My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I call a
"fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that when a light
bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not appear
to go through the house system. It is a single box on the wall with a
fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables coming from this go
to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the work bench. There does
not appear to be any sort of RCD in this system.

Questions: a) Is this a normal set up ? No RCD/circuit breaker in garage
supply.

b) Is it safe ? or should I put a portable RCD thingy in the sockets over
the work bench when using power tools ?

My apologies for my total lack of knowledge and terminology.

Terry W.

"Terry W." wrote in message
.. .
My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I call
a
"fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that when a light
bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not appear
to go through the house system. It is a single box on the wall with a
fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables coming from this go
to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the work bench. There does
not appear to be any sort of RCD in this system.

Questions: a) Is this a normal set up ? No RCD/circuit breaker in
garage
supply.

b) Is it safe ? or should I put a portable RCD thingy in the sockets over
the work bench when using power tools ?

My apologies for my total lack of knowledge and terminology.

Terry W.

"Terry W." wrote in message
.. .
My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I call
a
"fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that when a light
bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not appear
to go through the house system. It is a single box on the wall with a
fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables coming from this go
to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the work bench. There does
not appear to be any sort of RCD in this system.

Questions: a) Is this a normal set up ? No RCD/circuit breaker in
garage
supply.

b) Is it safe ? or should I put a portable RCD thingy in the sockets over
the work bench when using power tools ?

My apologies for my total lack of knowledge and terminology.

Terry W.

How do you know it doesn't go through the house system? Have you tried
switching off at the house fuse-box to see what happens?

"John" wrote in
:


"Terry W." wrote in message
.. .
My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I
call a
"fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that when a
light bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not
appear to go through the house system. It is a single box on the
wall with a fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables
coming from this go to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the
work bench. There does not appear to be any sort of RCD in this
system.

Questions: a) Is this a normal set up ? No RCD/circuit breaker in
garage
supply.

b) Is it safe ? or should I put a portable RCD thingy in the sockets
over the work bench when using power tools ?

My apologies for my total lack of knowledge and terminology.

Terry W.

How do you know it doesn't go through the house system? Have you tried
switching off at the house fuse-box to see what happens?

Yes, if Master Switch thrown on house consumer unit, garage power stays
on and live.

Terry W.

On Thu, 17 May 2007 22:43:26 GMT, "Terry W."
mused:

"John" wrote in
:


"Terry W." wrote in message
.. .
My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I
call a
"fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that when a
light bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not
appear to go through the house system. It is a single box on the
wall with a fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables
coming from this go to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the
work bench. There does not appear to be any sort of RCD in this
system.

Questions: a) Is this a normal set up ? No RCD/circuit breaker in
garage
supply.

b) Is it safe ? or should I put a portable RCD thingy in the sockets
over the work bench when using power tools ?

My apologies for my total lack of knowledge and terminology.

Terry W.

How do you know it doesn't go through the house system? Have you tried
switching off at the house fuse-box to see what happens?

Yes, if Master Switch thrown on house consumer unit, garage power stays
on and live.

I'd maybe have someone have a bit more of a look into it if you're not
confident in finding its source. Are you sure it's not fed from a
seperate RCD in the meter cupboard or somewhere?
--
Regards,
Stuart.

Terry W. wrote:

Yes, if Master Switch thrown on house consumer unit, garage power stays
on and live.

This would suggest that the power has been split before the consumer
unit in the house (probably using a service connector block aka "henley
block"), and a second sub main taken to your garage.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...cks/index.html

This is a difficult question to answer since there is lots of background
information that plays a part in design of out building power supplies.

Would you be able to grab some photos of the main house CU and
surrounding electrikery, and also the garage? If you post them to a web
site somewhere and post a link here, we might be able to have a stab at
a sensible answer without going through loads of Q&A sessions.

(to get a feel for this subject and all its subtleties, you could do a
google groups search on this group as it has been discussed many times).

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Terry W." wrote in
:

My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I
call a "fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that
when a light bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not
appear to go through the house system. It is a single box on the
wall with a fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables
coming from this go to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the
work bench. There does not appear to be any sort of RCD in this
system.

Questions: a) Is this a normal set up ? No RCD/circuit breaker in
garage supply.

b) Is it safe ? or should I put a portable RCD thingy in the sockets
over the work bench when using power tools ?

My apologies for my total lack of knowledge and terminology.

Terry W.


Many thanks for all your replies.

I will get an electrician in to have a look and advise me.

Thanks for all your advice - this group really does go to great lengths
to help and advise the less gifted :-)

Terry W.

