Electrician Question

[crookedeyeboy]

Im looking at having some new sockets put into our garage for obvious reasons.

We currently have one socket right at the back of the garage and what I really want is maybe 4-6 sockets at the other end of the garage.

A couple of questions:

a) What should I ask an electrician for when they come for a quote? I take it I need to tell them what I will be using the sockets for as they are going to be pulling more power than normal appliances etc....

b) What should I expect to pay as its not exactly loads of work but I want it doing properly.

Thanks

[Belter]

Im looking at having some new sockets put into our garage for obvious reasons.

We currently have one socket right at the back of the garage and what I really want is maybe 4-6 sockets at the other end of the garage.

A couple of questions:

a) What should I ask an electrician for when they come for a quote? I take it I need to tell them what I will be using the sockets for as they are going to be pulling more power than normal appliances etc....

b) What should I expect to pay as its not exactly loads of work but I want it doing properly.

Thanks

A) you want to ensure you can pull enough current. E.g. Boiler 3kw (one circuit), HLT 3kw (another circuit) otherwise you'll be pulling too much through one supply. Just explain to him what you want. He'll understand. Hopefully.

B) *scratches head* *breathes out* it's gonna cost ya

[boingy]

If you are looking at 3kW type stuff consider using a couple of those blue "commando" sockets. They cope much better with the sustained current draw and should only add a few quid to the cost, especially if you buy them rather than let the sparky stick a mark up on them.

e.g.:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electri ... 430/p20698

As for the cost. No idea, but I bet it's more than you want to pay...

[darkonnis]

Who knows, it depends literally on how much needs doing and how much you can do yourself.
For example, in my house I need another few sockets for fuses in the consumer unit, which means I need to replace it. So theres £100 before I even begin. Next there is running armoured cable through to the garage so there is another £35.
Fortunately the leccy I used when I had my lock up is happy enough for us to run the individual bits out (IE run a coil of wire out, fix it in place, attach sockets and the like) and he just turns up and does the bits we've left, and checks its been done. Not all are like that, some won't even entertain jobs which have prior installations. Of course, thats their decision but make sure they're alright about you supplying your own bits.

As boingy says... irrespective of what I've said above, it'll be more than you want to pay. I totalled mine up to £400 before shelving the idea and deciding on other ways to supply the power for now until i can find some money

[oakwell]

it's not possible to assess the amount of work required and therefore the cost without knowing your exact requirements and the existing supply arrangements. the work will need to be certified to comply with the building regulations. a competent spark will be able to advise. get 2 or 3 quotes.

[crookedeyeboy]

Thanks Guys. I want to run two 2-3Kw elements for the HLT off one lot of sockets and another two 2-3KW elements from another socket or sockets for the boiler.
Not too fussed about the cost just want to make sure I'm asking the electrician for the right stuff so that I don't blow the RCD every time I brew.

[FUBAR]

I'm looking into running another power supply into the shed the current socket isn't up to it as soon as the boiler is plugged in it just throws the trip out,but just know its almost certainly going to be silly money to do the job

[lord groan]

Ouch!
If I read your comment right that's up to 12kw on heating elements plus any ancillary equipment, 12kw is about 50Amps or so, so you're looking at a supply approaching that of a small house! Lots of chunky copper cable required
I think your electrician is going to be quite cheerful.

[UKTony]

12kw on heating elements

And of course the usual diversity rules cannot be applied. Usually a high power cooker with multiple elements has a quoted max amperage (say 50A) but is designed so not all can/will be on at once (diversity) so the actual load is lower (say 32A to match a cooker socket and associated MCB).

This allows lower gauge wire to be used which reduces cost. You will save a lot of money if you limit the system to only HLT or Boiler on at the same time - a well installed cooker circuit (4mm), with only one 32A MCB required, gives a maximum load of 7KW good for a twin element boiler.

[orlando]

You must be realistic about how many things you have running at one time. For example at some point during my brew day I have 3 kettle elements that are pulling current, 2 in the boiler 1 in the HLT. A fridge controlled by an STC 1000 and occasionally even have a stir plate going, I also have a laptop plugged in running my brewing software. A solar pump is also used at some point but not with all the rest running, but having enough can get quite numerous, err on the side of "silly" then pare back if cost doesn't allow. In the end I went for a separate consumer unit from the domestic supply to ensure anything going "wrong" wouldn't affect that.

[crookedeyeboy]

I knew this wasnt going to be easy, back to the drawing board, I dont know why people are suprosed about the amopunt of power being used, we all do it at some point during the brew day as Orlando has mentioned. Im not even running a laptop or stirplate. This cant be that hard surely......

[bigrichlock]

Sounds like you requirements could get expensive, what i have is a 32amp socket mounted next to the consumer unit under the stairs and when i have a brewday i plug in what is in effect a big extension lead that goes to my brew panel.

Its run from a 32amp breaker with 4mm arctic flex, according to on line calculators this can run about 7Kw although im sure i have probably pulled 9kw through it for short periods when running my RIMs.

The next step after this is 6mm twin and earth which if you get mounted permanently ie running with other cables and passing through caverties and amongst insulation this is likely to be rated for less than the 4mm arctic flex just run across the floor.

In my opinion you are better off just managing your element usage and making sure you have no more than 2 on at any one time, then 4mm cable may just be man enough to do it.

Rich

[crookedeyeboy]

Thanks Big Rich, but I still have the problem that I only have one socket in the garage. I dont want to start trailing wires through the house/kitchen window/garden just to power two kettles in effect.