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2 electricity supplies to one building

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hello, I am a not an engineer but need some advice on uk wiring regulations please. 

A national utility company is fitting a 32A charger in my garage for an electric vehicle. 

The garage is detached from my house but there is an existing circuit from the house consumer unit to the garage for lighting and a power socket. The cable runs along a garden wall. 

The new charger will have its own cable run from the same consumer unit in the house down to the garage. 

My problem is that the engineer who came to do the installation refused to do it as he said the garage is a building in its own right and regulations do not allow 2 supplies to one building.

My question is: Do 2 wiring circuits from the same consumer unit constitute 2 supplies If the consumer unit is located in an adjacent building? 

I would have thought that this was still a single supply and to have 2 supplies you need 2 separate meters with 2 consumer units which is not the case here but then, as I said, I’m no engineer. 

Edit.....The engineer stated that the regulation related to avoiding the risk of a voltage between 2 different earths. To me this again only makes sense if you were talking about 2 totally different supplies from different meters and therefore possibly different sub stations etc.
Parents
  • Get a real engineer, rather than a technician,  would be my slightly flippant advice.

    There may be good reasons for what is proposed but the explanation given does not match.

    It is quite common to have multiple supplies to one building if large amounts of power are in use.

    In this case there are not even multiple supplies, just multiple final circuits from the same distribution point.

    What does need care, is how the earthing is arranged - especially for car chargers where special rules apply.

    If the plan is to make the charger supply 'TT' - that is to say that there is an electrode and no connection to the company supplied earth. (and if the car may be outdoors on charge this is likely to be required), then this needs to be out of simultaneous reach of circuits that use the company supplied earth terminal. (or they may need to be converted to use the same TT electrode as well.)

    Regards

    Mike

Reply
  • Get a real engineer, rather than a technician,  would be my slightly flippant advice.

    There may be good reasons for what is proposed but the explanation given does not match.

    It is quite common to have multiple supplies to one building if large amounts of power are in use.

    In this case there are not even multiple supplies, just multiple final circuits from the same distribution point.

    What does need care, is how the earthing is arranged - especially for car chargers where special rules apply.

    If the plan is to make the charger supply 'TT' - that is to say that there is an electrode and no connection to the company supplied earth. (and if the car may be outdoors on charge this is likely to be required), then this needs to be out of simultaneous reach of circuits that use the company supplied earth terminal. (or they may need to be converted to use the same TT electrode as well.)

    Regards

    Mike

Children
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