Planning a big rewire, and seems like a good time to fit an isolator
switch between the meter and (new) CU, and prob fit new colour 25mm
meter tails as well.

Is there any advantage to getting the DNO to fit this for me rather
than doing it myself? I'll prob fit new 25mm (new colour) meter tails
at the same time.

Piers Finlayson wrote:

Planning a big rewire, and seems like a good time to fit an isolator
switch between the meter and (new) CU, and prob fit new colour 25mm
meter tails as well.

Is there any advantage to getting the DNO to fit this for me rather
than doing it myself? I'll prob fit new 25mm (new colour) meter tails
at the same time.

DNO?

I rang up my supplier on Friday to arrange exactly this. They will not
supply it, but they will connect up a switch if I already have it in
place.
I'm buying a isolating switch to fit into a box, something like this:
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/80187 Or maybe go with what my local
supplier recommends/has in stock.

With a suitable box to fit it in. I'll also need to buy 2 tails from the
new switch to the CU. The existing tails will be used from the meter to
switch.
There is no charge from them for this.
EON/MEB wanted £150 to supply and fit a switch - I rang them first as I
thought it was they who still owned the meter, but it is my supplying
company who own it now (Scottish and Southern in my case).
They were pretty helpful when I rang, it took a while to explain what I
wanted, but the operator got back to me and said they could arrange an
Engineer to come round and do it in 10 days time. They won't supply a
switch, neither will they fit it to the wall, all they'll do is isolate
the supply, and swap over the tails.

I debated whether to do it myself, but have heard of incoming fuses
breaking when they are taken out, also, this CU change will be part of
my assessment, so I wanted to do it properly. For the inconvenience of
waiting an extra week top do the job, it is no problem at all for me.

HTH
Alan.
--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.

"A.Lee" wrote in message ...

DNO?

********************

Distribution Network Operator.

On 31 Oct, 08:53, Piers Finlayson wrote:
Planning a big rewire, and seems like a good time to fit an isolator
switch between the meter and (new) CU, and prob fit new colour 25mm
meter tails as well.

Is there any advantage to getting the DNO to fit this for me rather
than doing it myself? *I'll prob fit new 25mm (new colour) meter tails
at the same time.

I was going to get an isolator fitted and then I found out that
the new digital meters often have an isolator switch under a panel.
Since it is after the meter function its not going to look like you
are nicking leccy.
I just cut the security tag across it and used that when I fitted the
new CU.
If you have an old meter, you might find they will fit a new digital
one for
free, which may include an isolator.
Just a thought.
Simon.

On 31/10/2010 08:53, Piers Finlayson wrote:
Planning a big rewire, and seems like a good time to fit an isolator
switch between the meter and (new) CU, and prob fit new colour 25mm
meter tails as well.

Is there any advantage to getting the DNO to fit this for me rather than
doing it myself? I'll prob fit new 25mm (new colour) meter tails at the
same time.


I asked my DNO (E.on) worksman whether they would fit me one as a user
convienience freebie.

Was told that they have stopped doing it a few years ago as on cost
grounds. Particular bloke advised to just hoik out the company fuses if
need be to isolate, and they would be sealed at a later visit by them.
Presumably the threat of being locked up at her majesty's pleasure for
fiddling with the seals doesn't apply to consumer unit swaps, only
illicit hydroponic lighting supply lashups....

--
Adrian C

On 31/10/2010 09:20, Adrian C wrote:

Was told that they have stopped doing it a few years ago as on cost
grounds. Particular bloke advised to just hoik out the company fuses if
need be to isolate, and they would be sealed at a later visit by them.
Presumably the threat of being locked up at her majesty's pleasure for
fiddling with the seals doesn't apply to consumer unit swaps, only
illicit hydroponic lighting supply lashups....


Ah, just read A.Lee's response. Looks like I'll be best approaching my
billing company instead of fiddling with the fuses. Makes sense, it's
past their meter. Plse disregard my last wibberings.

--
Adrian C

A.Lee wrote:
Piers Finlayson wrote:

Planning a big rewire, and seems like a good time to fit an isolator
switch between the meter and (new) CU, and prob fit new colour 25mm
meter tails as well.

Is there any advantage to getting the DNO to fit this for me rather
than doing it myself? I'll prob fit new 25mm (new colour) meter
tails at the same time.

DNO?

