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K

kroe

Hi, this is my first post so sorry if I miss some of the etiquette that usually accompanies these questions.
I'm also slightly embarrassed to be asking it, as I'm sure I already know the answer.

I have a contract for a company that install timber framed out buildings in peoples gardens, (30 grand sheds!) The contract allows for the first and second fix of the buildings along with the connection and testing of the installation. The feed, is an SWA, spec'd but not ran by me. This is ran in place by the groundwork team, usually long before I set foot on site from the consumer unit in the property to my new sub consumer unit in the new building.

Anyway this has worked fine, without hiccups for a number of years,maybe 60 buildings or so down the line. This next job however has apparently no viable access to the consumer unit from the rear of the house. It is a ground floor garden flat, in Maida Vale, with an immaculate interior that has no viable route for a cable of any form. The client is ready to pull the plug on the job, and the director of the company having assured the client that a solution is in hand has requested me to meet them onsite in the morning with said solution.

I'm confident of being able to reach a socket, but not confident 13 amps will suffice for the load of the building (LED spots, sockets, 2.5kw panel heater,and smoke alarm). I think 32 amps would be ok, and the board at the new building will be rated accordingly to achieve discrimination.

What I'm asking in a very long winded way is this; is there a SAFE way to pull 32 amps from a ring circuit?
Like I said I think I already know the answer to this!

Thanks in advance.
 
I know what you mean, it's often a problem I have, no access without lots of disruption!

I know it sounds bad and I would not do it, but I suppose you could, not that I old, but could you extend the ring own the garden, so take two runs? It sounds rediculous and non compliant, just voicing my thoughts. That way you would have a 32A ring in the shed from the house?

Like I say, it's certainly not something I'd do and I highly doubt it's compliant in any shape or form.
 
Only thing I could suggest is the possibility of running two separate 13A spurs from different points. And preferably off two different ccts; kitchen and ring ccts maybe.... Heater on one and sockets etc on other. It could get silly though. No possibility of using D Line or similar decorative trunking maybe? Good luck!
 
No you can't take a 32A feed from a single point on a ring final circuit. The loads on a ring should be equally distributed as far as practicable to avoid overloading any part of the ring.
 
Yeah thanks guys for clarifying what I knew.
I made the two hour drive to make a site survey today, and discovered a meter cupboard in a communal area, which is accessible. I'll run it from the origin.
Still a waste of a morning! And I got a parking ticket for my trouble!!!
 
Dave is quite correct that the ring should be balanced, but for small periods you can exceed the recommended 20 amps Iz of the cable, but only for a short period of time. Reg 433.1.2014.

It is not great design therefore to advocate what your looking to do simply because of the loading involved with the heater. Extending the ring out is an option and really not a bad one. How far is shed. Have you any services going out to it that is metal?
 
discovered a meter cupboard in a communal area, which is accessible. I'll run it from the origin.

Sounds like that's your only option. Switch/fuse in the meter area and run SWA from there. Just make sure the meter area is not reserved for "electricity company equipment only".
 
What sort of ring? A ring main or a ring final?
It was a ring final circuit in a bungalow that was diverted in to the garage to feed a sub board that then fed all the outside supplies. We were there as there was a fault in the summer house (which housed the pond pump, filter and UV). It was definitely a DIY job. The pond was huge though It was an old outdoor swimming pool at one time.
 
I've come across this too but feeding a small 2 way unit for sockets and lights in a garage [on 16a and 6a MCB's respectively] . In all honesty I couldn't see anything significantly wrong with the method as long as it doesn't get fiddled with.
Talking of D.I.Y.work, another common one is taking loop in lighting wiring to an outside light so you end up with 3 cables there. :nonod:
 

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