Electricity cable to garden office

dezo19 · 18-11-2022 1:40am #1

Hi,

I recently had a garden office built in my back garden by a company from the North. They are not fully finished yet but something I noticed which I am not sure about is how they have ran the electricity cable to the office.

They have connected a cable to my outside meter box and attached it to my fencing and ran it down along the fencing to the office.

I think the cable should really be buried but my main concern is the connection to the meter box. I don’t think they are allowed to do that. Would I be correct with that? If I am, what should I do? Tell the builders to undo the wiring and get it connected to the fuse board?

Spear · 18-11-2022 12:23pm

Moved to a forum that's related to the topic instead.

dezo19 · 18-11-2022 1:34pm

Thanks. Which forum is that?

10-10-20 · 18-11-2022 2:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058272245/electricity-cable-to-garden-office

Sounds like it's a botch-job, but photos please of this meter box!

Also show the wiring to the shed and how the power is distributed within the shed (through a sub-board, I hope)?

You can send the photos to my PM if you can't attach them yourself.

kirk. · 18-11-2022 3:24pm

Doesn't sound good

This connecting into the meter box seems to be a thing now since car charging there started ,disaster situation

dezo19 · 19-11-2022 1:31am

Thanks @10-10-20 I’ll try get some photos for you tomorrow. They have a small fuse board in the shed part of the garden room.

dezo19 · 19-11-2022 1:34am

@kirk. yeah I wasn’t sure about it initially but I sort of thought this is their job, they’re meant to be the experts and you got to trust them. Seems I like I could’ve been wrong to do that.

kirk. · 19-11-2022 7:55am

The obvious issue is it's cost prohibitive to get RECs involved so garden sheds seem mostly to be done DIY

dezo19 · 19-11-2022 9:20am

@kirk. this company seemed reputable as they work all across the uk and Ireland so I thought everything would be above board. I’m going to have to request their REC status now at the very least.

kirk. · 19-11-2022 9:29am

Post up a few pictures it'll give a better idea of the issues

Murph85 · 19-11-2022 9:46am

The effort to bury that cable, dig up everything and put it to the legal depth is significant. I'm assuming it's a steel wired armoured cable ? Put it in Conduit perhaps. But this is the job I see being done everywhere....

Murph85 · 19-11-2022 9:47am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119890089#Comment_119890089

How so ?

kirk. · 19-11-2022 9:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119892801#Comment_119892801

Because the boxes are designed for ESBN equipment only

It's also confusing as wiring should be distributed from a main board in the house, main isolation moves out to the meter cabinet

Murph85 · 19-11-2022 10:01am

Right. I see why they love going right into the box... saves a lot of time and messing around inside...

kirk. · 19-11-2022 10:06am

That's the problem

Car charging was definitely going to the the meter box because it's convenient and a million people want it

It's what happens after that that's the problem

almostover · 19-11-2022 10:15am

I got an insulated garden shed built recently and ran an armoured cable out to it buried underground. I must still get it connected to the fuse board in the house. The attachment to the fence is OK, provided armoured cable is used and/or the cable is housed in conduit. Might just look a little unsightly but not unsafe. Wiring up to the meter box doesn't sound like a good idea. I'm getting my cable ran into the house to the consumer unit and a proper circuit breaker installed so that the shed is on it's own circuit, plus MCBs in the shed for the sockets and lights. Have a chat with the company and try to get the job done the way you want it. Underground cable may be out of the question, they may insist you dig that yourself. But connection to the consumer unit in the house is a must. Have you paid up fully for the garden room?

dezo19 · 19-11-2022 10:22am

@almostover i have the last payment to make. They are due to come out to put in the radiator and to finish off the steps, possibly a path too.

almostover · 19-11-2022 10:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119892866#Comment_119892866

Have a chat with them so and see what the options are. Most shed builders aren't electricians. It might be worth negotiating on the wiring and getting a local electrician to do a proper job of wiring up.

dezo19 · 19-11-2022 10:29am

@almostover thanks. I’ll put up some pictures and see what yous think. I’ll have a chat with them too. I’m surprised these lads don’t seem above board because they work across the uk, Ireland and Channel Islands and do attics, conservatories etc. so you would think they would be ok.

kirk. · 19-11-2022 10:38am

It's all about the money

Fire up some pictures it'll give an idea of the problems

Murph85 · 19-11-2022 10:39am

They are above board. I'd hardly call them a rogue operation. They will say what they are doing is perfectly safe and far more time effective. This is where the issue arises. Are you going to pay far more to bring electric out to the room?

