Electrical installation

When I had my shed built I decided to have twice as many sockets as I thought I would need. I planned to have them mounted on the roof beams which were at a height where I could easily reach. The logic was that the cables would not be trailing over work benches. My electrician pal found this very difficult to accept and persuaded me to have sockets fitted at the conventional height, just above the work surfaces. We reached an compromise and he fitted some sockets to the beam that went accross the middle of the shed.

How I wish I had stuck to my guns and had all the sockets mounted on high.

Despite having a seemingly extravagant number of sockets fitted I still one of those multi socket adapters in my battery charging area!

I've had two bad electrical shocks, both off installations by fully qualified people. In my first house a plasterer was badly injured after being thrown off a ladder, the supply people had removed a meter but left the wires ,live , in the wall. Nuff said.

Lots of good advice there, chaps - thank you.

Just as reassurance, for anyone who thought otherwise - I shall NOT be doing any of the installation work, gas or electrical!! Have done a bit of DIY wiggly amps stuff in the past (quite safely and successfully) but this is way beyond my remit!

Thanks again

Rgds

Bill

As for qualified electritions, i have been to 3 photo studios in my time to sort out a problem with the electrics. once at the national phyisical labs in Teddington were the electrition blow a 200 amp fuse twice and then a 900 amp fuse in the street putting the whole labs in darkness. Then at the middelsex hospital in London which no earth on the 2nd floor, removed by the in house guys and not put back. Then at a suppliers shop ware a newly quilified sparks had put a screw right through the ring main cable, not once but 6 times. all these installations had not been tested with an avo meter or better. as for my workshop i put in ega round trunking at roof level and had severl drop down tubes to double sockets which looks good and should last a few years.

I'm not an electrician. But, bigheaded though it may seem, I am quite capable of producing wiring work equal to, or better, than any so-called electrician. Indeed, some of the work that I have seen, and some of the dangerous wiring I've seen left by these people in various houses would not be tolerated in my house.

When we bought our present house, following advice from my retirement counselling, I arranged for all the sockets and switched fused outlets (for storage heaters) to set at 600mm above floor level. Being a bungalow where the wiring comes down from the loft this was easy to accomplish. As regards the visual aspect, one soon gets used to it.

I attempted to install what I thought would be enough sockets, eg in the lounge three twin-gang outlets. One of these outlets is now a four-gang outlet with a 4-way adaptor plugged in giving a total of seven outlets (TV, VCR, DVD, Freeview set top box, powered Scart splitter & small table lamp). In another room, the two twin-gang outlets are respectively triple-gang and quad-gang. In other words, put in far more than you think you will need. Remember that the vast majority of modern electronic equipment is relatively low powered so whilst it may seem like a lot of equipment, the actual power rating will be well below the 13A limit of the sockets.

In the garage/workshop, I have a separate 20A feed which feeds a 13A switched fused spur outlet and a non-switched 13A twin-gang outlet. The spur outlet then feeds, in total, 13 sockets comprising three daisy chained extension sockets. These are all fastened to the wall and cabled back to the switched fused spur outlet and are used for the machinery, radio, vacuum cleaner etc. The non-switched sockets are used to provide continuous power, eg for battery charging. The idea is that the switched spur outlet acts as a master switch for the equipment, and because in both instances the load is behind a single 13A fuse this wiring is not, as I understand it, subject to Part P regulations. This means that I can do whatever I want in the garage/workshop, safely, of course.

I offer the above as suggestions only. Electrical safety must be paramount.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw