Armoured cable

[Wabzo]

Hi guys ,
I would really appreciate some advice from you pros, not sure if this is posted in the right area ,sorry if it's not.
basically I'm building a fairly big garden room /man cave at the bottom of my garden and I need to get power to it ,here's the deal , consumer unit is at the front of the house so I need to go straight up threw upstairs into the loft ,across the loft and down the brickwork at the back of the house, then underground to the bottom of the garden. All in all the run is going to be 50 meters with roughly half underground and half in the house/loft. The garden room is going to have a couple lights ,pendants. Couple electric rads, 3 double sockets , big tv , ps4 and fridge ,kettle. Now one electrician has told me I need 16 mm twin core armoured cable and nothing less, and another sparky has told me 6mm three core will be plenty.
I would really appreciate some feedback from anyone as this cable is pretty expensive and I don't want the house tripping out all the time. I will put the cable where it needs to go but obviously get a pro in to wire it all up . Once again apologies if this in the wrong area and I hope for some decent advice

cheers

Wayne

 

[Octopus]

You need to determine the maximum load you anticipate then ask the sparks to quote for the same thing.

That way you will have 2 prices to compare.

PS: The cable is only a small part of the job so just be aware that the costs for such a job will be £700 or more.....

EDIT: You will need to discuss the existing CU with your sparks too¬

 

[telectrix]

as above. ^^^^^. 16mm is ridiculous IMO. 6mm or 10mm depending on current required ( load ), and of course, Volt Drop considerations.

 

[Wabzo]

as above. ^^^^^. 16mm is ridiculous IMO. 6mm or 10mm depending on current required ( load ), and of course, Volt Drop considerations.

Cheers guys
really appreciate the quick responses chaps, to be perfectly honest I'm a roofer by trade so I don't really understand the loads and volt drops etc I will expect to have 2 small oil filled rads , a tv, a ps4 ,small fridge ,Hoover I don't really now how I would work out the load or even know what cu is sorry for my ignorance but electric work is the one thing I let the pros do. The main reason for asking about the cable was really that I can get 6mm far cheaper from a good friend .so when the chap told me 16 mm I was looking at 300 quid for 50 meter roll . So in conclusion if I get 10mm that would pretty much be ample for running few things in a man cave ? The wiring of lights and sockets will be a separate job I know but as the ground work is being done I wanted to get the armoured cable in the ground and thru floor of garden room?
Thanks again for any advice very much appreciated ,

Wayne

 

[amlu]

Voltage Drop Calculator
that will give you a rough idea what size cable you need.
the more power you need in the shed the bigger cable you need...

 

[Wabzo]

Voltage Drop Calculator
that will give you a rough idea what size cable you need.
the more power you need in the shed the bigger cable you need...

Thx mate checked it out , I'll have to look into how much kW things need.

 

[Octopus]

If you can get the SWA "cheap" then get the sparks to quote for everything else.

As for the digging - thats something I always leave to the customer BUT I inspect the trench and check for the depth and provide the warning tape.