Electrical installation

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

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

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