Low down on electrical spurs

[dm65]

Morning chaps

A friend of mine asked how many spurs you have from a ring circuit as he wants to add additional points in his living room for a computer corner

I thought you could only have one spur from a ring but googling seems to imply you can have a spur from each socket on a ring which doesn't sound right to me

I also read that you can have as many fused spurs as you want but can't get my head round this - can you get individually fused sockets or does this mean some fixed appliance with a fuse plate inline (one of those blank plates with a fuse held in the front and held by a screw)

Any sparkies not working today ?

Thanks in advance - going for pizza now

 

[markturner]

You can indeed have one spur from any point on the ring. And yes about the fused spurs. They protect the smaller cable from carrying anything more than 13 amps.

Rgds, Mark

 

[dm65]

You can indeed have one spur from any point on the ring. And yes about the fused spurs. They protect the smaller cable from carrying anything more than 13 amps.

Rgds, Mark

Cheers Mark

So, one (only) spur socket on a circuit unless fused but what is a fused spur ?

 

[dm65]

Had a look on screwfix - fused spur is what I described in my op (all genius, no guess work involved) so no good to my pal

So, if I am right (going for two out of two) he cannot fit, say 3 double sockets to this spur - limited to a one ?

Also, if I remember correctly, he is allowed to fit this as a diyer, but not connect it or is he allowed to connect but must get it tested and certified ?

 

[flying haggis]

you can have a spur from any point on the ring ie socket,junc box but if you want multiple sockets from a spur point you can feed from a fused connection unit that is spurred from the ring to as many sockets as you want as the fuse in the connection unit will then protect the cable to the sockets

ie this

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CM2365.html

feeding these

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CM2356.html

or for simpleness?

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/BSTS12G.html

how was the pizza?

 

[dm65]

Thanks fh

I think I've got it now (nice 12 way extension socket btw)

Just been reading about radial sockets which helped to muddy the waters a bit

Pizza was great, warmed up from last nights takeaway - a hot and spicy (covered in those little dynamite birds eye chilli's), 12" stuffed crust - nom nom nom (salivating now)

 

[Grahamshed]

I was talking to the sparkie that wired up my workshop. He said one spur from each socket. He also went on to say that we were about the only country that bothered with ring circuits, most countries presumably just use direct multi socket lines of the fuse board.

 

[dm65]

Thanks Graham - I had a couple of sparkies out here yesterday (diagnosing a plumbing fault for the plumber who said it was an electrical fault - another story) but I totally forgot to ask them about this - doh !

 

[MMUK]

Personally I don't like to install spurred sockets, you're essentially mixing a ring circuit with a radial circuit. It's not good practise and any decent qualified electrician will have been taught that. A proper FUSED spur is different and you could use one of these to feed several sockets, ideal for a PC setup as even the most demanding PC system will never draw anywhere near 13A.

Just remember that by adding any kind of spur you are potentially reducing the capacity of the ring part of the circuit by as much as 30%.