Try speaking to builder about being unhappy, if no joy there and you
do not mind creating ripples speak to building control at the council.
It will probably be worth paying the builder £50 to split the ring
main. It will be a darn sight easier at this stage. Otherwise it will
be worth making a note of the cable routing for the ring main so you
can plan how to split it later.

Much as I appreaciate the desire to have a freezer of the RCD, I would
also not want to see the remaining kitchen appliances off the RCD. So
if I wanted the freezer separate then I would run a separate cable on
its own trip just for the freezer.


On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 14:00:07 -0000, "Paul" paul at javajedi dot com
wrote:

I have a question for those expereienced electricians among us. I am buying
a new house,
and now that the second fix has been done and the CU installed I can see
that there is only a single ring serving the whole of the house sockets.
(additional circuits a lighting upstairs inc smoke alarms, lighting
downstairs, electric cooker).

I have serious reservations about this, as I was expecting two rings, one
upstairs, one downstairs.

I have done some reading of the uk.d-i-y FAQ, purchased IEE onsite guide to
16th
edition wiring regs, had a read on the web and spoken to the NHBC. The
general consensus of all
these is that the regulation states:

- Ring should not cover more than 100m^2

And thats about it. Now I am pretty confident that with a tumble dryer or
washing maching typically pulling up to 2-3KW each (washing machine is cold
draw only - Bosch), that all I have to do is boil the kettle (3KW) or have
the misses use a hairdryer (2-3KW) on washday and the ring will trip. Thats
not taking into account loads from things like Dishwashers, computers, TVs
and the like. This concerns me as (a) I have 2 computers I usually leave on
24/7 and they will not like it and (b) I have an alleregy to setting the
clocks on everything electronic and can barely cope with twice a year for
daylight savings!

Looking at the builders brochure, although their figure of 1000sqft would
mean 93m^2, they have taken the main foot print of the building. Calculating
with the protruding garage area at the front, and the protruding kitchen
area at the rear (all served by the same ring) the foot print is over
100m^2.

My Question: Can anyone tell me a way I can express the single ring being
overloaded referencing the IEE regulations?

I know that the 100m^2 figure is just a guide, but there are 34 sockets fed
from this ring, and I am sure I will be using nearly every one; its just not
up to the job. I am not sure how to prove that though quoting the
regulations, which is what I am going to need to do to get the builders to
take notice.

Thanks for any feedback

Paul

Email: paul at javajedi dot com


Lawrence

usenet at lklyne dt co dt uk