Just thought it would be a good idea to post a separate question, which is a follow up to my previous question at
So just to summarize, I have an existing steel wired armoured cable in my garden that is a spur from a fused switch from my living room ring main. Ideally I would like to use the existing cable to power a light and sockets in my new shed. I'm planning to hire an electrician to install the light and sockets using the existing SWA cable.
I've just called up an electrician and one of the questions he asked was if this SWA cable is directly connected from the consumer unit. So I've explained to the electrician that the SWA cable is a single spur from a fused switch that is part of a ring main to my living room. Apparently he said that he would not be able to certify this shed work as any cabling to the garden would require a separate circuit breaker connection on its own directly to the consumer unit and he would not use the current setup with the spurred SWA cable. Without a spare switch in my consumer unit, he said I'll have to upgrade my consumer unit with more circuit breaker slots and have a new cable connecting from the consumer unit to the shed. At this point I said I'll think about it.
Is there no way other way to do this that would be part P certifiable other than go along with what the electrician said? Going direct to the CU would be too much trouble and costly as I'll have to change my CU as there are no free slots left and I can't think of any way to route the cable from my CU to the outside without ripping off my lovely floorboards and tiles in my house.
Just to get a second opinion from other electricians here, is powering outdoor electricity to the inside of the shed with light and sockets from a ring main (with a fused switch) something that electricians would certify?
So just to summarize, I have an existing steel wired armoured cable in my garden that is a spur from a fused switch from my living room ring main. Ideally I would like to use the existing cable to power a light and sockets in my new shed. I'm planning to hire an electrician to install the light and sockets using the existing SWA cable.
I've just called up an electrician and one of the questions he asked was if this SWA cable is directly connected from the consumer unit. So I've explained to the electrician that the SWA cable is a single spur from a fused switch that is part of a ring main to my living room. Apparently he said that he would not be able to certify this shed work as any cabling to the garden would require a separate circuit breaker connection on its own directly to the consumer unit and he would not use the current setup with the spurred SWA cable. Without a spare switch in my consumer unit, he said I'll have to upgrade my consumer unit with more circuit breaker slots and have a new cable connecting from the consumer unit to the shed. At this point I said I'll think about it.
Is there no way other way to do this that would be part P certifiable other than go along with what the electrician said? Going direct to the CU would be too much trouble and costly as I'll have to change my CU as there are no free slots left and I can't think of any way to route the cable from my CU to the outside without ripping off my lovely floorboards and tiles in my house.
Just to get a second opinion from other electricians here, is powering outdoor electricity to the inside of the shed with light and sockets from a ring main (with a fused switch) something that electricians would certify?
Last edited by a moderator:
