Free

[Adam]

Given the 28 sockets I've got in my workshop, I've decided these are excess to requirements.

They are ideal for mounting over workbenches etc. If you are interested PM me, if more than 1 person is interested, I'll split them up one each.

They are free.

I'd imagine this would be of most interest to Brightonians or East sussex'ers

Adam

 

[Gary H]

Adam

:shock: 28!!!!!! :shock:

I'm only planning 3 doubles Then again, they are RCD's.

Too far away for me mate. Thanks for the general offer, though. :wink:

Ta muchly

Gary

 

[Adam]

I've got an RCD on the whole house, 3 doubles will never be enough - e.g. 1 x router, 1 x sander, 1 x table light, 1 x radio, 2 x random batteries recharging, 1 x tablesaw, 1 x shop vacuum, 1 x dust extractor, 1 x P/T, at a minimum, and you;ll need each of those in a minimum of three locations to cope with moving the shop around.

I have actually another of these bars of 5, which I'm keeping for my workshop, as I'm finding you need sockets on each wall.

Adam

 

[Gary H]

Hmmm, might have to re-evaluate the situation.
I think you have a point, there. Better to have too many than too few.

Tsk, Tsk...out comes the drawing board again..Ho-Hum. :roll:

Gary (with pencil in hand)

 

[johnjin]

Hi Adam
That is a very generous offer.
But you are a bit too far away from me.
Mind you if it was a tablesaw that you were throwing out the distance would shrink very rapidly. :lol: You can not have too many sockets. I have about twentyfour at the moment and that will be increased by at least another 10. The idea is to have the sockets where you need them including on the ceiling so that you don't have to have trailing cables going everywhere.

 

[Alf]

28 seems about right, although as usual with Adam's workshop, I have to wonder where does he find room for them?! :? Kinda lost track of how many there are Chez Alf, and that's a mad neanderthal, get-that-tailed-demon-away-from-me talking. :roll:

Just don't lift them, Adam, that's all. They're not "light" sockets... :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Chris Knight]

Alf,

Adam's shop is clearly a variant on Dr. Who's police phone box! No doubt he draws his power from the hyper warp time drive.

 

[Adam]

Adam

I'm only planning 3 doubles Then again, they are RCD's. Gary

Wouldn't it be a lot easier to RCD the input to the shed, and then use normal sockets this would be cheaper and more convenient as you could move the sockets around, add circuits etc at your convenience, and you only have to have the cost of the "RCD" once?

 

[Alf]

Adam's shop is clearly a variant on Dr. Who's police phone box! No doubt he draws his power from the hyper warp time drive.

Go on then, Adam, show us your Sonic Screwdriver.

 

[Gary H]

Adam.
I do plan to RCD the whole thing using one of these

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?ts=66462&id=14770

from inside the house, with armoured cable from the house to W/S. Then I was given 3 of these

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?ts=66562&id=13149

by one of the maintenance lads in work. As I'm of the 'keep the costs down/take it home as you never know when it may come in handy' persuasion, I figured I may as well use them.
Advice would be very welcome as to this being overkill or the best way to go about it other than this :?

So you see it will only cost for the fused connection unit.
( This isn't my idea BTW, I did seek advice from a sparky!)

Ta Muchly

Gary

 

[Shadowfax]

They look useful!
I could have made use of them some time back but I already re-wired the workshop - damn!!
I can't remember how many sockets I have now but I do know one is never far away when I need it.
That is a very generous offer though, Adam.

SF

 

[Anonymous]

Gary

Just had a look at your screwfix link to the RCD thingy. Just a thought but it says it is only rated at 13A.

Regards

Roy

 

[trevtheturner]

Hi Gary,

Just digressing from Adam's very generous offer, I agree with the others who all say you need to install plenty of sockets. I initially fitted 14 sockets around my workshop some three years ago and they all now get used regularly - three are in use for dust extractor, Microclene air filter and workshop vacuum cleaner..........before I even plug in a machine or tool! After three years I shall now need more sockets soon. So, yep, best to fit plenty when you start, then they will be where you want them and, as johnjin said, you'll avoid those dangerous trailing leads.

