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[chrisgixer]

Now wondering if the welder is too big, or borderline, for household electrics.

Although I'm sure Shakengs didn't have a problem and somebody would have said. By now. Do sure its fine.

[chrisgixer]

Ah, I see,  good I'm glad you posted. I wasn't sure. Thankyou.

As you say, see what AndyRoid says.

BTW, the house I sent you a link to has a 35' long garage .. same dodgy 1970s wiring as my house, though

Yes that discussion did come up. If we move , and the implications. But it needs doing. Tbh.

[Kevin Wood]

I'm thinking along the lines of running the small garage tools off the kitchen/downstairs ring main.

Then run a separate circuit off the new cu for heavy stuff like a welder, also to the garage, independently from everything else. I presume?

Why overcomplicate things? Just run a separate ring main round the garage. No need for anything to come off the kitchen ring then. No need for any other supply into the garage save for the lighting circuit, which is presumably already there.

If the welder is fed from this ring, it's powered straight from the consumer unit, so you will already minimise its' influence on other devices in the house.

So the welder can't inter fear with the circuit to other stuff on the downstairs ring main, like the cooker, but also the tv and home cinema stuff, presumably. And if she turns the cooker on, that won't mess with the welder either.

 The violence of the welder draw was enough to dim and flash some lights I've run of a plug socket in the kitchen. The flash was caused each time the welder arked on, which is very rapid. I don't want common electrical house hold appliances exposed to that sort of current draw.

It can't be good for them, can it? I'm thinking better safe anyway.

Other items won't be exposed to the current draw of the welder (which is no more than an electric kettle or fan heater in any case). All that is happening is that the mains voltage is dropping slightly due to the resistance of the supply, so it's not a case that it won't be good for anything.. just noticeable. The fact is, loads like a kettle or a fan heater are generally turned on and off less frequently than a welding arc, so their effect on the voltage is not noticed.

If the welder was previously fed from a lighting circuit as implied, I'm very surprised that the fuse didn't blow, and not at all surprised that the effect was noticeable, especially to anything fed from that same lighting circuit.

Even with the detailed updates to the wiring, though, it's still possible that you'll get a little flickering of the lights when welding due to the resistance of the incoming supply. There's not a lot you can do about that, though.

[chrisgixer]

Ah, I see,  good I'm glad you posted. I wasn't sure. Thankyou.

As you say, see what AndyRoid says.

BTW, the house I sent you a link to has a 35' long garage .. same dodgy 1970s wiring as my house, though

Yes that discussion did come up. If we move , and the implications. But it needs doing. Tbh.

I should add we've been looking at moving for a few years now, and we're no nearer.

[aaronjb]

Ah, I see,  good I'm glad you posted. I wasn't sure. Thankyou.

As you say, see what AndyRoid says.

BTW, the house I sent you a link to has a 35' long garage .. same dodgy 1970s wiring as my house, though

Yes that discussion did come up. If we move , and the implications. But it needs doing. Tbh.

Please buy that place.. at least that way I'd know how many more clapped out pristine vehicles would be living down my road.. I'm hoping whoever buys it doesn't turn up with five cars and nowhere to park them

Anyway, I digress from your thread..

[Kevin Wood]

You can't beat a 35' long garage (although mine is only about 30, IIRC.  )

[chrisgixer]

To Kev

It's really really easy to do either, by the looks. The kitchen socket is less than a foot away from the light socket in the garage, just the other side of the wall. Drill a hole, feed cable, job done. Its purely to by pass the lighting spec cable, that feeds the whole garage(protected by a 3amp fuse).

Likewise, the cu is two or three feet away from the garage, tother side of the wall.

So which ever is easiest?

Welder has never run off the garage circuit. As your advice, I ran a single plug extension lead to the house ring main, those lights happen to be on that ring main. I see what your saying re draw though, as its a reduction of power devided away, to the wealder..?

I still don't like it though, could the welder spike?

[chrisgixer]

You can't beat a 35' long garage (although mine is only about 30, IIRC.  )

Indeed, but yours is also wider than standard too.

[chrisgixer]

Ps, I don't want to say too much re electrics, in case I'm talking 'dangle berries' and lead you all off in the wrong direction.

See what AndyRoid says.

[TheBoy]

I'd do it either one way, or the other. Rather than some sockets on a garage ring main, and some on kitchen ring. Thats liable to bite you in the arse at some point, when you forget whats wired from where. Not just on powering big devices, but also when it comes to isolating sockets.

[dbug]

You can't beat a 35' long garage (although mine is only about 30, IIRC.  )

Yep one of mine is around 35' x 10' internal, and unfortunately full of swmbo's crap + workbenches and storage, the other is standardish size and has a large chest freezer in it, plus loads of car spares, larger tools (spray gear etc) and my TR.  Must sneak swmbo's estate some time and quietly clear out her crap - think she'll notice a skip in the drive

[AndyRoid]

Why overcomplicate things? Just run a separate ring main round the garage.

There are no spare ways left in the existing board unfortunately, so that really only leaves the two options Chris mentioned earlier.

Option one (extend the kitchen ring) is very much easily & cheaply done, but as Chris was already contemplating having a new CU (and the cloakroom is halfway through redecorating), it would be quite easy to get a dedicated feed to the garage with minimal cosmetic damage and also give the added protection of an RCD throughout the house.

[chrisgixer]

Did I describe correctly? Good lord

[Rods2]

Did I describe correctly? Good lord

My cheap arc welder has a 13A plug on it, but to use the highest current settings you need a 16A plug and socket, I presume this where it is designed for 16A sockets in Europe. I don't know if your has similar restrictions, if so, it might be worth fitting a 16A socket.

If you are looking to move in the future now might be a good time to update your CU as my next door neighbour had a few problems where a structural survey was done on the house with the biggest negative that this was marked down as old fashioned and potentially dangerous where it was an old fused unit with no RCD and he had to drop the price by £500, so the new owners could use it to replace it. If I had Part P I would have changed it for him, but as I haven't I couldn't.

[Kevin Wood]

I changed the CU in the last house (before part P) myself. The Cu itself did half the job. It was an old wood and bakelite one. I took the cover off to add a circuit for a new kitchen and the wood frame fell apart leaving it hanging off the wall by the wiring.

Went straight out and bought a modern RCD protected split load job.