I rang up my supplier on Friday to arrange exactly this. They will not
supply it, but they will connect up a switch if I already have it in
place.
I'm buying a isolating switch to fit into a box, something like this:
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/80187 Or maybe go with what my local
supplier recommends/has in stock.

With a suitable box to fit it in. I'll also need to buy 2 tails from
the new switch to the CU. The existing tails will be used from the
meter to switch.
There is no charge from them for this.
EON/MEB wanted £150 to supply and fit a switch - I rang them first as
I thought it was they who still owned the meter, but it is my
supplying company who own it now (Scottish and Southern in my case).
They were pretty helpful when I rang, it took a while to explain what
I wanted, but the operator got back to me and said they could arrange
an Engineer to come round and do it in 10 days time. They won't
supply a switch, neither will they fit it to the wall, all they'll do
is isolate the supply, and swap over the tails.

I debated whether to do it myself, but have heard of incoming fuses
breaking when they are taken out, also, this CU change will be part of
my assessment, so I wanted to do it properly. For the inconvenience of
waiting an extra week top do the job, it is no problem at all for me.

HTH
Alan.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/WYREC2S.html

and Eaton (AN2EBD) seem to be a commonly installed by the electric cos.

--
Adam

On 2010-10-31 08:53:41 +0000, Piers Finlayson said:

Planning a big rewire, and seems like a good time to fit an isolator
switch between the meter and (new) CU, and prob fit new colour 25mm
meter tails as well.

Is there any advantage to getting the DNO to fit this for me rather
than doing it myself? I'll prob fit new 25mm (new colour) meter tails
at the same time.

Thanks for the replies thus far.

It would be very inconvenient to have to fit the new enclosure/switch
before pulling the main fuse. I need to pull the main fuse to isolate
the incredibly spaghetti like existing installation, remove some of it,
and make space for the new switch. Both the supply and meter seals are
already broken (and were when we moved in).

I've not heard of these main fuse housing shattering before. I'll be
be even more careful than I was going to be anyway!

If I get a moment I'll post a photo of the existing installation for
general entertainment.

I rang up my supplier on Friday to arrange exactly this. They will not
supply it, but they will connect up a switch if I already have it in
place.

I'd be interested to know i.d.c. if they require a certificate before
re-connecting. And if so whether they will accept one from you if you
are not a member of one of the Part P "guilds".
--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

Robin wrote:

I rang up my supplier on Friday to arrange exactly this. They will not
supply it, but they will connect up a switch if I already have it in
place.

I'd be interested to know i.d.c. if they require a certificate before
re-connecting. And if so whether they will accept one from you if you
are not a member of one of the Part P "guilds".

AIUI, no, they do not require anything.
From what I have been told:
The reasoning behind this is that if there is a fault later on, they
will have 'passed' the circuits by accepting the certificate of the
previous tester.
(and this was shown to us at College a few weeks ago. A full, genuine,
periodic test sheet, which would have been no use to anyone. The person
doing it had either put in some erroneous figures, or he had not tested
the circuit correctly. The Lecturer explained why there was no way the
figures could be correct, as the ohm readings were wildly different.)

As this certificate could be wrong, or badly filled in, the Co. fitting
the isolator cannot accept it without confirming the results themselves.
And if they do that, they are then liable for any fault, so they will
not do any testing.

I know the last time the MEB came to my house to connect up my new CU
(14 years ago), the chap did a number of tests to ensure it was
reasonably safe before connecting up the tails. He couldnt have tested
much, as he was only here for an hour or so, but I think insulation and
earth continuity tests could show potential problems pretty quickly.

Alan.
--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.

A.Lee wrote:
Robin wrote:

I rang up my supplier on Friday to arrange exactly this. They will
not supply it, but they will connect up a switch if I already have
it in place.

I'd be interested to know i.d.c. if they require a certificate before
re-connecting. And if so whether they will accept one from you if
you are not a member of one of the Part P "guilds".

AIUI, no, they do not require anything.
From what I have been told:
The reasoning behind this is that if there is a fault later on, they
will have 'passed' the circuits by accepting the certificate of the
previous tester.
(and this was shown to us at College a few weeks ago. A full, genuine,
periodic test sheet, which would have been no use to anyone. The
person doing it had either put in some erroneous figures, or he had
not tested the circuit correctly. The Lecturer explained why there
was no way the figures could be correct, as the ohm readings were
wildly different.)

