Fish House Main Cable?

[Gun]

Hey guys

Anyone know what type of cable I need to run from the house's main fuse box, up to shed?

I need between 30-50 meters and it could be serving up to 40 single/double sockets. Some may be plugged with 4 way extensions.

Any ideas on other equipment I may need to get power to the shed?...would be much appreciated. Obviously sockets and the main cable...it's wiring/fuse boxes, etc I'm unsure about

 

[BINKSY]

Hey guys

Anyone know what type of cable I need to run from the house's main fuse box, up to shed?

I need between 30-50 meters and it could be serving up to 40 single/double sockets. Some may be plugged with 4 way extensions.

Any ideas on other equipment I may need to get power to the shed?...would be much appreciated. Obviously sockets and the main cable...it's wiring/fuse boxes, etc I'm unsure about

Right first thing is, we need to know what kind of wattage you will be using here, you will need a fuse box in your shed for sure. If it was me i would think about 5 or 6 ring mains for that amount of sockets, plus you will need to light the shed, so another circuit there. If the cable needs to run outside from your house to the shed you will need to use S.W.A Cable (steel wired armoured) Also i would be very tempted to put an RCD coming out of the fuse box in the house.

Hope that helps some for now, if you need any more help please ask.

Cheers Gordon

 

[Gun]

Cheers for that, Gordon

My dad and uncle (electrician) have been in shed today estimating the cost and amount of equipment needed. They've also been online quoting prices, think they said around £300 on the electrics alone.

Fuse boxes, double sockets, 50meter cable/wiring, etc were all mentioned. Don't really understand wattage etc , lol!

Main lighting will be minimul. Two maybe one strip lights across the ceiling, lamp on desk, and each row of tanks lit with tightly fitting DIY 'strip light' lids.

I was gonna have a shot at finding the 'electricity set up' cheaper online. If you guys have any pointers to good deals, I would be more than grateful

 

[rabbut]

In the UK it is now a criminal offence to wire anything into the main fuse box unless you are a qualified electrician. A qualified electrician would not need to ask these questions, so I assume you aren't qualified? If not, I'd advise you to stop here and call in a professional. Electricity is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing, so unless you are qualified, please do not attempt to wire your fish shed in yourself. It is against the law and may end your life if you mess it up

It sounds like you may also need a new supply cable to your hose to me. From experience I can tell you fish rooms use a lot of power. The room at work required the cables to be swithed to larger ones twice before the pro's finaly nailed the thinkness needed. Granted we have 140 tanks, but that still means a shed project will require a lot of power

All the best
Rabbut

Edit to add, I see you are workng with two pros. My advise now changes to follow their advise, after giving then full details of the equipment you will run.

 

[BINKSY]

Thats not a bad price for all the kit, as cable these days is expensive. Maybe try having a look at srew fix for your sokets and back boxes, they also have some good deals on consumers units sometimes. I have just done a quick calculation for you, on a 50 metre run a 10mm cable will let you draw about 50 Amps approx 11000 watts, but as rabbut has already siad you need to be careful as thats a lot of current to pull from your existing supply, ask the pros if they have a clamp meter then with that you can find out how many amps you are using, will need to turn on lights, washing machine, tv, dishwasher etc to find out what total load you currently use, but they should know all that anyway.

 

[Gun]

Thanks for advice, guys.

Yep as I say, my uncle is an electrician. Me myself, I haven't a clue. My uncle does not know I intended to have a hunt for cheaper equipment.

Hmmm, the equipment/tanks/etc. Well, I ain't to sure myself, yet. I currently have 11 tanks, (4ft down to 18"). There could be around 60-80 tanks (including fry tanks) when complete. The first lot of tanks to be put in will be ran individually, until I install the bigger systems (pipework/large pumps).

The aim is to (over time) reduce the electricity use. Shared lighting/lagged tanks/air powered filters/shared heating/insulated walls/wall heaters/etc have all been thought of. Just a matter of working out/experimenting with the best/cheapest way to power this fish house.

My dad bought the plaster board and wood (framework for behind) yesterday and hopefully work will begin in the next few days. Hmm, been talking with my dad about not insulating the walls at all, might attract mice,etc...or could be a fire hazard?