Being cost conscious, too, I used metalclad sockets and switches from Screwfix. They have all been fine for me with no problems. Sockets now £38.25 for a pack of 10 doubles:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro ... 3&id=14687

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[Adam]

Gary,

That RCD you pointed towards on screwfix is never going to be enough, I'd recommend taking 20-30 amps out minimum, maybe 50 amps as a more realistic number. My tablesaw runs 10amps on its own, and the dust extractor another 3, at steady state. At switch on, assume they take double (they don't quite, but it's a good figure to use), so I'm already needing a 26 amp supply, if you then add lights, a heater, few spot lights, battery rechargers etc, you'll be wasting you money with a low current RCD like you have indicated.

Hope that helps,

Adam

 

[Gary H]

Yeah, I see Adam.
Definite re-evaluation needed. Can you get these in higher amps though? If not, whats the best way to go? I can't really have a dedicated supply from the fuse box as it's on the other side of the house. Anyway it's old and would need replacing before I could run anything else from it - I don't think there's room.
I think I'd better read through some old posts for advice.

Damn! Just when I thought I had it all worked out, too! :evil: Still, better to find out now, eh.

Thanks all!!!

Gary

 

[Anonymous]

Gary

Have a google groups search on uk-diy on getting power to a workshop. Lots of info there. From my experience anything posted by Andrew Gabriel or Dave Plowman can be trusted. I'm afraid it probably won't make happy reading for you .
It looks to me from a reading of your post like you had planned to take a spur off an existing ring in the house. Really your only supposed to have one 13A double socket on a spur like this. A dedicated supply for workshop machinery is really the best way to go (IMHO). Then you have to consider exporting earths and then........ (it's a can of worms.)
Finally, if you don't get it completed soon the present legislation obsessed government is intent on bringing the IEE regs within the building regs and you'll have to get it certified. And they've changed the cable colours so it will be apparent if any work is carried out after part p comes into effect (oops, I'm going off on one, I'll stop now ).

Sorry to rain on your parade.

Roy

 

[kityuser]

i know for a fact that my planer blows a 13amp fuse when it spins up.... would`nt be any good on one those fancy sockets!!!

 

[Gary H]

Wow, thanks Roy. This is something I've got to put some more thought into, obviously.With my skills as an electrician I would have a great career as a window cleaner, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys

Gary ( off to do lots of heavy research!!!)

 

[Martin]

My Brother used to be a sparkie and I was discussing this very same issue the other day with him - am planning a reorganisation of the workshop to fit in more power tools and have decided to sort out the electrics once and for all as well...

He said much the same as you Roy - that you are limited if you decide to take spurs off the ring main. His suggestion was either to make the workshop circuit part of the ring main (in effect break the existing ring main and extend it) or better still to take a dedicated supply off to the workshop. This was only a 10min conversion and I may have got some of the details wrong, but in essence that was what he said.

Roy: On the subject of IEE and building regs, I always thought that DIY was more or less exempt from the building regs (except where it comes to gas installations). Is this not true? (or is it about to change)?

Cheers,
Martin.

 

[Adam]

Gary,

I had the same problem as you, that the house electrics are in an understairs cupboard, on the other side of the house to the workshop. Nontheless, I managed after several hours to get the armoured cable under the floor and by lifting a floorboard was able to bring it up directly to the fusebox. Luckily for me, I have space (and a new fusebox) so was able to give it a dedicated fused circuit on its own. If you fuse box is old (and full) I'd seriously recommend having it replcaed, and if you get one with RCD built in, then your workshop will automatically be protected. Think of it as an "investment" on your house, and you can justify spending money on it to SWMBO as you are improving the house safety with an RCD protected house!

Adam