On May 17, 11:43 pm, "Terry W."
wrote:
"John" wrote :







"Terry W." wrote in message
. ..
My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I
call a
"fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that when a
light bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not
appear to go through the house system. It is a single box on the
wall with a fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables
coming from this go to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the
work bench. There does not appear to be any sort of RCD in this
system.

Questions: a) Is this a normal set up ? No RCD/circuit breaker in
garage
supply.

b) Is it safe ? or should I put a portable RCD thingy in the sockets
over the work bench when using power tools ?

My apologies for my total lack of knowledge and terminology.

Terry W.

How do you know it doesn't go through the house system? Have you tried
switching off at the house fuse-box to see what happens?

Yes, if Master Switch thrown on house consumer unit, garage power stays
on and live.


It might be worth checking whether the electricity meter registers if
you use power in the garage?

Robert

John Rumm wrote:
Terry W. wrote:

Yes, if Master Switch thrown on house consumer unit, garage power
stays on and live.

This would suggest that the power has been split before the consumer
unit in the house (probably using a service connector block aka "henley
block"), and a second sub main taken to your garage.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...cks/index.html

If this is the case, installation of a small consumer unit in the garage
would be the way to go..probably ALL on a 30mA RCD.

On Fri, 18 May 2007 08:14:29 UTC, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

John Rumm wrote:
Terry W. wrote:

Yes, if Master Switch thrown on house consumer unit, garage power
stays on and live.

This would suggest that the power has been split before the consumer
unit in the house (probably using a service connector block aka "henley
block"), and a second sub main taken to your garage.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...cks/index.html

If this is the case, installation of a small consumer unit in the garage
would be the way to go..probably ALL on a 30mA RCD.

And a protective device (possibly that RCD) at the house end, to protect
(and isolate) the sub-main itself.
--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

On 18 May, 06:12, "Terry W." wrote:
"Terry W." wrote :

My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I
call a "fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that
when a light bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not
appear to go through the house system. It is a single box on the
wall with a fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables
coming from this go to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the
work bench. There does not appear to be any sort of RCD in this
system.

Many thanks for all your replies.

I will get an electrician in to have a look and advise me.

You must enjoy spending money


NT

On 18 May 2007 08:57:23 GMT, "Bob Eager" mused:

On Fri, 18 May 2007 08:14:29 UTC, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

John Rumm wrote:
Terry W. wrote:

Yes, if Master Switch thrown on house consumer unit, garage power
stays on and live.

This would suggest that the power has been split before the consumer
unit in the house (probably using a service connector block aka "henley
block"), and a second sub main taken to your garage.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...cks/index.html

If this is the case, installation of a small consumer unit in the garage
would be the way to go..probably ALL on a 30mA RCD.

And a protective device (possibly that RCD) at the house end, to protect
(and isolate) the sub-main itself.

No need for the RCD to cover the submain unless it's a TT system, a 1
way switch fuse, like a Wylex 106\206 or similar would suffice.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

On 18 May 2007 02:23:57 -0700, mused:

On 18 May, 06:12, "Terry W." wrote:
"Terry W." wrote :

My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I
call a "fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that
when a light bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not
appear to go through the house system. It is a single box on the
wall with a fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables
coming from this go to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the
work bench. There does not appear to be any sort of RCD in this
system.

Many thanks for all your replies.

I will get an electrician in to have a look and advise me.

You must enjoy spending money

You come out with some ******** at times.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

On 18 May, 12:22, Lurch wrote:
On 18 May 2007 02:23:57 -0700, mused:
On 18 May, 06:12, "Terry W." wrote:
"Terry W." wrote :

My newish house (new to me) has what appears to be a standard what I
call a "fuse box" - that is with circuit breakers. Works OK in that
when a light bulb blows, I need to reset the circuit.

However, my detached garage has a power supply in it that does not
appear to go through the house system. It is a single box on the
wall with a fuse in it and a large red ON/OFF switch. The cables
coming from this go to the lights and to a couple of sockets over the
work bench. There does not appear to be any sort of RCD in this
system.

Many thanks for all your replies.

I will get an electrician in to have a look and advise me.

You must enjoy spending money

You come out with some ******** at times.

Maybe you think the OP should employ an electrician then when
a) there is no reason to believe anything's wrong
b) we just offered to give some info if he posted some pics.

I dont. If you dont like that... shrug


NT

On Fri, 18 May 2007 11:21:35 UTC, Lurch
wrote:

And a protective device (possibly that RCD) at the house end, to protect
(and isolate) the sub-main itself.

No need for the RCD to cover the submain unless it's a TT system, a 1
way switch fuse, like a Wylex 106\206 or similar would suffice.

Oh, I agree. But if he's putting it there anyway...although personally
I'd put it at the garage end with, as you say, a switch fuse at the
house end.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com