The roof is corrigated plastic (sloping back)..with wooden rafters underneath. The rafters are set around 1ft apart, three of these 1ft gaps will be left open to let some natural light in...the rest will be plaster boarded or plywooded over. Where the 1ft gaps have been left, a plastic sheet will be fitted across the gap/s..this will keep the heat better and also, it will come flush with the rest of the plasterboard ceiling. Should have some pics soon.

Anyways I'm rambling. How important is it, to insulate the walls?

 

[Attilauk]

Anyways I'm rambling. How important is it, to insulate the walls?

a properly insulated building will give you a much more stable internal temperature. this in turn will make the tanks less likely to fluctuate in temperature.

if it were me then i would be insulating it properly.

 

[squeakytoy]

absolutely insulate. think about how hard a heater would have to work to raise the temp over an ambient of say... 45 (F) back up to a sunny tropical 78. also for your own comfort when having to be out there working or just watching the fish, you will not want to be freezing or sweating. I so wish that I had insulated my garage before I moved everything in. A mistake I dont intend to repeat.

a properly insulated building will give you a much more stable internal temperature. this in turn will make the tanks less likely to fluctuate in temperature.

if it were me then i would be insulating it properly.

I would even go so far as to plan on extra thick insulation, double it up maybe. it makes a huge difference in comfort, and if you plan on heating/cooling the place, so much more cost effective.

Then get a pike tank for the mice....

 

[newfishy]

really insulate the building well, and then heat the building, not the tanks, it will stay more stable, wont run the risk of a heater breaking and boiling your fish, and will be much cheaper to pay for.

 

[Gun]

Yeah, we were just thinking of different options.

We've now decided to put wool inbetween the framework. Keep it in place with tape/bracing, then fit the plaster board.

The electrics will be external, running through plastic trunking along the walls..thus reducing the risk of fire. As for the mice..if they're not going to chew through my plaster board, I'm happy enough to have them there.

Ok guys, this main cable I need?

There will be 4 main wires running from a fuse box inside the shed. The fuse box will sit inbetween the doors, with 2 wires running to the right, 1 to the left, and 1 spare to power a future 'bench style' centre area. Each wire will run 10 double sockets. Around 30-60 tanks could be present when complete. Then there's the main lighting 1/2 4ft strip lights will be used.

So guys, what main cable do I need to run from the house fuse box up to shed?

 

[rabbut]

What equipment are you running? We need to know this to calculate the wattage of power being used, and thus the current drawn. Your electrical installers can do this also, if you tell them how many watts all the equipment uses

 

[Gun]

Difficult one...not exactly sure.

For the first month or so, there could be up to 20 tanks (4ft-3ft-2ft-fry tanks), these could have up to 3 plugs per tank. After a month or so, bigger pumps, new lid designs, less lighting, radiators, etc will all be planned and fitted...reducing the amount of plugs per tank.

Once the big systems are in place, more tanks will be added. The idea (over a period of time) is to aim for 1 plug (maximum) per tank, if possible.

Wattage...not sure yet....need to do some maths here.

 

[rabbut]

We need to know the total maximum wattage that can be used at any one time. I'll assume that you are drawing the maximum 13 amps from every supply outlet for the time being, and that would equate to 1040 amps. This means you need a supply cable that can handle at least that if you are using all the available power from each socket
in reality you will use about 1/10 of that by my reconing, so 104 amps. Now you must factor in the extra power that the balasts will draw when starting the lights and any ancillary or cleaning equipment you whish to use. That would mean you want about 200amps of capasity to the shed after factoring in a safety margin. That is porobibly more than what the existing house supply cable can handle TBH, so you may need to get the electricity company out to upgrade your supply cables to the house before starting your project, or you risk starting a fire by overloading the supply cable, heating it up to very high temperatures.

Be realy careful here. If in doubt, don't do it Talk to the pro's first.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[CFC]

DO NOT USE PLASTER BOARD IN A FISH HOUSE!!!

Seriously unless you are using bathroom grade plaster board (expensive) then within a few months the humidty will litterally rot the plaster board off the walls. Use an exterior grade ply board and give is it a couple of coats of oil based paint to seal it.

Insulation will save you £££££s over the years, i havent had to have any additional heat other than that given off by the pumps in my fish house since April because i fitted modern foil backed expanded polyurathane foam insulation to the walls and ceiling.

Screwfix is the best place to buy most bits and pieces for construction projects.

 

[andywg]

In the UK it is now a criminal offence to wire anything into the main fuse box unless you are a qualified electrician.

Really? I just thought you had to be a competent person as defined by the regs.