Is the electric in my garage hooked up?

[K.C. Leblanc]

Whats the difference? Currently having my house rewired and thinking would it be worth stating rcbo instead of mcb? Or are they likely to use a rcbo as they are doing it all to the new 18th edition standard?

I'll try to write a longer explanation late, but basically you won't get the safety advantage with if you go for RCBO because you'll still have RCD protection. But you will get a convenience advantage since in certain circumstances only one circuit would trip instead of several.

The ops situation is a bit different since his board it much older.

 

[tom_nieto]

I presume you tried plugging something into the socket right?
(Not your tongue/fork/screwdriver etc).

 

[R-evans]

just a tip if there fitting a smart meter may want to ask them about a isolator between the meter and the cu. they may already be fitting it but i would check then if any work needs to be carried out in the future your electrician can isolate the electrics without the main fuse needing to be pulled ( i know only dno allowed to remove it, but some electricians will risk it).

reason i suggest this is we are with eon and just before christmas we wanted our cu changed and the electrician wanted a isolator fitting...shouldnt cost that much but supplier has to fit it...cost us 98pounds +vat onto bill but heyho had to be done.

by the way we have 2 consumer units and the call centre wanted to charge us twice.. i told them that i only wanted the day unit isolating and the night unit could stay (by this stage was a bit annoyed with there attitude) guy comes out..hey presto fits a double unit same money,,

Thanks, I'll mention it to them when they come out.

As other have said, the garage wiring looks highly suspect. I wouldn't bank on being able to reuse any of it.

If you've got an electrician in I'd also look at getting the kitchen socket circuit breaker to changed from an MCB to an RCBO. If the board is still supported this should be an easy job and will give you a substantial safety upgrade.

We will most likely have a full rewire when we renovate (few walls to knock down) and convert the attic, but that won't be for a year or so. I was mainly wondering if I could hook the garage up for immediate use with not a lot of work, but it seems to be not the case.

Shudders, is that an asbestos roof?

It is, well spotted. It was flagged in our Building Survey and we got the asking price dropped considerably to cover the work to remove it, same goes for the rain water downpipes. All safe as long as we don't mess with any of it, so no real rush to get it removed but it will be sorted at some point.

I presume you tried plugging something into the socket right?
(Not your tongue/fork/screwdriver etc).

I didn't need to, as there is a hanging wire where the light fixture was I figured it can't be hot.

Thanks all for the replies, quite a lot of knowledge about electrical to say it's just a computer forum

 

[casper_uk]

@casper_uk
Mcb are like fuses, so trip when over current draw
Rcd are earth leakage so trip when an electrical component breaks down to earth
Rcbo combine both into one unit, big benefit is that with a single Rcd covering several mcb you may get close to or exceed the mA rating of the rcd and then get nuisance tripping.

I'll try to write a longer explanation late, but basically you won't get the safety advantage with if you go for RCBO because you'll still have RCD protection. But you will get a convenience advantage since in certain circumstances only one circuit would trip instead of several.

The ops situation is a bit different since his board it much older.

Cheers, will try and see what the installer is planning to do tomorrow.

 

[Duke]

Please report back with what the electrician says

 

[Graetzbridge]

why what will happen?

Possible lethal electrocution.

 

[K.C. Leblanc]

We will most likely have a full rewire when we renovate (few walls to knock down) and convert the attic, but that won't be for a year or so. I was mainly wondering if I could hook the garage up for immediate use with not a lot of work, but it seems to be not the case.

I think for now an extension lead is probably the best option.

Even if you don't go for a full rewire you will probably need to replace the board if you're making any big changes since the Proteus board isn't compliant with current regs. While the Wylex board is probably ok, it's best to consolidate it all into one board.

 

[SimonR]

Wylex board is plastic enclosure, so probably isn't compliant either.

 

[Syla5]

It is, well spotted. It was flagged in our Building Survey and we got the asking price dropped considerably to cover the work to remove it, same goes for the rain water downpipes. All safe as long as we don't mess with any of it, so no real rush to get it removed but it will be sorted at some point.

Very easy to self remove and dispose of if your local council is like ours and they have a recycling centre that can accept it.

You can order full protective gear and masks for around £50-£60 per person, as well as the bags and tape to seal it for disposal. As long as you arent breaking it up.

On to the electrical side of things, have you followed where that cable comes from inside your house? Is it possible that it is just spurred off a socket somewhere? A quick and simple check would be to plug something in in the garage, like a light, and then go through and switch off your fuses one at a time, and when the garage light goes out it will tell you which circuit the garage is on.

 

[lewism]

You’d be better getting the electrician to fit a Elucian consumer unit, fully loaded with RCBOs (they are about £150 just now from the wholesalers) or spend a couple hundred quid and get an EICR done. I’d probably just get the board changed personally and any remedial stuff done at the back of it.

judging by the age of the socket in the garage and the awfully suspect lead sheath the cable is probably knackered and been disconnected under the floor. It’s either that or the old linen wrapped cables. Those old brown MK sockets are at least 40 years old as well.

 

[Reuben klang]

@casper_uk
Mcb are like fuses, so trip when over current draw
Rcd are earth leakage so trip when an electrical component breaks down to earth
Rcbo combine both into one unit, big benefit is that with a single Rcd covering several mcb you may get close to or exceed the mA rating of the rcd and then get nuisance tripping.

AFDD as well, they’re a complete rip off at the moment though.

—

In all seriousness I’d be looking to just get rid of all that asbestos and replace the entire cable right of the bat. You’re going to have to get that cable removed and no one is going to do that and replace it with having to go through that sheeting.

Expensive but it is what it is.

 

[Mr.Cookie]

@Reuben klang cheers I'd never heard of them so just looked up.

This is mine though so ops looks positively futuristic

 

[R-evans]

I think for now an extension lead is probably the best option.

Even if you don't go for a full rewire you will probably need to replace the board if you're making any big changes since the Proteus board isn't compliant with current regs. While the Wylex board is probably ok, it's best to consolidate it all into one board.

I'll see what the electrician says on Thursday when they come out to fit the smart meter, a friend of mine changed supplier and when he came to fit his they ordered a full rewire, he had to pay but was a lot cheaper than if he had hired an electrician to do it himself.

Very easy to self remove and dispose of if your local council is like ours and they have a recycling centre that can accept it.

You can order full protective gear and masks for around £50-£60 per person, as well as the bags and tape to seal it for disposal. As long as you arent breaking it up.

On to the electrical side of things, have you followed where that cable comes from inside your house? Is it possible that it is just spurred off a socket somewhere? A quick and simple check would be to plug something in in the garage, like a light, and then go through and switch off your fuses one at a time, and when the garage light goes out it will tell you which circuit the garage is on.

Thanks, I'll look into it. The garage probably needs to come down completely so will tackle the roof at that point when we are ready to build a new one.

@Reuben klang cheers I'd never heard of them so just looked up.

This is mine though so ops looks positively futuristic

We had a similar looking board in our previous rental house, kitchen would constantly trip if we boiled the kettle while the cooker was on. Mentioned it to landlady and she sent her electrician to update the board.

 

[Mr.Cookie]

We had a similar looking board in our previous rental house, kitchen would constantly trip if we boiled the kettle while the cooker was on. Mentioned it to landlady and she sent her electrician to update the board.

Ours thankfully behaves itself