Power + network to a shed 25m from house - rough price?

Soldato
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I'm currently using a splashproof extension lead to get power to my shed, but it's getting tedious keep reeling it up the garden. How much would I be looking at to get armoured cable hooked up to the shed if I dug out a trench myself?

I'd also quite like network access in there, so how would be the best way to go about that? Could the network cable be buried in the same trench as the armoured cable? Would it just be a case of drilling a hole in the house wall and feeding the cable through to a face plate, like you would with an aerial?

If it's going to cost £1000+ i'll just continue with the extension lead, but I might still give the cat5 a go myself as it would be great to take my laptop with me to stick Youtube on while i'm working.

Thanks.
 
Soldato
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If you dig the trench yourself and drill the wall of the house yourself, it's not even half a days work for a spark to lay a cable and terminate both ends.
As for the cat 5 I would run it in conduit underneath the armoured cable, then like you said just terminate to a faceplate inside.
 
Soldato
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I've done this myself over a 40m run for 2xSWA for power and 2xCat 6 for network - all cables run in the same 50mm impact resistant conduit.

If doing it manually, I recommend using a proper trench shovel and pickaxe. Go down a minimum of 45cm (ideally 60cm) and lay the conduit in shingle/sand for drainage.

Cable spec, I went for Cat 6 and the best shielding (S/FTP or SSTP). Terminate and gland everything properly - bugs get into everything.

Alternatively, i've seen SWA clipped along a fence - not sure what the regs state on this but your electrician (who you should be consulting on this anyway) should be able to advise. If you don't want to or can't run network cable in this manner -consider one of these:

https://mikrotik.com/product/wireless_wire

I have one between my house and my garage (mounted outside under soffits) and it's been faultless thus far - does require PoE on boths ends however, so you'll need PoE switches or power injectors.
 
Soldato
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Thanks for the replies, those prices are better than I was expecting. I'll do as much of the work myself, but i wouldn't know where to drill the hole through to the house for the armoured cable.

Also i'll have a look into that wireless link if the cable route doesn't work out.
 
Associate
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You will need some form of consumer unit in the shed itself.
25m of swa, a garage consumer unit and gland pack is probably going to be around £70.
Depending on how it’s being connected up on the supply side (eg. back to consumer unit, which will be what the electrician will want to do) then you’ll need to factor in the cable back from the external wall of the house, potentially a new MCB or even consumer unit if it doesn’t meet the required regulations due to the new circuit being installed. Obviously no one here can tell you what labour is involved that side of things.
So I will go with it piggy backing off a ring main or socket radial and I will also assume that the consumer unit/MCB is up to standard.
Probably 2-3 of hours labour to chuck the cable in and connect and test. Maybe an extra hour to wire in a single socket in the shed. - £250-300 is a good guide price. Obviously this will rise if the install is more complex at the supply side.
 
Soldato
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Thanks. The consumer unit is over 20 years old, so hopefully it still meets current regulations..

Doubtful but there's no rules saying you can't expand an older board that I'm aware of.

Sparky should just say "could upgrade board to metal and you'll be rcd protected".

Granted in this situation he will probably force a secondary CU with RCD as his cable will need to be protected. At which point board upgrade makes more sense!

I believe if he spurs off a socket for the install it will count as circuit extension and he can do under original regs. If you go back to CU it wi be a new circuit and subject to current regs.

Not sure if they have a clever clause in regs in regards to doing this for garden circuits.
 
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Associate
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Doubtful but there's no rules saying you can't expand an older board that I'm aware of.

Sparky should just say "could upgrade board to metal and you'll be rcd protected".

Granted in this situation he will probably force a secondary CU with RCD as his cable will need to be protected. At which point board upgrade makes more sense!


Yep, to abide by regulations any alterations or new circuit installations must meet current regs. The consumer unit is part of the circuit, whether it is existing with NEW alterations or not the consumer unit still needs to meet the regs. Which means that the circuit needs to be supplied by a split load RCD protected metal board. Don't get this mixed up with the fact that an older board doesn't require immediate upgrading off the back of an electrical inspection - as that is correct. As I said whether it is a new installation or existing, part of the certification is to ensure the WHOLE circuit conforms to regulation as the designer/installer is now taking ownership of that WHOLE circuit and certifying that it is safe, half of the circuit meeting regs and the other is not what I'd call safe. Of course, this can be a can of worms and 'reasonably practicable' is the phrase that gets thrown up but a 20-year-old consumer unit will need attention.

You could have a smaller board installed off the back of the meter tails alongside your current consumer unit - this can sometimes be cheaper and can sometimes be a nightmare. This depends on what your current install is like. If you have RCD protection already then the chances of getting any issues with underlying cable faults are small than if you have a board with rewirable fuses - in this case, I'd push for a board swap and it should be pain-free. If not and you want it cheaper then a secondary fuse board can suffice.

You will still need a consumer unit in the shed as well (a submain).

This is why Part P exists, anyone can connect a cable but start talking about RCD discrimination... My granny can connect three wires of the same colour together but will it automatically disconnects when she fries herself on it - I'm not so sure!
 
Soldato
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Thanks a lot, I had no idea about any of that. I think I need to clear out all the junk from under my stairs then get someone in for a quote and to find out exactly what needs doing and if its feasible for a reasonable price.

There are a few other things that could do with being looked at as well, like there used to be fire alarms that were hooked up to the mains and an electric immersion heater that was replaced with a combi boiler, plus the combi boiler is just plugged into a socket and i'd prefer it to be wired in properly.
 
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