we have a attached garage. the sockets appear to be a spur off the upstairs ring, with a further 2 spurs serving 3 sockets in total. so spurring of spurs which is a no no. prob been like this since the 70/80s judging by the outlets/wiring

in an ideal world I’d fork out a few hundred plus to have a garage consumer unit installed, which would mean either floor up in kitchen and front room or major chaing. plan on remortgage is to knock the whole lot out.

in the mean time I’m wondering about running a fused spur from the downstairs circuits (there are sockets on the internal wall so just drill through) and the run to the sockets. j believe you can have as many sockets as you like after a fcu? should they be wired in a loop or radial?

I can always leave how it is. it passed the safety test as is

As you say you can have as many sockets as you like after an fcu. Might as well be radial as the current will be limited by the fcu. Just to check, are you removing the spur from upstairs? I wouldn’t want spurs from up and down as it confuses things. That said if it’s all working I might be tempted to leave as is and not overload the sockets. Depends how likely you are to plug anything big in.

Was planning on removing the upstairs spur as it’s in ugly trunking running along the ceiling in a corner of a room. Usage wise, it’s minimal, chargers for makita lxt mostly. Occasional mitre saw / tile saw / kids bouncy castle. That’s it.

You can have one un fused spur from each socket on the ring, so if you needed to, you could run one spur from each house socket that’s against the garage. Or a fcu then as many as you want, but that’ll limit you to (allegedly) 13A. Radial’s the way to go.

Cant you just extend the ring main from the rest of the house? Pretty easy…did it myself, No need for an additional consumer unit. and you can do it yourself without Part P, though of course have to comply to all the current regulations.

Is the cable from upstairs readily accessible where it enters the garage, up to the first socket?
If so, an easy, cheap solution is to just add a garage consumer unit where it enters, then run the sockets off a 20 amp circuit breaker.
It clearly hasnt been causing you a problem for the years you have been there, so I’d be inclined to leave it as is, with the addition of the 20 amp CB before the first socket.

Yes I could extend the downstairs mains loop easy enough. I was under the impression it was better to put a fcu though for added protection, I suppose not a massive deal if I trip the mains circuit.

Current cable run is very accessible, it runs along a ceiling edge in trunking, then out of the conservatory wall to run along the garage eaves and in by the door. Pretty unsightly, and I think maybe causing a small damp issue I have in the corner of the conservatory, think moisture is running down the cable into cavity

Ours is off a spur from the kitchen (downstairs ring main). This was done by an electrician, and has a fuse box installed in the garage – no RCD etc. I have just 4 sockets, but use a number of extension leads. There is nothing particularly power hungry in there, and I’ve never shorted the electric.

Enlarge you bottom ring*.

(*See “mumsnet” thread for details)