Right, decision taken, I'm going to change the CU before christmas for a
nice shiny new one that will have plenty of spare ways for those circuits
that I won't be able to install now, and with RCBO protection for the
external circuits & kitchen along with a new non-RCBO circuit for fridges,
boiler & freezers.

As larger enclosures don't cost that much more than smaller ones it makes
sense to put the largest one that will fit in there.

I know the distance between the meter and the edge of the mounting board
(where the current CU sits), but in determining the maximum size of CU that
will fit in there is there a minimum distance between the edge of the CU and
the meter that must be observed (and indeed a minimum distance between the
edge of the CU and the edge of the mounting board)?

I also plan to mount a 2-unit enclosure with a 100A main switch in it to act
as an isolator - this would have to be mounted below the meter. All tails,
cables, etc will be routed in beautiful workman-like fashion, but any
problems with this spatial arrangement?



--
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

All tails, cables, etc will be routed in beautiful workman-like fashion,
but any problems with this spatial arrangement?

Just keep the total length of tails below 2m and remember that technically
you aren't allowed to mount your consumer unit or isolator on the board at
all.

Christian.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
. net...
All tails, cables, etc will be routed in beautiful workman-like fashion,
but any problems with this spatial arrangement?

Just keep the total length of tails below 2m and remember that technically
you aren't allowed to mount your consumer unit or isolator on the board at
all.


That's interesting - it's all on the same board at the moment! This is the
board with the meter on, not the main service fuse - that's on a separate
board altogether.

Meter tail length not a problem - they'll be about 60cm, pretty much the
same as now.


--
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

Just keep the total length of tails below 2m and remember that
technically
you aren't allowed to mount your consumer unit or isolator on the board
at
all.

That's interesting - it's all on the same board at the moment! This is
the
board with the meter on, not the main service fuse - that's on a separate
board altogether.

Indeed, not a particularly uncommon arrangement, if not actually
permitted...

Christian.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
. net...
Just keep the total length of tails below 2m and remember that
technically
you aren't allowed to mount your consumer unit or isolator on the board
at
all.

That's interesting - it's all on the same board at the moment! This is
the
board with the meter on, not the main service fuse - that's on a
separate
board altogether.

Indeed, not a particularly uncommon arrangement, if not actually
permitted...


Hence my desire to do this now, whilst I'm still permitted without further
inspection....

I reckno that if I change it now nobody will so much as raise an eyebrow.
After 1st January, well who knows? If it's by the book then I'd probably
have to get the electricity supply company out to remove, reduce size of and
refit the board, create and mount another board, rebuild the entire meter
enclosure and a whole manner of other work. So the cost might go from £100
to god-knows-what. In fact it won't get done whilst I'm here, ever.

-
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

In article ,
RichardS noone@invalid wrote:
Just keep the total length of tails below 2m and remember that
technically you aren't allowed to mount your consumer unit or isolator
on the board at all.


That's interesting - it's all on the same board at the moment! This is
the board with the meter on, not the main service fuse - that's on a
separate board altogether.

Think the reason is that technically the board belongs to the supply
company as does the meter - you are merely renting them.

However, if they *really* didn't want anything mounted on it they'd use
one of an appropriate size.

--
*Gargling is a good way to see if your throat leaks.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message .net...
All tails, cables, etc will be routed in beautiful workman-like fashion,
but any problems with this spatial arrangement?

Just keep the total length of tails below 2m

Why
Their is no maximum distance from the REC fuse to the Consumer unit
detailed in any Electricity Supply documentation.
Bob

"bob" wrote in message
m...
"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
.net...
All tails, cables, etc will be routed in beautiful workman-like
fashion,
but any problems with this spatial arrangement?

Just keep the total length of tails below 2m

Why
Their is no maximum distance from the REC fuse to the Consumer unit
detailed in any Electricity Supply documentation.
Bob

The supplier may state the minimum cross sectional area and maximum length
of the tails according to the OSG.

Usually 3m length and 25mm^2 CSA with Yorkshire Electricity.

Adam

In article ,
bob wrote:
Why
Their is no maximum distance from the REC fuse to the Consumer unit
detailed in any Electricity Supply documentation.

Years ago when doing this for some flats, the LEB insisted on MICC from
the fuses to meter/CU.

--
*Income tax service - We‘ve got what it takes to take what you've got.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
In article ,
bob wrote:
Why
Their is no maximum distance from the REC fuse to the Consumer unit
detailed in any Electricity Supply documentation.

Years ago when doing this for some flats, the LEB insisted on MICC from
the fuses to meter/CU.

LEB did a ~10m run of SWA in my brother's case. I was slightly
surprised they didn't install any type of switch/fuse.

--
Andrew Gabriel

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Years ago when doing this for some flats, the LEB insisted on MICC from
the fuses to meter/CU.

This would have been circa 1970.

LEB did a ~10m run of SWA in my brother's case. I was slightly
surprised they didn't install any type of switch/fuse.

My house also has SWA from the riser in the cellar to the meter at the top
of the stairs - and no switchfuse. It was also done sometime round about
'70 - before I bought the house.

But the LEB guy was adamant about the MICC - perhaps for fire reasons as
it ran through other flats in places.

--
*A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it uses up a thousand times more memory.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.