New house rewire

[Pappa]

Hi guys

 

I'm rewiring my 177 sqm house. I will carry out first fix.

Electrician to make final connections at consumer unit.

 

I would be gratefully if you could give me feedback on my circuit design:

 

🏠 SOCKET CIRCUITS

1. Ground floor ring (32A)
lounge 1
lounge 2
hall
WC sockets

One external socket at front of house.

2. Kitchen ring (32A)
all kitchen sockets including oven.

One external socket at rear of house.

3. First floor (32A)
Bed 1
Bed 2
Bed 3
Bed 4 (extension)

Bathroom
first floor landing
home office (light load)

4. Loft ring (32A or radial)
Bed 5
loft office (light load)
Loft bathroom sockets

5. Outhouse radial (20–32A SWA)
36 sqm outhouse
One external socket.

 

6. Basement sockets (20–32A)

2 rooms, currently damp. To be waterproofed within the next 10 years.

Most critical infrastructure here. Eg router 

🔥 HIGH LOAD / INFRASTRUCTURE CIRCUITS

7. Cooker (32–45A radial)

8. Heat pump (dedicated radial)

9. EV charger (40A dedicated)

10. MVHR (small dedicated supply / FCU)

11. PV inverter AC circuit
grid-tied feed into CU
protected by dedicated MCB/RCBO

12. Battery storage system feed

 

13. Fire Alarm (6A Radial)

 

14. Security PIR (6A radial)

💡 LIGHTING CIRCUITS

 

15. Basement lighting (6A)

 

16. Basement Emergency light at consumer unit (6A) 

17. Ground floor lighting (6A)

18. First floor lighting (6A)

19. Loft lighting (6A)

20. External lighting front and back (6A)

 

Is any of the above insufficient or overkill?

 

Thanks in advance

 

P

[MikeSharp01]

Are you intending to have a hob - that will need its own feed. 

5 hours ago, Pappa said:

Loft bathroom sockets

What are these for - bathrooms have very specific restrictions? 

[FarmerN]

We have been in our new build for 2 years.

 

Wiring I wish we had done different.

External lighting done with the wrong cable for PIR lights ( 2core used should have been 3core ? )

Only got rear external sockets , used a  lot but should have had one at front as well, perhaps by EV charger.

Wiring for towel rail did not allow for timer.

Things I like.

2 consumer units only one supported by battery in event of outage, so heat pump and towel rails do not drain battery. Because of automatic gateway often do not realise we have a power cut.

5 amp lighting  sockets for side lights in lounge , hall and kitchen family room, switched by door.

We put high level sockets for extra bathroom heat, been here 2 winters and not used them, but who knows when I’m 90 ( a bit too close for comfort)

Put small distribution box in Garage, so easy to take an extra feed to greenhouse or summer house etc.

Edited 18 hours ago by FarmerN

[Andeh]

Wish we did electric towel rails, so we could warm towels in shoulder seasons when we don't have the heating on.

 

We wired CAT6 everywhere which worked very well.

 

Sockets on walks for wall mounted TV we did which also worked well.

[Pappa]

3 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Are you intending to have a hob - that will need its own feed. 

Circuit 7

 

3 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

What are these for - bathrooms have very specific restrictions? 

We like to have washer dryer in bathroom. I know sockets and appliances need to be positioned in the right zone.

 

2 hours ago, FarmerN said:

5 amp lighting  sockets for side lights in lounge , hall and kitchen family room, switched by door.

This sounds interesting. Can you tell me more please. How does this work exactly?

 

Thanks again for all the comments.

[Nickfromwales]

Put the washer & dryer on a dedicated ring and take the outside socket(s) off that. Feed the outside sockets via a 20a DP switch, off that ring, and if there’s any issue (damage or water) to the outside socket you can isolate it; the washer / dryer can carry on being used then without the RCBO tripping. Treat both of those bathroom power circuits as the ‘utility ring’, extending it to the loft.
 

You want anything outside segregated so any issues you may have outdoors won’t take anything indoors with it.

 

Have the basement emergency light fed off the basement light loop, not off a dedicated breaker, just way OTT to segregate that; it’ll have the same functionality that you seek.