I would love to have seen that certificate.

As this certificate could be wrong, or badly filled in, the Co.
fitting the isolator cannot accept it without confirming the results
themselves. And if they do that, they are then liable for any fault,
so they will not do any testing.

Adding an isolator is really no big deal. After all, meters are swapped on a
daily basis without any secondary checks.

I know the last time the MEB came to my house to connect up my new CU
(14 years ago), the chap did a number of tests to ensure it was
reasonably safe before connecting up the tails. He couldnt have tested
much, as he was only here for an hour or so, but I think insulation
and earth continuity tests could show potential problems pretty
quickly.

I do not think that "they" connect up CUs any more.

--
Adam

ARWadsworth wrote:
A.Lee wrote:

(and this was shown to us at College a few weeks ago. A full, genuine,
periodic test sheet, which would have been no use to anyone. The
person doing it had either put in some erroneous figures, or he had
not tested the circuit correctly. The Lecturer explained why there
was no way the figures could be correct, as the ohm readings were
wildly different.)

I would love to have seen that certificate.

Yes, even though we were not doing periodic testing, he went through the
test sheet to show things that were clearly wrong. One that springs to
mind were the earth continuity, these were typically .4 ohms, then went
up to 2 ohms for a similar circuit, then another at .01ohms.
None of the readings made sense, the Lecturer told us that the tester
either did not know what he was doing, was just doing it wrongly, or
there were numerous faults in the circuits, which he hadnt checked.
Either way, he should not have been passing the wiring in the house
(which he had done).

This test sheet came via a full time sparky on the course, who had been
asked to wire up a circuit to a jacuzzi at the house, and tap off an
existing circuit. The advice was to not take on the job, as he could be
there for a week sorting the problems.

Alan.
--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.

On 31/10/10 11:02, Robin wrote:
I rang up my supplier on Friday to arrange exactly this. They will not
supply it, but they will connect up a switch if I already have it in
place.

I'd be interested to know i.d.c. if they require a certificate before
re-connecting. And if so whether they will accept one from you if you
are not a member of one of the Part P "guilds".

EDF do (at least in the SeeBoard area). I had all that "what's your
NICEIC number" ********" when I had my fuse pulled.

I said I didn't have one - but gave him the EIC I'd filled in, showed
him the Megger I'd done it with. What really helped was that I'd spent
ages making a neat job:

http://photos.dionic.net/v/public/bu...80550.jpg.html

Which was what persuaded him to let me keep the REC2S isolator in
"their" box, wot I'd just fitted.

My advise would be, if it's EDF, and the OP doesn't have the means to
test the circuit, pull the cutout fuse, unless it looks seriously old,
in which case don't. Antique gear (and there is still some in service)
may do one of several interesting things:

Shatter;

Come off the board due to rusted screws bending the old dried out
paper/oil insulated incomer cable which now shorts out and blows up in
your face.

Have lots of asbestos in the fuse carrier.

IMO the DNO's (meter operators in some areas) should be obliged in law
to fit an isolator. But as someone noted, some meters have an inbuilt one.

--
Tim Watts

Tim Watts wrote:
On 31/10/10 11:02, Robin wrote:
I rang up my supplier on Friday to arrange exactly this. They will
not supply it, but they will connect up a switch if I already have
it in place.

I'd be interested to know i.d.c. if they require a certificate before
re-connecting. And if so whether they will accept one from you if
you are not a member of one of the Part P "guilds".

EDF do (at least in the SeeBoard area). I had all that "what's your
NICEIC number" ********" when I had my fuse pulled.

Was that info requested just to add the isolator, or was the guy aware of
more works going on?

I have never been asked to provide any ID or certificates prior to a new
connection been made or cutout moved.

Cheers

--
Adam

On 31/10/10 15:48, ARWadsworth wrote:
Tim wrote:
On 31/10/10 11:02, Robin wrote:
I rang up my supplier on Friday to arrange exactly this. They will
not supply it, but they will connect up a switch if I already have
it in place.

I'd be interested to know i.d.c. if they require a certificate before
re-connecting. And if so whether they will accept one from you if
you are not a member of one of the Part P "guilds".

EDF do (at least in the SeeBoard area). I had all that "what's your
NICEIC number" ********" when I had my fuse pulled.

Was that info requested just to add the isolator, or was the guy aware of
more works going on?

