I'm doing up an old Victorian terraced house to rent out and, bearing that
in mind (the renting bit), what would be the preferred method of rewiring? I
intend to have an upstairs ring, downstairs ring, upstairs lights,
downstairs lights, kitchen on it's own ring and an electric shower, so
that's six circuits. There's no garage or garden, just a very small back
yard so is there anything else I should consider?

I intend to put in an integrated electric oven and gas hob so should the
oven be on it's own circuit as well?

And if I go for a split-load CU with RCD (which is I believe, at least good
practice, if not mandatory these days?), which circuits should be protected
by the RCD?

I also intend to install gas central heating and the first thing that came
into my head was a combi-boiler but a couple of people I've spoken to say
that their combi's take absolutely ages to fill a bath, so any suggestions
for good powerful boilers that don't suffer from that, or any other
solutions?

Money is limited and I'm trying to find a happy medium in that I don't want
(nor can I afford) to put in the best or most expensive things because of
the risk of bad tenants wrecking things, but it has to be good enough for
people to want to rent it and live there - you can probably tell this will
be the first time I've ever rented a property out )

TIA

Steve.

In article ,
"Steve Davis" writes:
I'm doing up an old Victorian terraced house to rent out and, bearing that
in mind (the renting bit), what would be the preferred method of rewiring? I
intend to have an upstairs ring, downstairs ring, upstairs lights,
downstairs lights, kitchen on it's own ring and an electric shower, so
that's six circuits. There's no garage or garden, just a very small back
yard so is there anything else I should consider?

I'm assuming you have a TN or TN-C-S system with earth provided
by electricity supplier. If you have a TT system with own earth
rod, the answers would be different.

I intend to put in an integrated electric oven and gas hob so should the
oven be on it's own circuit as well?

Have a second non-RCD protected circuit in the kitchen, and use
this for the electric oven (providing it is intended to plug in
to a 13A socket, many are nowadays) and the fridge and freezer
and central heating. Position the sockets on this circuit so they
are not accessible for general use (e.g. behind the appliances or
at the back of an adjacent cupboard). You could label them too,
something like "Not RCD protected -- no portable appliances".

If you are having a hot water cylinder and immersion heater,
that should have a dedicated circuit.

You may need a dedicated smoke detector circuit, depending what
type of smoke detectors you fit.

And if I go for a split-load CU with RCD (which is I believe, at least good
practice, if not mandatory these days?), which circuits should be protected
by the RCD?

I would suggest all socket outlets, except for your special
non-RCD circuit. In a rented house where people might mess with
things, I might be tempted to put the shower in the RCD side
too.

I also intend to install gas central heating and the first thing that came
into my head was a combi-boiler but a couple of people I've spoken to say
that their combi's take absolutely ages to fill a bath, so any suggestions
for good powerful boilers that don't suffer from that, or any other
solutions?

That could also be a mains water flow rate issue, but I'll let
others make suggestions here.

One further thing you might consider, probably not significant
enough by itself to sway you, but add it to the decision making
process is that a combi that goes wrong in a rented house is
likely to land you with an emergency callout bill. If you have
an alternate backup way of heating the water such as an
immersion heater and a couple of electric convector heaters
available, this can tide the occupants over for a few days until
you can get a non-emergency plumber to come in and fix it.

I'm not sure why you are including an electric shower. If you
are installing a new heating system anyway, you should use that
for the shower whether it be a combi or a hot water cylinder
system.

--
Andrew Gabriel

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Steve Davis" writes:
I'm doing up an old Victorian terraced house to rent out and, bearing
that
in mind (the renting bit), what would be the preferred method of
rewiring? I
intend to have an upstairs ring, downstairs ring, upstairs lights,
downstairs lights, kitchen on it's own ring and an electric shower, so
that's six circuits. There's no garage or garden, just a very small back
yard so is there anything else I should consider?

I'm assuming you have a TN or TN-C-S system with earth provided
by electricity supplier. If you have a TT system with own earth
rod, the answers would be different.

Yes, that's correct - earth supplied by electric company.

