Electrical help / advice please

My apologies, I seem to have posted links to a page from the older (possibly more stringent?) part P.

Edited By V8Eng on 20/12/2016 16:30:21

I don't think you did. I have had a quick read of that page and I cannot see anything that is incorrect.

I think the thing to clarify is that Part P is just one of the building regulations, like Part L for for conservation of fuel and power and Part M for access and use of buildings. Any work done has to meet all the building regs. So as an electrician I need to ensure correct energy saving (part L), correct height of sockets (part m), structural integrity (part A) etc etc.

Then there is the wiring regulations (BS7671), this is what gives wiring methods, earthing requirements, details current carrying capability etc. This is what is published by the IET (formally IEE).

On top of that the the Electricity and work regs (heath and safety) and other stuff including requirements from the network operators which might actually vary from region to region.

The confusion comes because Part P is often used to refer to the means of certifying (which is actually done against BS7671) and notification which has to be done for some, but not all work - basically new circuits and special locations. A shed is not a special location but this does involve new circuits so will need notifying.

I'm glad I but my lead to the garage in a long time ago Toby but in my case my machines are run in the house and are ok on a ring main. The link to the garage is far more capable than what I use in there.

I've worked in development for my whole life. Odd unusual jobs crop up at times and muggins usually gets them. The electrics part stemmed for a control panel that carried very high currents. I needed to talk to some one about copper current carrying capabilities bus bar style. The person that ran the works engineering side of things was a fellow of the IEE. I walked into a lab where some gear had been installed by the site electricians. It was a bit unbelievable. Put my hand on some conduit and it wasn't just warm but hot. The conduit just wasn't big enough to carry the cable the gear needed. Following that I had a lot more involvement in this sort of thing when needed and was allowed to connect the supply up.He was able to authorise that and was impressed by my wiring capabilities on other things that I had done. A side line of my job has often involved electronics and similar problems crop up.

If people want to know what's what in this area I would suggest they buy an Electrician's Guide To The Building Regulations. One of it's aims is to clear up the confusion for people who actually work on the job. It was an IEE publication. It's now the IET. There is some jargon but it is pretty understandable. It covers both the building regs and the electrical requirements. Really it's the fellows of what is now the IET who probably set the wiring and etc parts. The current regs in that line were being passed around a long time ago now and haven't changed that much really. Both of the houses I did would need very little further work. I did know that bonding was coming but didn't add it. I checked these out by unplugging everything, taking the light bulbs out and using a full blown megger on all of the leads to ground at the consumer unit.

I'm not suggesting that people buy this book and go diy but it does give a much better idea of reality than the web does. However if I wanted something done in this line I would be very likely to get one just to see what is possible and what the complications are likely to be.

John

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Plug a 200 amp welding set in, crank it up to max voltage and spark it up with a nice heavy bead.

See how long the breaker holds

My garage has a special breaker feeding it from the house consumer box, the garage has it's own consumer box, other outbuildings are fed from sockets (not 13A) in the garage with their own breaker boxes where the supply comes in.

- Nick