Workjshop Electrics??

[side-show-bob]

Hi all

I have ordered a new 20x10Ft workshop and will need to run power to it, i was thinking of taking the supply from my consumer unit in the garage to a consumer unit in the shed, is this ok? can i feed a consumer unit from a second consumer unit?

 

[brightspark]

Hi all

I have ordered a new 20x10Ft workshop and will need to run power to it, i was thinking of taking the supply from my consumer unit in the garage to a consumer unit in the shed, is this ok? can i feed a consumer unit from a second consumer unit?

theres a lot of variables .is the consumer unit in garage conected directly to the meter /what size mains tails are feeding it . is there a spare way in consumer unit .what is your power requirement in shed .

 

[Wedg1e]

Do what the previous owner of our place did: have the electricity board run a new 3-phase feed to the workshop, then spur the house off that

 

[Dr pepper]

I dont want to bore you with blurb, but legally you now have to be certified to ieee regs to be able to do anything more than simple work, the drawback of this is your house insurance might be void if the place burns down.
Anyway you'd need to weigh up the load demands of the shed, and including diversity whether the garage consumer unit can supply it, but it can be done.
One way to bend the rules is to use an extension reel, plug one end into the garage, and the other end can have one socket for your stuff in the shed, and the other socket can have a light plugged in, none of it fits a 'permanant' status.

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

can i feed a consumer unit from a second consumer unit?

Not unless you are Part P certified. Can you pay an electrician to do that? Sure.

http://www.theiet.org/publishing/wiring-regulations/part-p/

Issues to discuss with electrian: current requirements, length of run, RCD protection, specialist equipment such as welders might require different MCBs, running cables underground (armoured, depth), weather proofing

 

[sima]

You can run all the cables and connect them. You only need a part P certified electrician to test and certify it. Also if you go to your local council and submit the plans and have them inspect it you don't need to be part P certified.

If you have a mate who is an electrician then get him to point you in the right direction.

As long as you get what is known as the descrimination correct you can feed the shed off the garage. discrimination is ensuring the shed breaker trips first before the garage breaker (in simple terms). If your distribution board in the garage has a spare slot or "way" in it then you can feed the shed with it. You will need to know the size of the cable feeding the garage to know it's current carrying capacity..........This will determin weather it is man enough for the job. If you plan to run heavy equipment in the shed then you may need a full new supply.

I will come down off my high horse now

Nice bug by the way. I am restoring an 11 window 63 splitty at the moment after finnishing and selling on my 1303 resto. Air cooled is the only way to go.

 

[awemawson]

My new workshop was classed as 'commercial' despite actually only being a hobby, I was permitted to wire all the (extensive) 3 phase distribution and lighting, then had a local chap certify it. He wanted to know which firm did the installation as he didn't know any local ones that would do such a professional job <G> I'd run 4x2 trunking all round and used conduit spurs off that to the various outlets (this a a 40' x 25' converted barn)

It now has a 160amp per phase 3 phase supply directly off the 11kv transformer in my vegetable patch

 

[Dr pepper]

As a leccy that sounds correct.

Only thing is actually getting a leccy to certify it, not the sort of thing I'd do as you'd be asking someone to put their name to your work, and if they dont know you well maybe not, the other thing is that the leccy who certifies it cant fo it for money, you'd either have to do a back hander or make something up, but make sure noone finds out or the cert will be invalid.

 

[sima]

I am also a spark and if someone installed vbut left all the enclosures open I would have no problem certifying. All earthing, connections and conductor sizes can be seen and in a workshop installation you can see what mechanical protection has been used. A quick look over the justification for the use of the components and you have all the info you need.