Hi,

It seems the recommended thing to do is fit a 40A consumer unit in the
garage for a 32A ring and 6A lights, or as someone suggested in
another thread, have a 16A radial for sockets and a 16A radial for
heating. They are all very good suggestions but I'm wondering about
the 6A mcb for lighting. Is there any reason that I could not have the
lights powered from the house CU?

I realise it would be a good idea to have a separate mcb for outdoor
lights and not use the mcb for the house lights. It's just that it
seems to me that if I used the mcb in the garage for all my outdoor
lights, I would make sense to have them switched from the garage and I
don't want to have to walk to the garage in the dark to switch the
lights on!

It would make sense to have the switches for the outdoor lights in the
house, so why not run them from the house CU? This would leave me with
only the lights inside the garage and it seems a bit silly to have an
MCB for just two bulbs. Could I connect these to the outdoor light
radial or a 3A FCU off the garage spur (32 or 16)?

TIA

In message , Fred
writes
Hi,

It seems the recommended thing to do is fit a 40A consumer unit in the
garage for a 32A ring and 6A lights, or as someone suggested in
another thread, have a 16A radial for sockets and a 16A radial for
heating. They are all very good suggestions but I'm wondering about
the 6A mcb for lighting. Is there any reason that I could not have the
lights powered from the house CU?

I realise it would be a good idea to have a separate mcb for outdoor
lights and not use the mcb for the house lights. It's just that it
seems to me that if I used the mcb in the garage for all my outdoor
lights, I would make sense to have them switched from the garage and I
don't want to have to walk to the garage in the dark to switch the
lights on!

It would make sense to have the switches for the outdoor lights in the
house, so why not run them from the house CU?

Yup, that bit seems sensible.

This would leave me with
only the lights inside the garage and it seems a bit silly to have an
MCB for just two bulbs. Could I connect these to the outdoor light
radial

Someone else will know if the regs have something to say about this. But
having garage lights on the external lights circuit from the house
doesn't seem like a good idea. sooner or later some one is going to
either be lazy or not realise and work on then lighting circuit when not
isolated.


or a 3A FCU off the garage spur (32 or 16)?

Yes, you could do that, but really, it's probably not really going to be
much different in cost to run a separate circuit, as opposed to a
fused spur so I would do the latter.
--
Chris French

On 14/11/10 15:23, chris French wrote:
In message , Fred
writes
Hi,

It seems the recommended thing to do is fit a 40A consumer unit in the
garage for a 32A ring and 6A lights, or as someone suggested in
another thread, have a 16A radial for sockets and a 16A radial for
heating. They are all very good suggestions but I'm wondering about
the 6A mcb for lighting. Is there any reason that I could not have the
lights powered from the house CU?

I realise it would be a good idea to have a separate mcb for outdoor
lights and not use the mcb for the house lights. It's just that it
seems to me that if I used the mcb in the garage for all my outdoor
lights, I would make sense to have them switched from the garage and I
don't want to have to walk to the garage in the dark to switch the
lights on!

It would make sense to have the switches for the outdoor lights in the
house, so why not run them from the house CU?

Yup, that bit seems sensible.

This would leave me with
only the lights inside the garage and it seems a bit silly to have an
MCB for just two bulbs. Could I connect these to the outdoor light
radial

Someone else will know if the regs have something to say about this. But
having garage lights on the external lights circuit from the house
doesn't seem like a good idea. sooner or later some one is going to
either be lazy or not realise and work on then lighting circuit when not
isolated.


or a 3A FCU off the garage spur (32 or 16)?

Yes, you could do that, but really, it's probably not really going to be
much different in cost to run a separate circuit, as opposed to a fused
spur so I would do the latter.
Why not have the 2 garage lights on the same circuit as the sockets#?
Have a battery backup emergency maintained light
for when the garage power trips in the dark.
And for when all the electric trips.
?
[g]