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Morning all,

I'm new to the forum but just after some advice. I've been asked to price for an install on a small Office (12 desks over 3 floors of a 150 old building). Its for a firm i've done electrical work for for years so i'm happy to take it on. Its been a while since I did an office though as i'm more into the aquacultural/agricultural/industrial electrical fields these days. It was probably more than 10 years ago since I was busy in the office sector.

I'm happy with my lighting, fire and data designs. For power though I have a couple of options and would like a little advice.

Option 1: Ring for each floor. Maximum demand is not going to be an issue on a 32A MCB. Only computers are plugged in.
Option 2: Ring or 20A radial for each Office "Room" (Each room has 2-4 desks in it depending on size)
Option 3: Radial to each desk - theres only 12 desks so a little overkill but not too much hassle.

The company deals with a lot of live animal transport so its crucial that they don't lose power as they have access to welfare stats of trucks etc to monitor condition of stock movement. I don't want a dodgy computer power supply to take out many computers on the same circuit but at the same time don't want to overdo it.

Also thoughts on AFDD in this install? Are many using these yet?

Thanks in advance,
Rory

Also
 
Morning all,

I'm new to the forum but just after some advice. I've been asked to price for an install on a small Office (12 desks over 3 floors of a 150 old building). Its for a firm i've done electrical work for for years so i'm happy to take it on. Its been a while since I did an office though as i'm more into the aquacultural/agricultural/industrial electrical fields these days. It was probably more than 10 years ago since I was busy in the office sector.

I'm happy with my lighting, fire and data designs. For power though I have a couple of options and would like a little advice.

Option 1: Ring for each floor. Maximum demand is not going to be an issue on a 32A MCB. Only computers are plugged in.
Option 2: Ring or 20A radial for each Office "Room" (Each room has 2-4 desks in it depending on size)
Option 3: Radial to each desk - theres only 12 desks so a little overkill but not too much hassle.

The company deals with a lot of live animal transport so its crucial that they don't lose power as they have access to welfare stats of trucks etc to monitor condition of stock movement. I don't want a dodgy computer power supply to take out many computers on the same circuit but at the same time don't want to overdo it.

Also thoughts on AFDD in this install? Are many using these yet?

Thanks in advance,
Rory

Also
Option 3 but no radial to each desk split the desks up say in to groups of 2 desks per radial
 
Are AFDDs needed? I don't think your office is in the below list.

[ElectriciansForums.net] Electrical Install in a Small Office Building
 
Be careful about all of the added earth leakage with large quantities of electronic equipment. Do not have everything on one or two RCDs. Split into multiple circuits with an RCBO for each.
Consider need for possibility of additional precautions because of high protective conductor currents.
Good article here
https://electrical.------.org/media/1039/2008_26_spring_wiring_matters__complete_adverts.pdf
 
Hi Lads,

Thanks for all the help.

Two desks per radial sounds like a good balance.

I think i'll use a Hager VML118SPD DB to sort me out for SPUDs, which also means I can use individual RCBO's for each circuit. Not cheap but very high integrity that way.

Good point on AFDD's, its built of stone with a slate roof and non domestic - no sleeping area, so it's not going to be a requirement to fit them here.
 
Option 2 sounds sensible if each desk has only one computer "station" on it. If large amounts of IT equipment per desk then you might consider option 3 for the reasons mentioned by Taylortwocities.

The Hager Boards are good quality and I would recommend the compact type A RCBOs for this job.
 
Run 1 or 2 SWA distribution Circuits to each floor off a 40-60A MCB (see MI) to under floor busbar system.


Use a pre-assembled, with 3M fex and RCD sockets, floor box.


All plug and play.

From then on any office reconfigurations only require the floor boxes moving.

No worries about cumulative earth leakage.

Clean earth if required, if not get the non-clean earth variant.

Now let the BS7288 fight start....
 

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