Electricity in the greenhouse

[chenkittie]

I think it is better to use armored cables and waterproof switches for electrical system rather than putting it on the fences. You can check some certified electricians in your local area to ask advice. They can give you more reliable information with regards to electrical system in your house.

[adarajames]

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but it was what appeared in my search!

all sounds very much more technical than I can do, and no money to pay for it to be done for me; is it totally idiotic and life threatening to run an exterior extension lead into my greenhouse for a few months to run my little propagator as no longer have a space in the house can put it?

[Tony Hague]

Although the regs go to some pains to prevent you from doing this job properly yourself, they don't prevent you from an extension lead bodge. This is but one facet of the lack of wisdom embodied in Part P. But if you do it .. use an ELCB, make it conspicuous, out of the way, and be sure to route the ends so that water can't flow along the cable into the plug.

Oh, and Squirrels quite like the taste of PVC...

[peter]

Just to be very b******g obvious, the elcb in the house socket, the extension lead in that and out to the greenhouse.

I did this before I had both workshed & greenhouse put on the mains.

I slung the extension socket up from the cross-strut inside the roof apex and took the propagator plug up to it, then bagged it in a stout transparent bag, sealing both cables into it with electical tape.

[adarajames]

Thanks for the replies (and I need obvious to be certain I'm being as safe as is possible with this method! )

I was thinking to run the cable through conduit to avoid the squirrel issue (along with training my dogs to chase the little b*&Sards out the garden as they keep stealing the crops!), and would run the propagator, and maybe a freezer in the far shed for dog food. And to start saving to have a better option put in!

I've seen the outdoor plug spikes you can get in garden centres etc, is it safer to run one of these and use that, or is it more or less the same as running any external extension outside? Wondered about the best way to avoid condensation risks with plugs in greenhouse?! Or is that not possible unless its done properlry?

Thanks again

[peter]

Hence my sealed plastic bags, and I was using a robust extension lead, never was entirely comfortable with it though.

If you dig the 50cm deep trench yourself the you're left wfh time & materials from the electrician.

Oh I constructed a road-sign/noticeboard in the greenhouse of exterior grade timber & 3/4" plywood to mount the outdoor-grade light, waterproof lightswitch and waterproof double socket on, about 2'x18".

The workshed has the circuitbreaker fusebox, a light and a double socket. Was installed on a bit of ply in kids playshed, which was demolished, electrics bagged & put in a dustbin, while I custom built my workshed around it, remounting light & socket in shed and mounting the trimmed board on the wall without touching the cb box.

[Geoff]

Electricity could be banned from the garden if our old friend starts a campaign to rival the ill considered peat diatribe.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/ho ... inter.html

[alan refail]

Geoff

Hmm! The sun shines on a north-east facing lean-to all year round! Funny old place Northwest Wales! Perhaps everyone should move here and save a fortune on leccy

[edit] Going back to reread the article in more detail this morning, I spotted that it's headed What to grow in a greenhouse in winter, yet the picture immediately below shows the bountifully cropping greenhouse housing a healthy crop of tomatoes! Some dishonesty somewhere?

[Johnboy]

As ever!
JB.