electrical sockets suitable for a car port?

Oct 31, 2010 27 Replies

Hi,



I had a car port which is made of brick on three sides but open on the fourth. I'd like to fit a socket in there, to save using the extension lead. I would place it near the back to keep it as sheltered as possible but since one end of the car port is always open to the elements, would it be wise to use something with IP and if so what level of IP?



TIA


IPx4 or greater, you will also need RCD protection.

MK Masterseal are likeable, albeit expensive. Failing that there are "GET" IP66 sockets on Ebay quite cheap (as well as MK Masterseal quite cheap). Generally white Masterseal go cheaper on Ebay than grey, the white is a little stark n noddy but in a sheltered area it may not matter so you can pickup a 1G Masterseal socket (unswitched) for about =A39.99-12 depending on the flavour of the month. Winter is a good time to buy such stuff as it tends to go for lower prices it seems going by the past 3-4yrs.

MK Masterseal are likeable, albeit expensive. Failing that there are "GET" IP66 sockets on Ebay quite cheap (as well as MK Masterseal quite cheap). Generally white Masterseal go cheaper on Ebay than grey, the white is a little stark n noddy but in a sheltered area it may not matter so you can pickup a 1G Masterseal socket (unswitched) for about £9.99-12 depending on the flavour of the month. Winter is a good time to buy such stuff as it tends to go for lower prices it seems going by the past 3-4yrs.

MK Masterseal are better made than most BUT - I've installed something like 10 or 15 arround the farm, and almost without exception the foam rubber sealing bit for the plug cable falls out over time. They can be glued back but that assumes you notice when it happens and don't loose it.

AWEM

The "double-block" bit at the bottom? You can in theory buy it, masterseal part # 56837, but it is probably quite expensive.

One note about the seal is they do not like certain rubber cables - I suspect rubber sheathed (eg H05RRF) rather than neoprene sheathed (eg H05RNF). The seal is maintained, but the cable sheath swells appreciably, it returns to normal once removed from the outlet. Just a note.

Type IP56 socket & IP66 socket into Ebay, brings up a quick selection to google at :-)

Oops, nearly forgot - most sockets will not seal over a moulded cord grip (MK will not, eg, B&D hedge trimmer, Bosch hedge trimmer, Karcher pressure washer). Something to bear in mind.

On Sun, 31 Oct 2010 21:45:21 +0000 someone who may be Fred wrote this:-

Sockets which are suitable for playing hoses over are available . These can be mounted outside the car port.

Less well protected sockets are available too .

There are some other options on the right of .

In message , Fred writes

The Masterseal sockets are nice but expensive. I used them where things were likely to be left plugged in and exposed to rain etc.

But under the carport in the old house I fitted something like this, as the location was protected from rain, and I wasn't likley to be using it when it was raining anyway.

Any weatherproof socket really. While the MK masterseal work ok, I find they can be a bugger to open the cold (you need to push up on the base of the cover to disengage a fairly strong clip action - which often results in minor injuries I find).

I quite like these:

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are nicer to open and a good deal cheaper (note the doubles can be wired as to independent sockets if wanted).

Internet Protocol? Intellectual Property? Indian Police?

What ARE you on about?

Pretty obvious, in context. Others seem to have grasped it...

This number gives me NU.

Our cart-bay garage has ordinary sockets at the back of it (i.e. what you'd find indoors). The sockets are all at the back, that is at least a car's length from the opening, so either it wasn't done to code or there's some rule about that.

Ingress Protection

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I have a not dissimilar arrangement, with a covered but open-on-one-side lean-to on the end of my conservatory.

I used one of these

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code

looks of it and not noticed.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It seems that I need something weatherproof, which surprised me a bit because it is at the back of the car port and it won't get wet unless we have horizontal rain and if that happens, I guess we'll have other worries! But if that's what I have to have, that's what I'll get. I notice all the recommendations were from TLC; they must get a lot of business from here ;)

Rain is not the only thing that is wet... I would not be surprised if you wake some mornings and find the car is soaking wet from dew alone.

We had horizontal rain a couple of days ago. Everything was wet under my carport and its 13ft from the open side to the wall, even the underside was wet.

No dear, you'd just fallen over again.

Their website produces nice short permanent links with no session-IDs and that don't get borked going through usenet with a limited line length. They also have quite good pictures of stuff on their site so it's useful for answering "you need one of these" type questions.

Other suppliers are available.

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