hello all basically my dilema is that i have moved to a new grow location recently(large shed) and it requires quite a long extension of power from house to a shed with no power and no sockets
i am reasonably competent at wiring however i am unsure of what wire is suitable for this?

i intend to wire a plug into the kitchen socket of the house and travel this along the side of my house about 14m into the shed where the wire will go into a wall mountable socket which i will plug my contactor into and my lights into the contactor
is this safe? and what sort of wire should i use?

as for safety, i'm not sure. but i would use the heavyest (within reason) cable i can get

There is cable especially designed to be buried. I would get this and bury your cable if you can. In the states I believe it's called Romex.

i think its called armidilo cable in england....bnq sell it off the top ov my head....

ideally what you need to do is come from the consumer unit(fuse board)
if you have room for a spare MCB in there
depending on what you want to be running in there id go for 4mm or 6mm S.W.A
then into another small CU in the shed....wire the socket/lights from that
and you'd be better of going to a wholesalers than B+Q...probably cheaper

My bro is a qualified sparky - but don't just take my advice blindly - get it corroborated by someone else.

Legally, (which you may as well do, as it reduces the number of charges on your rap sheet and reduces the fire risk) you need ARMOURED CABLE which is the only thing that can be buried underground and needs to be at least two feet deep.

I know people who have then placed redundant roof tiles over that armoured cable to protect it further from over-zealous gardeners.

Make sure the cable is rated for the current you want to carry and then some - ballasts enjoy an initial surge before settling down to a lower current draw.

Make sure that the cable comes off a new unused rcb off your mains board - do not connect it to the ring mains.

then place a mini mains board with built in rcb units in your shed and take off your leccy there.

Put a sticker on your house mains board that says something like 'cooker' or other heavy duty appliance - or just leave it blank in case LEO looks at it. What better way to find a grow room than to follow the wire (duh!).

If you want to save money do all the work yourself EXCEPT connecting the wire at the house mains distribution board - that needs a part p qualified sparky otherwise it's illegal. Tell him you have a new workshop or something-he might want to look at it as he is liable.

Screwfix is pretty good for all the stuff you need discussed here.

hope this helps

vangraffe

Top advice. If it's a shed, you don;t need to explain yourself, washing machines and power tools can used lots of juice!

Just get it checked over by the sparky who connects it to the main board for safetys sake mate... I would anyway...

Thankyou very much for your replies they were very very helpful and hopefully i shouldnt burn the shed down now

i just drilled a hole through the wall from inside through the back off a socket in my living room, spurred off my ring circuit with 2.5mm armoured cable, into a 16A RCBO mounted in an enclosure in the shed feeding one double socket.

armoured cable can be buried at any depth, it doesn't even have to be buried, but a big fat cable trailing across your garden doesn't look good

Apparently you cannot do outside electrical work unless you are qualified, or have it checked independently...

Quote from:
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...?article_id=394



"You are also not allowed to do any work outdoors. Failing to comply with this new law can be a criminal offence. Having said this, an unqualified person is still allowed to make an installation outdoors, providing they have it checked and approved by a Building Control Authority to ensure that it complies with Wiring Regulations. You must also first report to them the fact that you intend to start the work.

Alternatively, if your outdoor installation is not permanently connected to a house or garage supply, but is plugged into a 13A plug socket, then it falls outside the scope of the Building Regulations. However, just because it is plugged in rather than permanently wired does not make the electricity any less dangerous, and so it must still comply with the Wiring Regulations.

The Wiring Regulations define, for example, that all buried cables must either be of the armoured type or within a steel conduit or a concrete duct (not a plastic tube or hose pipe). They also make it mandatory that all outdoor installations are protected by a 30 milliamps Residual Current Device (RCD). "

yep, that's all true ^ but as the guys growing weed, he's probably more worried about safety than the law. as long as you're sure that you're competant, then i'd say go ahead. as long as you say the installation was placed before the cutoff date (can't remember the actual date... google has the answer!) then they have to prove otherwise
technically i'm not allowed to do domestic installations, yet i've put high voltage 11kv generator installations with megawatts of power! the law is an ass

Yes, I'd agree with you on both security and that the law is indeed an ass!

Personally, I always err on the side of security and that means doing the job well, as you suggest.
For me that means complying with all the regs. I just wish peeps would spend as much on security as they do for the whole setup; a few hundred quid is always worth keeping out of jail and/or keeping away from the knowledge of the local cops.

Backdating the installation date is an idea worth keeping in mind - I hope the reg isn't so old that the newness of the cable gives the game away. Nice thought in any case

vangraffe

yep^ the maximum by uk regs is spur 16A breaker from a ring main (ring main is 32A) and an rcbo is a circuit breaker and rcd in one. perfect for a shed

it's only a few years ago that this part p crap came in, so just say it was done before 2004 i think. other than that, how i said will comply with all regs.

providing that the plug you spur off is part of the ring main and not a spur itself! if it is a spur you can always blank off the sockets inside the house if they aren't being used.

and don't worry, the cable wont give you away

"A non- fused spur is permitted to feed only one socket or one permanently connected item of equipment. Permanently connected equipment should be locally protected by a BS 1362 13 Amp fuse or by a circuit breaker not exceeding 16A. A seperate switch is not required where switching for safety is provided by the circuit breaker. Refer to IEE GN1 Selection and erection of electrical equipment Appendix C which gives guidance on standard circuit arrangements. Note If it is foreseeably likley that the socket in the shed wil supply outdoor equipment 30mA RCD protection will be required. RCD protection will also be required for the supply to the fixed equipment if Zs is not low enough to achieve 0.4 second disconnection."