Radial wiring help

[Arsenal2020fc]

Hi I’m currently wiring my upstairs sockets on a 2.5 T&E protected by a 20A mcb do you think I will get nuisance trip due to the small size mcb or would you recommend making it a ring and using a 32A mcb. I don’t like rings so tried to stay away just I had some spare 2.5 but probably should have made it a 4mm radial

 

[M-Ty]

Your assessment of the likely load upstairs is going to be better than mine and a vital part of the design process, but I never have more than a couple of bedside luminaires (were 60W, now 10W LED) an alarm clock (4W) and a telly (32W) and DVD player (25W), so well under 1 amp for the lot...
And, of course, an RCD is needed for new work.
(However, mine has a rewireable fuse, no RCD, wooden floorboards and all the equipment listed above is class II and I'm in no hurry to change it.)

 

[littlespark]

Not forgetting numerous chargers, hairdryers, straighteners, laptops, gaming pc set ups etc etc.

Can I ask why you don’t like rings?

 

[telectrix]

20A will be more than enough as long as you don't have teenage daughters with 2kW hairdryers etc.

 

[7029 dave]

So basically you are questioning your circuit design.
Only you know the loading of the radials you have installed
IMO better use the flexibility of a RFC if you are unsure.

 

[pc1966]

If you are doing a whole floor then a RFC makes more sense, unless you know for sure that the max load and length for VD limits (42m on 2.5mm) are met on the radial.

Probably a 20A radial is fine, it will cope with 2 * 2kW heater loads no problem, and I guess you won't have a 2kW induction motor up there on DOL starting!

 

[Electrics]

Hi I’m currently wiring my upstairs sockets on a 2.5 T&E protected by a 20A mcb do you think I will get nuisance trip due to the small size mcb or would you recommend making it a ring and using a 32A mcb. I don’t like rings so tried to stay away just I had some spare 2.5 but probably should have made it a 4mm radial

It will be fine unless you're going to have tonnes of stuff plugged in and working all at the same time.

We're probably one of about 3 countries that uses rings. Everyone else uses radials and nobody struggles with tripping. Should be able to handle 12+ sockets comfortably.

It all depends on your design. If you're going to put 60 sockets in and know every room is gonna have DVD, XBOX, telly, PC, heaters, chargers, kettles etc on at all times then just do a ring or multiple radials. For normal use ie telly + dvd player in each room, charger here and there, the odd hairdryer or iron, it's fine.

 

[Mikegh]

You can put in 2 radials I suppose if you're concerned

It's still less cable than a ring