Tim Watts wrote:
Adrian C wrote:

There I was tonight in this super newly installed electric shower
(oh, and gas - but that's for another tale) and using it for the
first time.
10.5kW, 44Amps or thereabouts. Wired via an RCD and spliced into the
existing meter tails to the existing consumer unit. My thoughts are
on how great this mains pressure shower actually is.

Then the lights went out. Silence.

Great

Call for SWMBO. Nothing. She'd left the house to potter in the garden
shed. I'm wet, covered in soap suds, can't see a thing, where is the
blinkin torch...

Ah, the meter ain't displaying. We've blown the supplier main fuse.
All other fuses, trips and RCDs fine.

The guy from the emergency electrical service sorts it out, and we
are back on again. However, our supplier fuses are old - probably 50
or 60 years - and from his comments look to be wired with 30 amp
fuse wire. That said, the shower overload has taken out both the
live and neutral fuse wires. He whistles though his teeth, sez
"neutral, that is weird" and trundles off with a promise to be back
tomorrow to uprate the fuses to a more consumer friendly 100 amps.

I can't see anything strange in the neutral fuse expiring, it has
been on duty for ages - and the overload of our new shower has shown
it the cards. So why is this guy whistling through his teeth?

Is tomorrow going to be a likely sales opportunity for his company?


There shouldn't be a neutral fuse by the standards of the past
mumble decades, which is why he was surprised.

If it that ancient, they might well replace the cutout completely now
or real soon. At the very least, it's almost certain he'll replace
the neutral fuse with a solid link at least for now and replace the
live fuse.

I suspect that is what will happen.

And no sales talk at all

--
Adam