New CU. Am I obliged to split the ring final?

[1Justin]

Customer wants new CU and a shed supply. (Let's not get into shed supplies - been doing some homework on this one).

Medium/smallish 4 bed house, has > 100M^2 area, but currently has single ring final, no split.

How to deal with Regs 314 about splitting the load? I'm not trying to spend time/££ upgrading the house (It's all OK really). EICR on existing might be an "Improvement recommended" C3 observation.

I was wanting to avoid invasive wiring in the house, and especially since the customer thinks it's just his shed and CU that really matters. Am I obliged to split the household ring into two circuits? (regs 314) if I am replacing the CU for other reasons?

 

[Welchyboy]

NO WAY!

Your only responsible for the work you install, which would be the consumer unit/earthing and main bonding
and the circuits you put on it are safe to be re-energised

the circuit division is nothing to do with your responsibilities, unless it was unsafe, one ring for an entire house was common practice, dont give it a second thought

i wouldnt even mention it in an eicr as long as loading/VD/test results were within appropriate parameters

the only situation i would change this is if they had a new kitchen, i would then install a new ring to supply that

 

[telectrix]

the 100m2 is only a guide. it's OK to leave the circuit as is , as long as it's safe, correctly protected, and volt drop does not exceed 5%.

 

[1Justin]

Thanks guys, reassuring advice.
Rgds

 

[pmelec]

Depends on demand.. You might want to also check the Zs reading at furthest point.. Split-ring!! Lmao, sounds like you got your customer bent ova ready to take a shafting!!

 

[ExArmy]

i think unless the house has just one circuit, then you'll be ok putting half the circuits on one RCD, and the other half on the other RCD. thats my definition of splitting the load!

 

[ezzzekiel]

Depends on demand..

why?, the demand will not change just because they consumer unit has

 

[pmelec]

Wot I would say is if the customer is happy to pay for it, do it!! But the answer I think you are looking for is No you don't have 2 do it.. It comes down to the fact that regs cannot be enforced retrospectively.. I.e. you could say this will improve your system & bring it up to current regs.. But you can't tell the customer it must be done!! Because it was probably fine when it was first installed. Unless demand has change or additional circuits/ spurs have bin added & Zs is no longer within specification..