Electric in the garden shed and "part P"

A quick question for you guys, I'm aware that if I want to put an electric socket in my shed and wire it into a switched-fused spur in the house then I need to get my local council's building control department in.

However, am I correct in assuming that if I just use an extension lead and plug the cable into a socket in the house then this circumvents this requirement?

TIA

Reply to
Dark Angel
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Yep, daft or what. If I were you, and if you're confident you can do the job properly, I'd just go ahead and wire the shed up properly from an RCD protected supply. Don't bother telling the council.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Perhaps the best illustration of why Part P is quite so counterproductive...

Do the job properly and you'll spend 80% of your budget on pen pushers. Do a dangerous bodge and it is exempt!

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

I use an extension lead running to my greenhouse to power a heater (frost protection only). It's plugged into an external socket protected by an RCD.

Is this dangerous ?

TIA.

Reply to
Hugh Jampton

Yes, someone might trip over the lead.

Reply to
Nobody

Would that not cause a problem when you came to sell the property?

Reply to
Dark Angel

But how would the buyer's solicitor know that the work had even been done?

Even if the buyer specifically asked the question "Is the wiring to the shed legal and complies with Part P etc", then it is likely that any vendor is likely to say that the extension to the wiring was done in 1998 or whenever and that if the buyer wanted to make sure that all was well with the electrics of the house, then they are welcome to pay for a full inspection.

It's this sort of thing that makes a mockery of Part P. 'Sort-of' competent DIYer who might normally defer to a tradesman if he was unsure is now even less likely to ask them due to the increased cost for such a small job.

For those who are competent (and I mean well competent and more than capable of such a job - you know who you are!) but not doing enough electrical work to be bothered getting registered under one scheme or another, they will be breaking the law.

Anyway, sure all this has been debated before. Just my 2p worth.

Replace 'spam' with 'org' to reply

Reply to
Kalico

Not if it was done three years ago, or next month. :))

Reply to
EricP

I hear you, BUT all cable these days has the year of manufacture stamped onto the outer sheath. Difficult to say it was wired up when you moved in in

2005, but the cable has 2007 on it (im talking worse case scenario here of course)!
Reply to
Dark Angel

Thanks for the tip about the cable. Supplies were laid in some time ago for this eventuality, but not some of the other stuff. :((

:)

Reply to
EricP

But it's ok to replace a cable for an existing circuit, which has been damaged! ;-)

Reply to
Dave Jones

Hmmm, and if you've been there a few years who's to say WHEN the original cable was laid?

;-)

Reply to
Dark Angel

With a bit of luck it will be the building inspector

Reply to
Matt

The electrical book I have just bought [1] suggests running a rough wooden trough in the ground in the ground to receive the cables, "the trough being filled up solid with bitumen, which is poured in whilst hot. A more waterproof and more permanent job can hadly be devised."

Owain

[1] Marshall's Practical Manuals No 2 - private house electric lighting. Price 1/6 net.
Reply to
Owain

On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 15:56:30 +0100, Owain scrawled:

Similar to an article from a magazine I was reading the other day [2] which recommended that;

"..the cable can run in conduit buried at about 18in deep where it will be free from normal digging operations. If polythene cable is used it could be buried directly in the ground. In either case it is a wise precaution to cover the cable with bricks, tiles or half-round asbestos guttering".

Which appears to be somewhat simpler in that you can just chuck it in the ground and lay a few tiles on it. Should still keep the shovel;s and spades away from it!

[1] Magazine in question was "Practical Televicion, July 1958 Edition".
Reply to
Lurch

manufactured before april 2005

-- Cordless Crazy

Reply to
Cordless Crazy

Unless there's documentation of what was there, it doesn't really matter. You're "allowed" to replace bits and pieces, so who'll know?

Reply to
Chris Bacon

It would be hard to suggest that a rewired house with every cable saying

2006 was actually rewired in 2003, but that every single cable and fitting had to be replaced since.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

... but it would be equally hard to *see* 99% of the cable anyway as much of it will be buried in walls etc. Is any surveyor even going to bother to look at the dates on cables?

Reply to
usenet

If they do, and you lied when selling the house, you could be commiting a criminal offence. You would almost certainly be liable for rewiring the house (and restoring decoration) and you could well be responsible if the system goes wrong and causes damage or injury.

It would be more sensible to just state that you did the work without permission. It would be more sensible still to get it regularised.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

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