Electrics upgrade cost?!

[mindthatwhatouch]

Can I ask why go for 4mm radial rather than 2.5mm ring? If the sockets go around the entire room surely the latter makes more sense?

The advantage of a ring main is that it makes it easy to spur off in the future should you want to. That’s about it..... oh and the cable is a bit cheaper.
As spectrum said, you’re better off with a radial for this application.

also to the OP, fit MORE sockets!

 

[porker]

A lot of sparks don't fit ring final circuits anymore. They are a hangover from the post war period when copper was expensive. The main issue I have with them (apart from sometimes having difficulty running the return leg) is that a fault on the ring will remain undetected and you effectively are running two radials protected by a 32A breaker with a 20A cable rating.

As mentioned earlier I prefer singles in a conduit for a garage. Makes it a lot easier to pull the cable and you can add to it. Also go for more sockets than you think you will need. Its not always the number you have either, its often where they are for convenience.

 

[DBT85]

The main issue I have with them (apart from sometimes having difficulty running the return leg) is that a fault on the ring will remain undetected and you effectively are running two radials protected by a 32A breaker with a 20A cable rating.

Ahh, now that's an explanation I can understand! Thanks.

 

[--Tom--]

Can’t find the itemised detail but getting my double garage all done with lights, 16a sockets each side, 13a sockets each side and some on ceiling, and new board with mcbs (can’t remember the letter for them but for the 16a worth telling the spark what they’re for and getting ones rated for machines with a high start current) came to around 1500+vat. I had more sockets than I need put in so they are in convenient places.

 

[Spectric]

Can I ask why go for 4mm radial rather than 2.5mm ring? If the sockets go around the entire room surely the latter makes more sense?

Because rings are from a bygone age and are an absolute nightmare to fully test and inspect. You need to remove the six wires that make up the ring from the board, often not as easy as that sounds and then link out to perform a ring continuarity test and then link out so all live conductor impedances are in parallel with the neutral conductor impedances, then measure L-N at all sockets and should all be equal if nothings wrong but is often where hair loss begins because someones bridged the ring somewhere, say no more and thats why I prefered industrial to domestic as people did not mess around with the systems.

In a domestic propery you often have to drop the run down and back up from each socket so you use much more cable. If your sockets go round the room then you just loop in and out until you reach the last socket and thats it, no return to the board. In a workshop you can run a circuit down each side, theres lots of positives.

 

[AJB Temple]

In a domestic propery you often have to drop the run down and back up from each socket so you use much more cable. If your sockets go round the room then you just loop in and out until you reach the last socket and thats it, no return to the board. In a workshop you can run a circuit down each side, theres lots of positives.

This is a really good post from spectrum. ^^. I wired up my kitchen, with testing and sign off from a suitably qualified and registered sparks. I had read the part 18 regs and watched a lot of you tube, but I had no concept of how fiddly it is to test a ring until he showed me the bodged up wiring in the house when we first bought it.

Radial wiring is simpler, and more logical. The calculations are easier. I had to fit thicker cable but with no return that was not a big deal. He very firmly suggested that we fitted a new consumer unit in the kitchen that had lots of space for expansion, and we went mad on sockets as it is far easier and pretty cheap to over spec as long as you do it during the build. It is very easy to isolate and test different circuits.

Apparently the UK is a rarity in using ring main designs.

 

[NickWelford]

I think the electrics in this country deserve an overhaul, certainly for domestic applications as we now use a LOT of low power devices in the home....I think i have something like 15 things plugged in behind the telly!

We used to have two circuits in the UK and had two sizes of plug, which were round pins. It was a pain. I just use a usb gang plug.

 

[craigs]

We used to have two circuits in the UK and had two sizes of plug, which were round pins. It was a pain. I just use a usb gang plug.

I was thinking more 9-24v transformers that everything comes with, not USB plugs lol