Getting electric power to the garage....
Discussion
I've bought a house with a garage. However the garage is away from the house and joined to other garages. There is no power and thats something I want to sort.
Firstly - I cant just feed a line from my house to the garage, that would involve tearing up a shared tarmac driveway. Simply no go.
I don't want a lot of power (yet) so a generator would be a bit over kill.
I'm thinking s it possible to hook some tube lamps up to a car battery? then once a month take the battery indoors for a charge.
Do-able? I did consider solar power but seems expensive.
Firstly - I cant just feed a line from my house to the garage, that would involve tearing up a shared tarmac driveway. Simply no go.
I don't want a lot of power (yet) so a generator would be a bit over kill.
I'm thinking s it possible to hook some tube lamps up to a car battery? then once a month take the battery indoors for a charge.
Do-able? I did consider solar power but seems expensive.
That would be a bit of a chew on - better to do it properly?
I know two people who had similar problems ; one perosn rigged up a thin armoured cable and strung it from the eaves of his house accros to the eaves of the garage. Another contracted some outfit who used a "mole" - an underground remote cotrolled borrowing machine (using a water jet I think?) - to take a sleeved and armoured cable under his drive!
Step one
Talk to the folk who also share the garages as i bet they have similar thoughts
If they have then see how much the eletricty folk would charge to link up the whole block and you can each have a little meter or you can run a pipe across to the garages and have power and water linked into each persons house.
Talk to the folk who also share the garages as i bet they have similar thoughts
If they have then see how much the eletricty folk would charge to link up the whole block and you can each have a little meter or you can run a pipe across to the garages and have power and water linked into each persons house.
thinfourth2 said:
Step one
Talk to the folk who also share the garages as i bet they have similar thoughts
If they have then see how much the eletricty folk would charge to link up the whole block and you can each have a little meter or you can run a pipe across to the garages and have power and water linked into each persons house.
I like your thinking, However, I think the other 3 houses are currently unsold.Talk to the folk who also share the garages as i bet they have similar thoughts
If they have then see how much the eletricty folk would charge to link up the whole block and you can each have a little meter or you can run a pipe across to the garages and have power and water linked into each persons house.
A glimmer of hope... they havnt actually put the tarmac down yet, it's just a load of mud. I wonder if the builders would let me run a line down now? I spoke to the developers (the woman is a total battle axe) about leaving a stud wall out and she was like "no no no" - couldnt be arsed with the hassle.
Busamav said:
go to site and speak with the sub contrators involved directly .
The sales guys will not entertain it in any manner imho , but a bit of cash will work wonders with the operatives .
Failing that , surely some of the smart IT guys here could design a supply via Blue tooth
I rekon thats my best bet. Neighbours will be jelous though! - or I could charge them to use my feed?!The sales guys will not entertain it in any manner imho , but a bit of cash will work wonders with the operatives .
Failing that , surely some of the smart IT guys here could design a supply via Blue tooth
Pop to builders merchants. Buy a long length of plastic water pipe. Dig a trench where they will lay the drive and bury the pipe, remembering where the ends are when the builders have gone home (or get them to do it for a few quid…. Thread armoured cable through the pipe at a later date….
When I had a council lock up, I used to put a ladder up the lamppost, remove the bulb and plug in! Meant I had to use the power tools at night!
When I had a council lock up, I used to put a ladder up the lamppost, remove the bulb and plug in! Meant I had to use the power tools at night!
cqueen said:
A glimmer of hope... they havnt actually put the tarmac down yet, it's just a load of mud. I wonder if the builders would let me run a line down now? I spoke to the developers (the woman is a total battle axe) about leaving a stud wall out and she was like "no no no" - couldnt be arsed with the hassle.
It is quite likely that this will be a no-no, simply because there will be a long-term repairing problem with the tarmac. Who will own the tarmac in question? Will it be adopted by the local council as a road? Will it be a shared drive? Will it be freehold to anyone, or leasehold from the developer (quite common).Essentially it will be a nightmare, which will become even larger if, for instance, someone were to dig up the tarmac in the future and cut through the cable.
Can I ask, in the photo, are the garages the block with the roof on? If so, are there more garages to the right, or is that a house? Where do the other houses go, etc.?
One option would be, once sold, to do a deal with the owner of the house nearest the garages. Install a cable along the fence from the house, with a small (cheap) meter for recording usage. Just pay what you use. Not hassle-free, however.
It is quite possibly too late now for a cheap new electrical hook-up from the electricity company, because it would require digging up the earth, laying new ducts, and so on, not to mention all of the potential problems with, essentially, having to get the developer to re-draw all of his service plans.
For long-term viability, I would suggest a hybrid system, as follows:
- battery array (1 or more 12v batteries, but NOT car batteries - buy deep-cycle types designed for, say, caravans)
- inverter (for 220v AC devices off 12v DC batteries)
- solar panels
- generator
A simple piece of electronies would connect the various pieces together. The idea is that the solar panels re-charge the batteries. The generator is only engaged if (a) the batteries run low, or (b) the load you require is above a pre-set level.
You start small and, over time, you upgrade - more solar panels, more batteries, larger generator, etc. You get to a stage whereby you can run power tools and so on. This may all be too much for you.
If all you want is a light then I'd suggest simple 12v rechargeable "caravan"/work lights and a cheap-as-chips solar panel for re-charging. Not brilliant, but workable.
Oh, by the way - note that the garage dividing wall stops at the ceiling of the garage. Therefore your garage's security is only as good as your neghbour's security. Consider putting metal grilles above the wall in the loft, or fitting metal grilles at ceiling level (can also be used to hang tools, hoses, etc. from) if you're concerned about break-ins. Otherwise if any neighbour leaves a garage door open then all garages are vulnerable.
If I were you I'd just approach the builders and ask if they'd mind if you run a bit of 1" plastic pipe under the road now, or see if they'll do it for you for a bit of beer money. Plug up the ends of it for now, and as long as you can find it again when the sales people have gone then just run a bit of SWA cable through it at a later date. I can't see anyone being concerned about subsidence, as long as the pipe/cable is 600mm deep then it's no different to nearly every other road in the country.
Trevelyan said:
If I were you I'd just approach the builders and ask if they'd mind if you run a bit of 1" plastic pipe under the road now, or see if they'll do it for you for a bit of beer money. Plug up the ends of it for now, and as long as you can find it again when the sales people have gone then just run a bit of SWA cable through it at a later date. I can't see anyone being concerned about subsidence, as long as the pipe/cable is 600mm deep then it's no different to nearly every other road in the country.
First, if it can be done, great (except see below)! However make sure you have them run at least 2 draw-wires (not string - it will rot) through it. And it will need to be larger than 1" if you're going to try to pull SWA through it (large SWA at that - see bottom). The blue ribbed duct in the photo looks about right. But SWA is very hard to pull, so even better would be to get it now, put it in the duct, and have them put the whole thing (duct with cable inside) down.Second, it isn't an issue of subsidence. It is an issue of liability. If the road in question doesn't belong to the OP then there needs to be a wayleave in place, and everybody needs to know about it, mark it on their plans, and so on. Otherwise, if the road needs digging up and a contractor is killed after cutting through the unknown electric cable then, err, it gets a bit complicated. If the road is eventually adopted by the local authority, it is even more complicated in that regard.
So, the contractors shouldn't do it under any circumstance. If they do, however, and the OP is happy with the potential downsides, at least make sure the duct is large enough!
Oh, one last thing. On a run as long as this one seems to be, the OP will need 4.0mm2 SWA, not 2.5mm2 SWA for a mains spur due to voltage loss. The upside is that s/he can run more than 1 double socket off it!
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