View Single Post
  #18   Report Post  
Posted to uk.d-i-y
Tricky Dicky[_4_] Tricky Dicky[_4_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,624
Default Pulling a main fuse safely

On Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 5:28:58 PM UTC+1, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €ś reboot€ť my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

When I replaced our consumer unit we had to do it in stages, the first was to get the meter moved out of the way as it partially covered the area in which the CU was going. The engineer from the DNO simply switched everything off MCBs and then main switch. At first he was going to use 16mm2 tails but noticed the cutout had a 100A fuse and used 25mm2 tails. He then simply pulled the main fuse after cutting the seals, the only safety measure he employed was to put a red plastic cover over the live lower spring prongs which seemed to clip in place. Having moved the meter and replaced the tails between cutout and meter he brought out 25mm2 tails from the meter and using a pair of Henly block type connectors joined the new tails from the meter to the 16mm2 tails in the CU.

Having seen that the cutout was sound and not likely to disintegrate when I replaced the CU I therefore had no qualms about pulling the main fuse. First thing I did was fit a stand alone main switch so that I never had to pull the fuse again. When we had the smart meter fitted the engineer did not seem bothered that there was no seal on the main fuse but did fit one when he finished and also fitted one on the lower terminal cover on the separate main switch I had fitted.

Richard