I intend to put in an integrated electric oven and gas hob so should the
oven be on it's own circuit as well?

Have a second non-RCD protected circuit in the kitchen, and use
this for the electric oven (providing it is intended to plug in
to a 13A socket, many are nowadays) and the fridge and freezer
and central heating. Position the sockets on this circuit so they
are not accessible for general use (e.g. behind the appliances or
at the back of an adjacent cupboard). You could label them too,
something like "Not RCD protected -- no portable appliances".

If you are having a hot water cylinder and immersion heater,
that should have a dedicated circuit.

The old copper cylinder and it's cupboard were in a decrepit state so I've
had to get rid of them anyway and I didn't intend to replace them, instead
just relying on the combi to provide hot water as necessary, but your point
below about emergency call-out charges and having an alternative for the
tenant should anything go wrong with the combi make sense.

You may need a dedicated smoke detector circuit, depending what
type of smoke detectors you fit.

The council don't require mains smoke detectors unless the house is being
split up for multiple occupation. If renting to a single tenant or a single
family, ordinary battery-operated ones will do, which I find really strange.
However, I wouldn't feel happy with that and I intend to fit better ones
anyway. I'm going to fit a burglar alarm and I know that some of them accept
inputs from smoke detectors - would anyone recommend smoke detectors and
combined burglar/fire alarm control panel, or is it better to go with
mains-operated, independent smoke detectors?

And if I go for a split-load CU with RCD (which is I believe, at least
good
practice, if not mandatory these days?), which circuits should be
protected
by the RCD?

I would suggest all socket outlets, except for your special
non-RCD circuit. In a rented house where people might mess with
things, I might be tempted to put the shower in the RCD side
too.

I also intend to install gas central heating and the first thing that
came
into my head was a combi-boiler but a couple of people I've spoken to say
that their combi's take absolutely ages to fill a bath, so any
suggestions
for good powerful boilers that don't suffer from that, or any other
solutions?

That could also be a mains water flow rate issue, but I'll let
others make suggestions here.

One further thing you might consider, probably not significant
enough by itself to sway you, but add it to the decision making
process is that a combi that goes wrong in a rented house is
likely to land you with an emergency callout bill. If you have
an alternate backup way of heating the water such as an
immersion heater and a couple of electric convector heaters
available, this can tide the occupants over for a few days until
you can get a non-emergency plumber to come in and fix it.

Very good point Andrew, and one I shall consider carefully.

I'm not sure why you are including an electric shower. If you
are installing a new heating system anyway, you should use that
for the shower whether it be a combi or a hot water cylinder
system.

Hmm... not sure myself now, really. I'll most likely take your advice on
that too.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Cheers Andrew, lots of food for thought there )

Steve.

Steve Davis wrote:
I'm doing up an old Victorian terraced house to rent out
You may need a dedicated smoke detector circuit, depending what
type of smoke detectors you fit.
The council don't require mains smoke detectors unless the house is being
split up for multiple occupation. If renting to a single tenant or a single
family, ordinary battery-operated ones will do, which I find really strange.
However, I wouldn't feel happy with that and I intend to fit better ones
anyway.

It would be worth going through the HMO regulations and looking towards
compliance. The Scottish HMO regs apply to houses with more than two
'multiple occupants' - so a 3-bed semi with 3 students in would be HMO.
The English regs aren't as rigorous *yet* but I think will be heading in
the same direction.

I'm going to fit a burglar alarm and I know that some of them accept
inputs from smoke detectors - would anyone recommend smoke detectors and
combined burglar/fire alarm control panel, or is it better to go with
mains-operated, independent smoke detectors?

It will be considerably easier to demonstrate British Standards
compliance with mains-operated smoke detectors than with a combined
fire/intruder system. Detectors should be interlinked.

If you get a burglar alarm ensure that it has proper facilities to
prevent tenants changing the master code, and have provisions in your
tenancy agreement about the tenants registering keyholders with the
local police and that if you are a named keyholder you will charge the
tenants a fee for every call-out.