If you are installing these left right and centre. This is the solution these companies will go with, unless the client stipulates otherwise beforehand. But most of the time, this isnt even on the radar of the client, when discussing the grander details of a garden room ...

dezo19 · 19-11-2022 10:52am

Thanks @Murph85 . I admit it wasn’t at the top of my list. My wife and I did mention to ourselves that it was strange they were running the electricity when other builders we had come in for quotes mentioned about coming from the fuse board in the utility room.

Murph85 · 19-11-2022 10:56am

Right. See it's a case of man hours and cost. Were this company more competitive on cost ? How far is the mains board from the garden room ?

Murph85 · 19-11-2022 10:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119892951#Comment_119892951

Did they day they would bury the cable or surface mount it ? After the had gone into the mains board ?

almostover · 19-11-2022 11:13am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119892910#Comment_119892910

I would agree, none of what they're doing is unsafe or against regulations, to my relatively uneducated knowledge. It's just that they're doing the simplest, quickest job possible to get power to the garden room. It's up to the OP or not if they are OK with that, probably aomethign that should have been ironed out up front. But they are where they are now with it. The options are:

1. Continue as is and live with it.

2. Stop the electrical install, get a professional electrician's opinion on the best course of action. And then negotiate with the garden room company on the path forward. That will likely incur additional costs. Either the garden room company will charge the OPs to do the electrical install the way they want or they will tell them to arrange their own elec install and the OP will have to pay an electrician to do it.

Either way OP, check your quote/contract with the garden room company for the elec install details before proceeding. If it's vague and just states that they'll connect up power, then you're a bit at their mercy as to how ots done if you didnt discuss it in advance. Your only bargaining chip is the final payment.

I'll take photos of my setup shortly, it's a work in progress so things could go haywire yet! But it'll give you an idea of the intent anyway.

dezo19 · 19-11-2022 11:19am

This is the connection to the meter box, cable along the fence, into the garden room and their mini fuse box.

dezo19 · 19-11-2022 11:26am

My alarm friend said the esb would shut my electricity off for this .

kirk. · 19-11-2022 11:27am

Swa not protected above ground

No gland on board in cabinet

That's the problem anyhow is the branching off the main protective device the MCB

almostover · 19-11-2022 11:48am

Ya I take it back, that's a fairly poor effort. And judging by the comments of others, non-compliant. The lack of sealing to the main fuse board and garden room is a bad sign. My setup is attached. 10sq SWA ran under the lawn. Dug a 3ft trench, put a 4in sand base on it, in with the SWA, more sand on top, warning tape, backfill with topsoil. Put an ESB hockey stick conduit in the concrete base formwork and fed the SWA through it. It comes into the corner of the shed ready for wiring to a small fuse board. The other end is incomplete. I have 2 options. Run steel conduit along the block wall and feed the SWA through it. Then cut footpath and feed SWA under footpath and into utility room where the consumer unit it. Or dig out the stone along the verge of the block wall and bury the SWA in the same way as the garden, and under footpath then into the utility room. Electrican I use was out pre shed build and insisted that we wire to the consumer unit. Was the safest and best job according to him.

And yes, my garden is destroyed. Shed was fitted 2 weeks ago after 6 weeks of incessant rain. It's a poorly drained lawn anyway and the 15m2 area of concrete in it now hasn't helped. You'll see I've a post on boards for advice on a drainage project for next spring! 😉

Get onto the garden room company and tell them the elec install isn't acceptable. You have leverage as they need your final payment for the job. See how that goes and take it from there. They might be well reviewed but remember the vast majority of homeowners aren't like yourself, most haven't an iota about safe electrical installation. And neither do I, hence consulting with an electrican.