replace fused switch with double socket

stephen25uk

hi folks,firstly reading these forums and the answers the many proffesionals give is excellent
my question is,in my house we had electric panel heaters fitted which in one of the bedrooms we never use, it is fed from a fused switch outlet on the wall and this in turn is connected to the cu with 2.5mm twin and earth and protected by a 16amp mcb...well i think its 16 amp the info on the mcd is hager mt116 b16,this only protects the one heater as the other 5 heaters in the house all have there own mcb
what i was wanting to do was replace the fused switch on the wall with a double socket,then take a spur off of this and connect another double socket about 10 feet away,will i be ok to do this with the current 16amp mcb,all i want the sockets for is a pc and monitor in one room and an xbox and tv in another so nothing too power hungry..and thoughts would be great

t_obermory

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will come along but...

If they're storage heaters then they'll be on a different circuit to your other electrics and so you won't be able to simply put a new plate on the front of it. Have you got any other sockets in the room? If so it may be possible to run a spur off that but it depends on whether thats run off another socket or not.

Personally I'd get an electrician in to have a look, even if its just for a free quote, at least then you'd know what you're dealing with.

stephen25uk

these are not storage heater,just a panel heater i can turn on and off when ever i choose,some of neighbours simply have a plug on the end of the flex and plug them in when needed,all mine have the flex wired to the fused switch

adaze

[STRIKE]Yes I think you can. If the heater is on its own circuit wired with 2.5mm then IMO there is no reason why you can't. If the circuit is currently a ring circuit you would be better off keeping it as a ring rather than taking a spur. You may need to upgrade from 16A, but you might be OK with two sockets on 16A, you need to check this though as it depends what you will plug into them.[/STRIKE]

This and this might be of help

I've just re-read your post. If this heater is on its OWN circuit then it shouldn't be a problem. However if the other heaters share the circuit then I wouldn't change to a socket unless you are sure that what ever you plug in won't overload the circuit (i.e. a table lamp should be fine, but its hard to say without knowing the heaters spec), do the calculations.

You can't take a spur from a spur either, so if the heater currently is on a spur you could take a socket from the existing FCU but no more. What fuse is fitted in the current FCU? I would imagine its 13A, but best to check as this might give you an idea of what load the circuit can take.

Hope I haven't confused you and as always get someone in if you aren't 100%

sarge123

I was an electrician for 7 years before i joined the navy 9 years ago. What i am trying to say is that the rules may have changed but i seriously doubt it in this case.

If the fused spur is the only outlet on the circuit ie straight from consumer unit wired in 2.5 twin and earth via a 16amp breaker, it is absolutely fine to replace the spur with a double socket and then fit another double socket.
As stated unless the rules have changed it is ok....

stephen25uk

sarge123 wrote: »

I was an electrician for 7 years before i joined the navy 9 years ago. What i am trying to say is that the rules may have changed but i seriously doubt it in this case.

If the fused spur is the only outlet on the circuit ie straight from consumer unit wired in 2.5 twin and earth via a 16amp breaker, it is absolutely fine to replace the spur with a double socket and then fit another double socket.
As stated unless the rules have changed it is ok....

yes the fused spur is the only outlet connected to the mcb at the cu all the heaters(5) have there own 16amp mcb at the cu as for the load on the sockets,i want to use one of the doubles for a computer and monitor plugen via a surge protector,and the other double for a 19 inch lcd tv and an xbox 360,so nothing overly power hungry

sarge123

stephen25uk wrote: »

yes the fused spur is the only outlet connected to the mcb at the cu all the heaters(5) have there own 16amp mcb at the cu as for the load on the sockets,i want to use one of the doubles for a computer and monitor plugen via a surge protector,and the other double for a 19 inch lcd tv and an xbox 360,so nothing overly power hungry

Then that is absolutley fine. After a quick search in the web, it states that you can have an unlimited amount of sockets on this 'radial' circuit within 50m2.....Hope that puts your mind at ease.