 

I’d put another em lgt on the first floor landing close to the stairs to allow someone to come down safely from the upper level in a power out, as I have done here. You can convert almost any generic light fitting to an em lgt with an add-on pack. 

 

1 hour ago, Pappa said:

Circuit 7

That will do a hob or large oven. 
 

Single ovens and fixed (integrated) microwaves both need dedicated circuits, whereas a ‘loose’ microwave sat on a worktop doesn’t. 
 

CAT6 to all TV’s, solar inverter, desktops, network printer, and WAP locations. Include duct grade CAT6’s to the outbuilding (garden wifi) and EV charger location.

 

Consider xmas lights, and a single socket (where a chuffing airwick will live forever) and also which ones would be useful if it’s a USB double socket; buy a tidy high-powered one if charging a tablet is a must at the bedside(s) etc. Saves losing a socket outlet everywhere you need to plug a charger in. 

[-rick-]

34 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

fixed (integrated) microwaves both need dedicated circuits, whereas a ‘loose’ microwave sat on a worktop doesn’t. 

 

When did this come in? In my flat the integrated microwave is fed via a fused isolater off the 32A ring. Does the fused isolater count as a dedicated circuit in this case?

 

* The microwave has a normal 13A plug on it

[-rick-]

I'm not an electrician but something I've seen elsewhere is to not install any rings. Make them all radials. Might be a bit more expensive in wiring (4mm vs 2.5mm) or from having 2x20A radials vs 1x32A ring but makes testing and future changes simple.

[MikeSharp01]

6 hours ago, Pappa said:

sounds interesting. Can you tell me more please. How does this work exactly?

Discussions here ,

 

[Spinny]

If you want to be able to put in any smart light switch modules at the light switches then putting in oversize/deep back boxes is goint to help a lot.

 

Second fix, but you might want some smart sockets in due course - e.g. for the outside sockets to turn Xmas/Garden lights on/off remotely from inside the house, or in awkward to reach locations.

 

Cabling and transformer niche's anywhere for LED strip lights ?

Wire for a video door bell ?

And the non leccy stuff - cat6, speakers cables, HDMI, telephone (though POTS is dying), fibre internet connection.

Run conduit where feasible

 

Are you going to have a small network rack/cupboard/shelf anywhere ? (Router. switch, NAS, assorted hubs)

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Spinny

[FarmerN]

8 hours ago, Pappa said:

11 hours ago, FarmerN said:

5 amp lighting  sockets for side lights in lounge , hall and kitchen family room, switched by door.

This sounds interesting. Can you tell me more please. How does this work exactly?

  See Thread        Wiring for freestanding lights?              

Edited 7 hours ago by FarmerN

[Mike]

19 hours ago, Pappa said:

2. Kitchen ring (32A)
all kitchen sockets including oven.

I'd be spitting off the oven (due to the potential load) and fridge/freezer (to protect the contents if the ring trips) onto separate circuits.

 

[Nickfromwales]

9 hours ago, -rick- said:

 

When did this come in? In my flat the integrated microwave is fed via a fused isolater off the 32A ring. Does the fused isolater count as a dedicated circuit in this case?

 

* The microwave has a normal 13A plug on it

Been 'a thing' since the 18th iirc.

 

No, a dedicated RCBO and a single cable to an FCU is required for an integrated microwave, but things like Quooker taps and warming drawers can go on a ring main socket.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

I'd be spitting off the oven (due to the potential load) and fridge/freezer (to protect the contents if the ring trips) onto separate circuits.

 

Oven cannot go on to a ring main, again ( @Pappa ) this needs a dedicated RCBO and it's own cable to an isolator.

[Nickfromwales]

9 hours ago, -rick- said:

I'm not an electrician but something I've seen elsewhere is to not install any rings. Make them all radials. Might be a bit more expensive in wiring (4mm vs 2.5mm) or from having 2x20A radials vs 1x32A ring but makes testing and future changes simple.

Not heard this, and I would not be doing 4mm radials unless someone had a gun pointed at my last beer in the fridge.