To spur or not to spur, that is my question

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Habbers

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Good morning!! 

My quandry this morning is that I am about to install a hot tub in a lean to conservatory on the back of my house. It's a 13amp plug-in hot tub that uses a standard 3 pin UK plug. 

My current fuse board board is an old style board with no RCD's so the plug that ultimately gets fitted for use by the hot tub will have an integral RCD. 

The choice I have is to spur/extend off an existing circuit: This circuit is already spurred through a switched fuse unit but has a dish washer and washing machine running off it already and I'm concerned about overloading it with the hot tub and any other load through plugs I choose to put within the lean to.

Or

Where I had an electric oven removed a few years ago, I have an existing circuit with 32amp cable that has been left in place and terminates in a box in the adjoining room. Albeit the initial cable is excessive for what it will be used for, is there any harm in extending that circuit so that all that is running off it are the plug sockets in the extension? If that is viable, should I put a 13a fuse unit ahead of the first socket to negate the fact the main fuse is 30amp?

 
A spur off a spur is a definite no no, for overload of the cable at the very least.

Maybe an idea to get a spark round as there may be earthing and bonding to sort too.

 
There are quite a few things you say here that don't make sense and it sounds like your installation is way out of date and your skill level is way below what is required here to do the job properly.

Best idea would be call an electrician in this instance.

 
There are quite a few things you say here that don't make sense and it sounds like your installation is way out of date and your skill level is way below what is required here to do the job properly.

Best idea would be call an electrician in this instance.
It may be that I haven't explained it properly. Which bits don't make sense? I'll try and explain. I may not have used the correct terminology.

 
There are quite a few things you say here that don't make sense and it sounds like your installation is way out of date and your skill level is way below what is required here to do the job properly.

Best idea would be call an electrician in this instance.
It may be that I haven't explained it properly. Which bits don't make sense? I'll try and explain. I may not have used the correct terminology.

 
It may be that I haven't explained it properly. Which bits don't make sense? I'll try and explain. I may not have used the correct terminology.
So you have a spur fed from a 13A FCU that already feeds a washing machine and dishwasher. So that will already be overloaded if both machines are ever turned on at the same time. And you want to further overload it by adding a 13A hot tub.

The answer is a very simple NO.

 
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So you have a spur fed from a 13A FCU that already feeds a washing machine and dishwasher. So that will already be overloaded if both machines are ever turned on at the same time. And you want to further overload it by adding a 13A hot tub.

The answer is a very simple NO.
That makes absolute sense and was my concern. Thank you.

My second question ProDave , was whether it is ok to extend the old cooker point by swapping the old fuse point for a 13A FCU and running a smaller, standard mains cable? I've looked on various pages and even the pro's seem to be in debate about whether that is ok. The argument seems to be, it's not pretty but there's no regs against it vs "shouldn't do it, but not dangerous" which seems to be the same thing, saying you can, but if it was done as a fresh circuit you wouldn't. My assumption being that the protection would come from 13A FCU and the RCD protected plug socket?

I know I'm not an expert, but a little friendly guidance is much appreciated as I have a basic grasp hence my concern over the spur off spur.

 
If you want to use the existing 'cooker' cable,

Then use an RCD fused spur at the point of joining to the new cable.

This does not take into account any earthing system you may have, or any earthing system your hot tub should have, or may require.

And that is a very serious requirement, 

IMHO, installing ANY form of hot tub is NOT a diy job.

 
Assuming the cooker outlet is or was a 32A circuit the idea is plain and simply ridiculous..

Engage an electrician and save yourself a lot of grief.

Tony “over and out” from this thread.
 

 
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If you want to use the existing 'cooker' cable,

Then use an RCD fused spur at the point of joining to the new cable.

This does not take into account any earthing system you may have, or any earthing system your hot tub should have, or may require.

And that is a very serious requirement, 

IMHO, installing ANY form of hot tub is NOT a diy job.
Thank you Steptoe. The hot tub has no special requirements, it's "plug and play" so if you wanted to put it in your front room for instance, you could just plug it into any of the plug sockets (in theory!)

 
Thank you Steptoe. The hot tub has no special requirements, it's "plug and play" so if you wanted to put it in your front room for instance, you could just plug it into any of the plug sockets (in theory!)


no special requirements? have you had a read of BS7671? obviously not

 
no special requirements? have you had a read of BS7671? obviously not
What I'm saying is that it comes ready to use. It's powered via a 13A plug on the end of a cable. What special thing would you do with that? I'm asking purely for my own learning.

 
OK  Extend the redundant cooker circuit ... change the MCB in the board to 16A .....   fit an RCD socket on the end and plug it in .  
Thank you for that answer Evans Electrical. I've a mate who's a sparky who I've talked to who has said much the same. I appreciate the feedback from all.

 
Why fit the 13A spur to the 32A circuit? What would that achieve? If you are going to use it to feed the hot tub and washing machine (or whatever it was) use a 32A circuit, not a 13A spur.

The general tone of your posts tells me you have no idea what you are doing and are therefore not competent to carry out any electrical works.

 
Why fit the 13A spur to the 32A circuit? What would that achieve? If you are going to use it to feed the hot tub and washing machine (or whatever it was) use a 32A circuit, not a 13A spur.

The general tone of your posts tells me you have no idea what you are doing and are therefore not competent to carry out any electrical works.
Firstly, I'm not sure you've read my posts properly... secondly, I'm pretty sure this is a DIY section. Therefore no, I'm not a qualified electrician and am looking for guidance that a couple of people have provided. 

 
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