Hi ,

I have a shed in back garden which has an electric supply of some sort - I know this because theres a light in there .
I was wondering if this means I could install a plug socket and stash my (new) tent etc in there .
The main issue with this is that I'll be using a light (250w), and a rvk with cf, plus probably a fan or hetaer (depending on outside temps).

So can I put in a socket that may need to supply 3 pieces of equipment.

Would this be dangerous , or is it quite straightforward.
Also is this a job i can do myself or do i need to get a sparky??
oh and btw what should i tell him???


cheers folks
peace

geeeep

I am not an electrician but I would say you can do it, put your ass into it!

If you are getting an electrician just tell him to put up a socket and f**k off.

IS there an existing socket there now?

or just a light?

Have you got a mate or family member with any electrical knowledge. Sounds like you don't have any idea and if I was you I wouldn't risk killing myself.

You can use any excuse as to why you want one there. You wanna plug a stereo in so you've got music outside. Your thinking about giving diy cabinet making a go so want somewhere where you can plug in and charge various tools and battery's. Whatever works for you and whatever you think people will most likely believe if you tell them. Remember, it's common to have powerpoints in garden sheds so i would doubt that having one installed would raise any questions or suspicions. Growers paranoia, as always, gets the better of us!

Stinky

I don`t know loads about eletric but you need to make sure your existing supply is on the right ring, ring main being 13amps and light ring being 8amps i think.

im not either , I'm confident with water plumbing , but lekky and gas scare me.

just a light


youre right stinky , I havent the faintest, I think I'm about to take up DIY! then (as far as s/he's concerned!)


This was what i was thinking about originally .
If it is on a different 'ring' would that mean it wouldnt be poss to add plug(s)??
if it is a different ring am I gonna need to add more cables through the garden , or will he be able to swap the 'ring' over and still use the same (underground) cabling connecting the shed to house??


hope these qs are clear .
But sounds like I need to find a spark - think I know a few in pub.
This concerns me , maybe I should just get one from the yellow pages , because although noone knows , (my herbs come from my Dads old hippy mate fyi!!), most of the folks in pub know about my habits , and my lack of diy type skills and I think they might put 2 and 2 together .

This would NOT BE GOOD , my hobby is my secret , and I dont even want anyone hypothesing about it.

thanks again folks , and any more advice gratefully accepted .

peace

Just did a quick search on t'internet and first search came up with a sparky who charges £35 per hour for him and his apprentice. He said materials extra (obviously).

Phone a couple up and get a quote. Get the parts yourself and it doesn't look like you'll be spending much at all and you'll also have peace of mind that it's done to a professional standard and meets all the safety regs.

Stinky

Any chance of a picture of inside where the cable enters the shed ?
(to perhaps help determine what cabling you've got already, be it a grey twin & earth or a big black one )

is it a long way from the house ?

a run of armoured cable aint cheap, but if it's close enough to run some steel conduit at about 2m height, from the corner of the house to the shed , you'll save £££'s
(don't know if this is allowed under the latest regs though )

doing some of the work yourself ,like the trench if needed , will keep the bill down too.

fit a switched fused spur, rcd spur preferably, fit a fuse no larger than 5 amp, and wire sockets away from the spur. you wont have 13amp like with a normal socket, but you can safely run up to 1000watts from the socket. this protects the cable supplying the shed, if you want more than 5 amps, you need a correctly sized cable for the socket circuit.

I'm a sparky so i'll try be as helpful as possible. Yes you could do it yourself but you really need to be able to judge wether the exsisting supply is good enough before you would know. I've seen many sheds and outbuildings with a bit of wire just strung across or buried using the wrong size and type of cable. This may well work a 60w bulb but anything else is asking for trouble (its not safe anyway but if your leaving stuff turned on it could be very unsafe). If the supply is just taken out of the nearest point in the house then you could end up tripping thimgs off in the house and pissing yourself off.

It needs:

A dedicated supply going outside-it needs its own circuit breaker. This needs to be RCD protected, your consumer unit may already be RCD protected does the main switch or one of them have a test button?
A decent cable supplying the shed armoured cable or at least something designed for outside if its not buried or is clipped up high.
You could really do with a circuit breaker in the shed, one for lights and one for sockets.

If you do it yourself you need to be confident in doing it otherwise at best you may end up having fuses pop, at worst doing some real harm.
Also be aware that for the work to be done according to the regs you would need to notify your council that you have done the work.

If you need to save money but dont feel comfortable doing it then get someone to look at it and then do all the donkey work yourself after asking what you can do. You can buy the gear yourself too but often the sparky will be able to get it cheaper anyway if you get one that doesnt rip off people. Getting it done by a pro may cost a bit more but you will have a job done well and it will be certified and above board.

Have a bit of an investigate mate and at least find out A) what the cable is that goes out there and B) what fuse/circuit breaker is feeding it.

Thanks all,,

I'm going to ask a spark from the pub , Ill bring it up subtle , say Iwant to sort a 'workshop' for me other half , or some such .
Then get him to come check .
Depending on his advice I ll either do it myself (under instruction) or more likely get him to do it, with me doing the lions share of the physical stuff.
Ithink that it will be better to be sure and safe even if it costs a few quid.
I love me shed (and family) and dont want either burnt or damaged.

(I think there is a power breaker inside the house which is for the shed???
Ill take some fotos tonight and postem.

(i must admit I am concerned about asking someone who knows me , just cos im sure they'll guess.............surely justpothead paranoia tho..)

thanks again for all the eminently sensibl advice


peace

Bit of paranois good for you mate . Seriously you dont need to worry this time unless you already have a grow in there! Just tell him you want to put a little beer fridge in there or something. I used to put supplies in to loads of sheds and garages and shit and i've also wired up a load for grows, dont worry about it- you cant tell the difference unless you either know or theres a fuck load of weed and trimmings there. Bloody hell mate it can be full of pots and compost it dont matter. Good luck

cheers solarchild.

Im sure you're right . Im just not very subtle about my habits , frankly everyone knows im a pothead - i take quite a lot of pisstake for it.
But yeah , I want music and cold tinnies in the garden , and maybe a nintendo too (to escape from the fam occasionally .

All those beerheads will surely appreciate the need for cold beers!!(and a place to escape the rest!)

ps my shed is FULL of pots and compost and garden type shit but i love me garden , and they all know this too, from their free toms , courgettes etc

but i spose paranoia=stealth i guess


Thanks to everyone who's replied , and I'll thank you all again when i dont kill mesen with a shock

peace

Good call on the electrician

I've diyed this myself a few years ago... just spured off an (suitable) existing socket, drilled through the wall to the outside, fed the cable through, connected the 3 cables to the back off the socket, connected a waterproof socket on the other end. My CU is rcd protected too.

Was pretty straight forward, getting the extra cable in nice and snug (tight) in back of socket was a bit fiddly though.
Should take about half an hour to an hour that way.

I'd never fit a shower though or touch the CU, way out of my diy skills

What I said above, is just about as far as I'd go concerning diy electrics

it'd be a fookin corker if you got one of the resident sparks here , chime up one day
'' guess who asked me to look at their shed today..."

best of luck geeepwr