They were booked for a fuse pull, that's all. I might have said I was
installing a new CU - can't remember. They told me on the phone that
they'd be wanting a EIC/PIR. That's EDF for you...

I have never been asked to provide any ID or certificates prior to a new
connection been made or cutout moved.

Cheers



--
Tim Watts

On 2010-10-31 11:58:33 +0000, Tim Watts said:


My advise would be, if it's EDF, and the OP doesn't have the means to
test the circuit, pull the cutout fuse, unless it looks seriously old,
in which case don't. Antique gear (and there is still some in service)
may do one of several interesting things:

Manweb = Scottish Power

On 2010-10-31 10:32:24 +0000, Piers Finlayson said:

On 2010-10-31 08:53:41 +0000, Piers Finlayson said:

Planning a big rewire, and seems like a good time to fit an isolator
switch between the meter and (new) CU, and prob fit new colour 25mm
meter tails as well.

Is there any advantage to getting the DNO to fit this for me rather
than doing it myself? I'll prob fit new 25mm (new colour) meter tails
at the same time.

Thanks for the replies thus far.

It would be very inconvenient to have to fit the new enclosure/switch
before pulling the main fuse. I need to pull the main fuse to isolate
the incredibly spaghetti like existing installation, remove some of it,
and make space for the new switch. Both the supply and meter seals are
already broken (and were when we moved in).

I've not heard of these main fuse housing shattering before. I'll be
be even more careful than I was going to be anyway!

If I get a moment I'll post a photo of the existing installation for
general entertainment.

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

They were booked for a fuse pull, that's all. I might have said I was
installing a new CU - can't remember. They told me on the phone that
they'd be wanting a EIC/PIR. That's EDF for you...

I can confirm that EDF (in London) used to want a certificate if
reconnecting to just a new isolator. (Perhaps Adam's superiority was
self-evident?)

I don't know about UK Power Networks who EDF say have taken over
operation of their networks in London, South East and East. I'd be
interested in any experience of them as I may have a need for them to do
a meter upgrade.
--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

Piers Finlayson wrote:

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

Alan.
--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.

On 31/10/10 17:49, A.Lee wrote:
Piers wrote:

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

Alan.

House I grew up in had a not dissimilar MEM switch/fuse for each circuit
- though ours were metal. Reckon those might date from the 60's if not
earlier.

Can't see how old the cutout is - but I'd rate it as a "be careful" as
it does not appear to be new!

--
Tim Watts

On 31/10/10 17:49, A.Lee wrote:
Piers wrote:

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

Alan.

BTW - are those rubber cables (black ones) going into the top middle unit?

--
Tim Watts

On 2010-10-31 18:43:19 +0000, Tim Watts said:

On 31/10/10 17:49, A.Lee wrote:
Piers wrote:

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

Alan.

BTW - are those rubber cables (black ones) going into the top middle unit?

They may be - I'm not familiar enough to know for sure, but I've put
them in "treat very carefully, and replace as soon as possible" camp.
There's similar all over the old half of the house.

I had a bakelite light switch break on me this w/e (in the on position,
with lovely crackling sounds when I moved the switch). Says it all
really.

On 2010-10-31 17:49:52 +0000, A.Lee said:

Piers Finlayson wrote:

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

Almost - it's an old farmhouse. In fact, only half of the house is that bad.

The extension (essentially a "new" house tacked on the side) is in
fairly reasonably nick, with the wiring done 10 years ago. That's what
the big Proteus CU is feeding.

The barns are worse, and fed from this mess.

On 2010-10-31 18:42:31 +0000, Tim Watts said:

On 31/10/10 17:49, A.Lee wrote:
Piers wrote:

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

Alan.

House I grew up in had a not dissimilar MEM switch/fuse for each
circuit - though ours were metal. Reckon those might date from the 60's
if not earlier.

Don't recognise the MEM acronym. The switch on the far left (mostly
out of shot) is metal. I'm not entirely sure what it feeds, which is
why it's off.


Can't see how old the cutout is - but I'd rate it as a "be careful" as
it does not appear to be new!

On 31 Oct, 17:49, (A.Lee) wrote:

Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.

I must take some photos of mine! Some dates back to the 1930s original
installation. Don't know how old the 500mA RCD is though.

