Adding single radial sockets to Ring as spurs

[Calscot]

Hi,

I have recently completed an intensive electricians course and I am at the stage where I am trying to get practical experience wherever I can.

One of my jobs, which I am planning to use to join a competent person scheme, is to change my consumer unit and wire up my extension.

At present, I have two consumer units: one for the night storage heaters and the other for the remaining circuits. The economy 7 and night storage heaters have long been removed and converted into plug sockets, so I have four 16A mcbs devoted to mainly single plug sockets!

Ideally, I would like to replace the two consumer units for one unit. Disconnecting the second CCU from the Henley block will be straight forward as I have an isolator fitted after the meter.

Screwfix do a 10-way board with rcbos at a reasonable price which would be adequate if I can eliminate the four old storage heater circuit.

My plan is to go into the loft (we have a bungalow so all cabling is easily accessible) and connect the old storage heater sockets as spurs from the final ring circuit. Taking care to put in an FCU if there is more than one socket on each spur. That way the sockets can still be used and free up space on the board. I would then have enough spare slots for the ring and lighting circuit I will put into the extension.

I can't think of anything in the regulations which would prevent me doing this but would welcome advice from more experienced electricians as to whether this sounds like an appropriate solution. I feel it is safer to have all the sockets on the same circuit, as at present, someone can isolate the mcb for the ring but still have sockets live.

Any advice would be welcome.

 

[westward10]

Just put a garage board in lights on one breaker all power on the other job done, two circuits.

 

[Des 56]

Ideally,he should keep each one as a separate radial,however,the guy has not many ways to play with and one circuit seems to be all he can afford

The single Rcbo would be a solution,with a joint in the consumer unit rather than elsewhere,thats if the 4 connections in the terminal of the Rcbo is problamatic

 

[Dave OCD]

As Flanders said it's much better to have more than one circuit for your sockets, as long as the circuits are correctly labelled with enough detail if someone switches off the wrong breaker in the future,doesn't prove dead and gets a shock then they aren't competent to be touching electrics. For neatness and to make the CU that bit easier you could terminate the 4 'ex' storage heater cables in a suitable enclosure space permitting and just have a single cable feeding that from a dedicated MCB via RCD or RCBO.

 

[Calscot]

Terminating the four radial circuits into one cable and dropping it down to its own MCB or RCBO would be a simple and tidy solution for our layout and would eliminate the need for a second consumer unit. While cost isn't a deciding factor I feel it would be a neater solution. I can also see the benefits of having them on their own separate circuit.
I looked at the 10-way Screwfix RCBO board which does expand up to 12 slots which would leave me with a three spare slots. However, I shall look around and may well go for MCB/RCD board option.

Thank you all for your advice.

 

[Lumie]

Just a quick question . Did you change the tails around for your previous night storage heater board? If not the board will be supplied by an off peak supply and the sockets you have now will only work between 12pm and 7am? I usually go by the 20% rule, when installing consumer units. Leave 20% free for future upgrades.

 

[Calscot]

I had the meter changed so I no longer have economy seven. Both consumer units are live 24/7. I have now put two of the radial socket circuits onto the ring as it was easy to do and gives them RCD protection. The heater circuit has no RCD protection. I will keep the second CCU for the two remaining heaters and reconnect the spare immersion and add an RCD when I upgrade the main consumer unit.