

Welcome to the forum.

Given that you need to ask the question,, and can only guess at what is needed, I think the best advice you can be given is to get an electrician to install a socket in your shed - which, as you guess correctly, will probably involve the use of armoured cable.

Kind Regards, John

 

[robinbanks]

I know i need to keep away from a extension lead

Why? I have a 50 metre extension that's good for 3100 watts fully unwound.. (I'd recommend a dedicated circuit to the shed, but if push comes to shove..)

If you purchase a heat pump dryer it should be less than a kilowatt

 

[flameport]

Why? I have a 50 metre extension that's good for 3100 watts fully unwound..

That type of extension is the exception.

Plenty are rated for less than that even when unwound, and in general people should not be encouraged to use extension leads for anything other than temporary items.

 

[blup]

I managed to wire up a 2.5mm2 T+E rubber cable in a 13A plug to cover 30 metres of ground, so that should be ok for your needs. But as said not suitable for a permanent outdoor cable.

 

[ericmark]

With a heat pump, be it a freezer, fridge, or tumble drier, non inverter drives are very voltage dependent, however at 600 watts they do not use that much power to start with, however there is a temperature range both too cold and too hot needs to be avoided.

Other types of tumble drier, the condensing type if not a heat pump type, need water or air cooling. So needs to be in a reasonable large room. Or have water supply and drain, these tend to only have one rating.

The vented drier often has the option of running at reduced power, my old one could run at 1000 watt.

If a light is used, max length of 1.5 mm² is 26 meters, with a 10 amp load, no lights, 43 meters, so cable needs to be at least 2.5 mm² at which 70 meters max with no lights, and with lights 42 meters, so seems for that distance looking at 4 mm² so with lights 71 meters with a 10 amp load.

Getting 4 mm² into a 13 amp plug is not really possible. So it would need to be a new circuit, and so needs registering, and the LABC route is too expensive so as @JohnW2 said, simply not a DIY job.

 

[ericmark]

I have a 50 metre extension that's good for 3100 watts fully unwound

No, it is not, the volt drop with 50 meters even with 2300 watts is over the permitted 5% for supplies without lights.

 

[JohnW2]

No, it is not, the volt drop with 50 meters even with 2300 watts is over the permitted 5% for supplies without lights.

I was unaware of any 'permitted limit' for voltage drop in plug-in extension leads.

Indeed, even for fixed wiring of an electrical installation, a voltage drop of any magnitude is only 'not permitted' (well, not compliant with BS7671) if it 'impairs the safe functioning of supplied equipment' - and I really can't think of any sort of equipment that would have a 'safety problem' because of low supplied voltage, can you?

 

[EFLImpudence]

I'm looking to put a tumble dryer in my shed, however the closest wall socket is roughly 15mtrs away.

 

[ericmark]

Since we don't know the type of tumble drier used, can't say if there is a volt drop is likely to be a problem. Sorry, 15 meters is more reasonable. And yes 1.5 mm² is within limits. I saw @robinbanks post and mixed the two up.

 

[JohnW2]

Since we don't know the type of tumble drier used, can't say if there is a volt drop is likely to be a problem.

I can but presume that any appliance sold in the UK should be able to work satisfactorily down to a voltage of about 204.7 V (lowest 'permitted' supply voltage minus guideline 5% VD within installation) or less?

 

[SUNRAY]

No, it is not, the volt drop with 50 meters even with 2300 watts is over the permitted 5% for supplies without lights.

I haven't done a calculation for this but I'm thinking 2.5mm² may just be in for 3.1KW at 240V but it will be right on the cusp. Off the top of my head I think 13A at 230V is not quite 3KW but is good for 50m of 2.5mm². 3KW is certainly the maximum figure we work to for site temporaries.

If it's a commercial extension lead on a reel I'll make a guess it's 1.5mm² ( I have several) for which our max figure is around 1.7KW.