Robin wrote:
They were booked for a fuse pull, that's all. I might have said I was
installing a new CU - can't remember. They told me on the phone that
they'd be wanting a EIC/PIR. That's EDF for you...

I can confirm that EDF (in London) used to want a certificate if
reconnecting to just a new isolator. (Perhaps Adam's superiority was
self-evident?)

I wish:-) You do know that no-one reads a certificate. You could put 666 as
an NICEIC no and no-one would know any difference.

--
Adam

On 31/10/10 19:10, Piers Finlayson wrote:
On 2010-10-31 18:42:31 +0000, Tim Watts said:

On 31/10/10 17:49, A.Lee wrote:
Piers wrote:

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg


Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

Alan.

House I grew up in had a not dissimilar MEM switch/fuse for each
circuit - though ours were metal. Reckon those might date from the
60's if not earlier.

Don't recognise the MEM acronym.

Now Eaton-MEM - a manufacturer of switchgear (upto far bigger stuff than
that - like 600A distribution boards. More inductrial which is why you
don't see much new MEM stuff in a domestic installation.

Cheers

Tim


--
Tim Watts

Tim Watts wrote:
On 31/10/10 19:10, Piers Finlayson wrote:
On 2010-10-31 18:42:31 +0000, Tim Watts said:

On 31/10/10 17:49, A.Lee wrote:
Piers wrote:

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg


http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg



Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

Alan.

House I grew up in had a not dissimilar MEM switch/fuse for each
circuit - though ours were metal. Reckon those might date from the
60's if not earlier.

Don't recognise the MEM acronym.

Now Eaton-MEM - a manufacturer of switchgear (upto far bigger stuff than
that - like 600A distribution boards. More inductrial which is why you
don't see much new MEM stuff in a domestic installation.

Cheers

Tim


Midland Electric Manufacturing

http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/Produc...Ines/index.htm

On 31/10/2010 19:07, Piers Finlayson wrote:
On 2010-10-31 18:43:19 +0000, Tim Watts said:

BTW - are those rubber cables (black ones) going into the top middle
unit?

They may be [...]

They certainly are. The flat black-sheathed ones are TRS (tough rubber
sheath) twin, which used to be available with or without earth.

More worrying are all the small-size cotton/rubber unsheathed singles
going into the Henley block, protected only by the DNO's main fuse. Any
fault or overload on those could easily lead to a fire.

Looks as if the incoming supply may be overhead. What is the means of
earthing? Most of the installation appears to have no RCD or ELCB
protection, so if the earthing is TT it is likely to be completely
ineffective.

It's not just an isolator you need but a complete re-wire, by the look
of it, as a matter of some urgency.

--
Andy

On 31 Oct,
"ARWadsworth" wrote:

Adding an isolator is really no big deal. After all, meters are swapped on
a daily basis without any secondary checks.

When mine was swapped a couple of years ago a socket tester (the one with
neons) was plugged in to the nearest socket before and after the swap, just
to confirm polarity.

I wish now I'd asked him to fit an isolator I had available.

He didn't comment on the broken seal on the incoming fuse, from when prior to
2002 (perhaps!) I'd changed the CU, but he re-sealed it.

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

In article , ARWadsworth adamwadswo
writes

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/WYREC2S.html

Seems quite reasonably priced too.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

In article , Tim Watts

http://photos.dionic.net/v/public/bu...80550.jpg.html

Lovely job, but who wants a sodding great box on the wall just for the
incoming fuse, meter and isolator?

Come to that, it would have looked a lot neater if the tails had run
from the meter to the bottom of the isolator, and the feed to the CU
taken out of the top. Surely it wouldn't matter (electrically speaking)
which way round the cables were fitted to the switch?

The incoming cable also looks a bit weedy compared to the tails
connected to it. Is this 100A service?

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

In article , Piers Finlayson
writes

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

That main fuse is ancient. I certainly wouldn't touch it until it was
replaced by the supply company, and you may as well fit a new backboard
at the same time. Also looks like it could be a 40A supply which may
need upgrading.

The wiring of the ?shower (the 10mm^2 T&E cable on the left that runs to
the RCD, then up and along the top) into the Henley block is, uh,
creative. Where's the earth? Looks like it's been cut off.

You've also got old rubber-sleeved wiring in various places. It all
needs ripping out and redoing from scratch.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

In article , A.Lee
writes

Christ, I've only ever seen things like that in old factory
units/workshops.
Is it a conversion from an industrial building?

