New garage!

[shrunkenmaster]

I'll be moving house in the next couple of weeks and am lucky enough to have been granted free reign of the double-length garage!

I'm wondering what electrical setup people are running to power multiple cabs. I'm looking at running around 15-20 cabs eventually (only have 3 at the moment!). I have a fair understanding of electrical systems as I'm currently half-way through a 3-year course on the subject, but any tips/suggestions from you guys who have a large number of cabs would be appreciated!

 

[DanP]

My garage has it's own RCD and it's own wiring rings. Dunno what rating the cable going into it is but it's about the diameter of an old 10P coin so pretty hefty. Not had any issues running 20 odd cabs.

DanP

 

[shrunkenmaster]

My garage has it's own RCD and it's own wiring rings. Dunno what rating the cable going into it is but it's about the diameter of an old 10P coin so pretty hefty. Not had any issues running 20 odd cabs.

DanP

Sounds like a chunky SWA cable coming in. I'm looking at dividing a bit of space at the end for a workshop, so one circuit for that plus the lighting, and then two further circuits for cabs.

I'm also concerned about earth leakage, as I'll likely be using computer-based setups for many of the cabs. Don't want any 'nuisance' tripping of RCDs halfway through a game!

 

[Russ J]

Nice one

Wish I had a single garage never mind a double jobbie

 

[guddler]

You shouldn't have any problems. I have an armoured cable about the size Dan describes that is coming off a 30A feed in the main house. It runs approximately 120 feet to the shed where it terminates in it's own fuse box. In there there's a circuit for the lights, 2 circuits for cabs (dirty circuits if you like) and a circuit that just has IT kit on it. It's now all my PCB repair kit and so on, plus my server but it was originally my office stuff so PCs and the like.

I also ran 4 cat5e GBit network cables up there. 3 connected to wall sockets in the shed, 1 just coiled up as a spare. I did all that as once it's buried 3ft under the path it ain't coming back up again in a hurry

All behaves itself quite nicely.

guddler2013-06-09 21:38:02

 

[shrunkenmaster]

You shouldn't have any problems. I have an armoured cable about the size Dan describes that is coming off a 30A feed in the main house. It runs approximately 120 feet to the shed where it terminates in it's own fuse box. In there there's a circuit for the lights, 2 circuits for cabs (dirty circuits if you like) and a circuit that just has IT kit on it. It's now all my PCB repair kit and so on, plus my server but it was originally my office stuff so PCs and the like.

I also ran 4 cat5e GBit network cables up there. 3 connected to wall sockets in the shed, 1 just coiled up as a spare. I did all that as once it's buried 3ft under the path it ain't coming back up again in a hurry

All behaves itself quite nicely.

Good to know Guddler, cheers. Just want to avoid any issues that others may have come across.

 

[floodito]

Lovely bit of space for cabs. I'm sure that project will be top of the to do list when you move in.....!!!

A 3 core 10mm SWA can be run off a 40A breaker which should be plenty. If the garage is quite some distance from the house you could go for a 16mm to allow for volt drop and to give you a bit of room to manoeuvre. It can be calculated exactly if needed once you know the distance and the load. If you're worried about nuisance tripping just get a split load distribution board. Half covered by the RCD and the other half on normal MCB's.

I trained as a sparks when I left school so if the new house is still in Sussex I'd be more than happy to pop over if there's anything you're unsure about.

Brett

 

[shrunkenmaster]

Lovely bit of space for cabs. I'm sure that project will be top of the to do list when you move in.....!!!

A 3 core 10mm SWA can be run off a 40A breaker which should be plenty. If the garage is quite some distance from the house you could go for a 16mm to allow for volt drop and to give you a bit of room to manoeuvre. It can be calculated exactly if needed once you know the distance and the load. If you're worried about nuisance tripping just get a split load distribution board. Half covered by the RCD and the other half on normal MCB's.

I trained as a sparks when I left school so if the new house is still in Sussex I'd be more than happy to pop over if there's anything you're unsure about.

Brett

Cheers Brett, pretty much what I thought. And luckily the new place is in really good order, so the garage won't have to wait for too long!

 

[shrunkenmaster]

Bad news...

With only a couple of weeks before contract exchange, we finally had the Land Search back after six weeks.

It turns out there is/was a landfill site on the other side of the road which is now grassland. Hasn't been used as such since the 80's, but Environmental Health say that methane, Co2 and more have been leeching out and have been found under neighbouring properties in concerning quantities.

It rates as B on the toxicity scale, with A being the worst. A homeowner two doors up applied for planning to build an extension and were advised they'd need a special gas-proof membrane laying.

The council wanted to put a permanent travellers site on the land, but couldn't even put them there due to the health issues!

So, a lucky escape, and within two days of learning this we've had an offer accepted on another property. If all goes well, I'll have space in the garden for a new building approx 25x12 feet, so all is not lost.

And we'll be able to grow stuff in the garden, which is nice!