One further thing you might consider, probably not significant
enough by itself to sway you, but add it to the decision making
process is that a combi that goes wrong in a rented house is
likely to land you with an emergency callout bill.

And if the emergency callout plumber can't fix on the first visit, you
could be picking up hotel bills for your tenants until the parts arrive.

Owain

One further thing you might consider, probably not significant
enough by itself to sway you, but add it to the decision making
process is that a combi that goes wrong in a rented house is
likely to land you with an emergency callout bill. If you have
an alternate backup way of heating the water such as an
immersion heater and a couple of electric convector heaters
available, this can tide the occupants over for a few days until
you can get a non-emergency plumber to come in and fix it.
I'm not sure why you are including an electric shower. If you
are installing a new heating system anyway, you should use that
for the shower whether it be a combi or a hot water cylinder
system.

Bearing in mind the above 2 points a couple of people I have spoken to with
regards to combi's have said "if you get one then make sure you have an
electric shower "
Yes a combi shower would be better and cheaper to run (you won't be paying
the bill) but you have no backup if the combi breaks.... you can boil a
kettle for washing etc and use a fan heater for heating but without the
electric shower you are going to get that emergency callout.

btw I thought it was mandatory to have the electric shower protected by an
RCD

Regards Jeff

"Owain" wrote in message
...
Steve Davis wrote:
I'm doing up an old Victorian terraced house to rent out
You may need a dedicated smoke detector circuit, depending what
type of smoke detectors you fit.
The council don't require mains smoke detectors unless the house is being
split up for multiple occupation. If renting to a single tenant or a
single family, ordinary battery-operated ones will do, which I find
really strange. However, I wouldn't feel happy with that and I intend to
fit better ones anyway.

It would be worth going through the HMO regulations and looking towards
compliance. The Scottish HMO regs apply to houses with more than two
'multiple occupants' - so a 3-bed semi with 3 students in would be HMO.
The English regs aren't as rigorous *yet* but I think will be heading in
the same direction.

I'm going to fit a burglar alarm and I know that some of them accept
inputs from smoke detectors - would anyone recommend smoke detectors and
combined burglar/fire alarm control panel, or is it better to go with
mains-operated, independent smoke detectors?

It will be considerably easier to demonstrate British Standards compliance
with mains-operated smoke detectors than with a combined fire/intruder
system. Detectors should be interlinked.

If you get a burglar alarm ensure that it has proper facilities to prevent
tenants changing the master code, and have provisions in your tenancy
agreement about the tenants registering keyholders with the local police
and that if you are a named keyholder you will charge the tenants a fee
for every call-out.

One further thing you might consider, probably not significant
enough by itself to sway you, but add it to the decision making
process is that a combi that goes wrong in a rented house is
likely to land you with an emergency callout bill.

And if the emergency callout plumber can't fix on the first visit, you
could be picking up hotel bills for your tenants until the parts arrive.

Owain

Thanks Owain, good points. As I said in my OP, this is the first time I've
ever had a property to rent out so all comments, thoughts and information
gratefully received )

Steve.

"Jeff" wrote in message
.. .
One further thing you might consider, probably not significant
enough by itself to sway you, but add it to the decision making
process is that a combi that goes wrong in a rented house is
likely to land you with an emergency callout bill. If you have
an alternate backup way of heating the water such as an
immersion heater and a couple of electric convector heaters
available, this can tide the occupants over for a few days until
you can get a non-emergency plumber to come in and fix it.
I'm not sure why you are including an electric shower. If you
are installing a new heating system anyway, you should use that
for the shower whether it be a combi or a hot water cylinder
system.

Bearing in mind the above 2 points a couple of people I have spoken to
with
regards to combi's have said "if you get one then make sure you have an
electric shower "
Yes a combi shower would be better and cheaper to run (you won't be paying
the bill) but you have no backup if the combi breaks.... you can boil a
kettle for washing etc and use a fan heater for heating but without the
electric shower you are going to get that emergency callout.

btw I thought it was mandatory to have the electric shower protected by an
RCD

Regards Jeff

Cheers Jeff - also very good points

Steve.