No, it's quite usual in domestic properties of a certain age. I've seen
worse.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

Mike Tomlinson wrote:

In , Tim Watts

http://photos.dionic.net/v/public/bu...80550.jpg.html

it would have looked a lot neater if the tails had run
from the meter to the bottom of the isolator, and the feed to the CU
taken out of the top. Surely it wouldn't matter (electrically speaking)
which way round the cables were fitted to the switch?

Not electrically, but IIRC that type of isolator can/does have an
anti-tamper seal that allows you to access the output terminals but not
the input terminals, so if it was sealed, it would have to be fitted
upside-down, or it would be pointless as changes to the customer side
couldn't be done without breaking seals anyway.

On Mon, 1 Nov 2010 04:53:28 +0000 someone who may be Mike Tomlinson
wrote this:-

Come to that, it would have looked a lot neater if the tails had run
from the meter to the bottom of the isolator, and the feed to the CU
taken out of the top. Surely it wouldn't matter (electrically speaking)
which way round the cables were fitted to the switch?

I imagine the device has a set of terminals marked in and another
set marked out. The in ones may well be shrouded, so that the output
ones can be worked on while the input is energised. Wiring it up
"backwards" makes things more difficult for those who come
afterwards.



--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000...#pt3-pb3-l1g54

On 2010-11-01 02:05:14 +0000, John Rumm said:

On 01/11/2010 00:10, Andy Wade wrote:


More worrying are all the small-size cotton/rubber unsheathed singles
going into the Henley block, protected only by the DNO's main fuse. Any
fault or overload on those could easily lead to a fire.

Looks as if the incoming supply may be overhead. What is the means of
earthing? Most of the installation appears to have no RCD or ELCB
protection, so if the earthing is TT it is likely to be completely
ineffective.

Can you do a photo a bit to the right so we can see where that main
earthing terminal connection goes off to?

It is an overhead supply that terminates on a transformer on a pole on
my land. The earth feeds all the way back to this transformer.

There's a more complete discussion he

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.d-...oup:uk. d-i-y


It's

not just an isolator you need but a complete re-wire, by the look
of it, as a matter of some urgency.

yup!

Indeed, hence me originally stating I'm planning a big rewire! The
saving grace is that this part of the house is effectively unoccupied,
with it only currently being used for my office.

The initial plan is to strip of all that you see and replace with a new
17th ed CU, with two RCDs, and feed everything off that. It's possible
I'll leave the fuse box with the rubber sheathed cable in place for
now, to save disturbing that cable.

This is all temporary. Long term I'm planning a new CU in a different
location (and, as indicated in the linked thread, with a small CU and
SWA fed from the location you've seen to the new location).

David Hansen wrote:
On Mon, 1 Nov 2010 04:53:28 +0000 someone who may be Mike Tomlinson
wrote this:-

Come to that, it would have looked a lot neater if the tails had run
from the meter to the bottom of the isolator, and the feed to the CU
taken out of the top. Surely it wouldn't matter (electrically
speaking) which way round the cables were fitted to the switch?

I imagine the device has a set of terminals marked in and another
set marked out. The in ones may well be shrouded, so that the output
ones can be worked on while the input is energised. Wiring it up
"backwards" makes things more difficult for those who come
afterwards.

It just depends on which way the front cover is fitted. There are no in/outs
on the switch. The large part of the cover can be sealed allowing the small
bit to be removed by the customer.

--
Adam

Mike Tomlinson wrote:
In article , Piers Finlayson
writes

Photos of the meter/cutout and existing installation:

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...ndmainfuse.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/x...stallation.jpg

That main fuse is ancient. I certainly wouldn't touch it until it was
replaced by the supply company, and you may as well fit a new
backboard at the same time. Also looks like it could be a 40A supply
which may need upgrading.

It would not worry me. I would expect it to be stiff but it does not look
dangerous.

--
Adam

On 2010-11-01 05:02:27 +0000, Mike Tomlinson said:

The wiring of the ?shower (the 10mm^2 T&E cable on the left that runs to
the RCD, then up and along the top) into the Henley block is, uh,
creative. Where's the earth? Looks like it's been cut off.


That's the supply to the new half of the house, and it's not an RCD -
just a small CU with fuse and breaker. You are right that there is no
earth between the henley block and this CU. However, there is an earth
wired from the earth block into that CU.