On 12/05/2021 08:23, John Rumm wrote:

Clearly excessive, but you can't die from too much safety.

Apparently, there is a chance that an old fuse holder/socket can
shatter when you pull the fuse.

Yup metalclad pre-war ones like:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/...CladCutout.jpg

Ours was installed in 1971. Some sort of plastic, clearly in good nick
still. So, I think his risk was small.

Nevertheless, I don't blame the guy for taking precautions, although I
was a bit surprised at the time.

Theo wrote:

Pulling the cutout is something electricians do when doing a consumer unit
change when there's no isolator. It doesn't result in a SWAT team
descending from the DNO. In theory you are supposed to get the DNO to do
it, but life is too short to hang around on site for that.

After I pulled the fuse to change a CU some considerable years
ago, there was an issue that I didn't spot affecting the contact
surfaces. Subsequently I experienced occasional supply dips, and
eventually noticed overheating of the fuseholder.

They were round to sort it in very short order.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
@ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.

Mark Carver wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, 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 €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Mine did that in January. My power company OVO were utterly useless,
kept sending meÂ* emails with questions about LED lamp flashing, but
never actually sent anyone to sort.
Then suddenly last month it burst into life again, all by itself.


Was it after a power cut? ;-)

This self sorting phenomenon seems quite common and Ive often wondered if
its been a power cycling caused by a brief power cut that is €œrebooting€�
the modem.

Anyhow, it would seem that Octopus must spy on Usenet as just this morning
Ive had an email with dates for an engineers visit. (I had also
badgered them yet again by email so the Usenet spy theory might not be
correct.). ;-)

Tim


--
Please don't feed the trolls

Spike wrote:
On 11/05/2021 20:53, Tim+ wrote:
Fredxx wrote:

What is the issue that is causing you strife? If it's real then write a
formal complaint, if necessary wait the 6 weeks for no reply and
complain to OFGEM.

I am pursuing various routes including an official complaint. After 5
months of being given no clues as to when my issue might be resolved, Im
getting a tad fed up.

Your power company doesn't care. It has fitted your smart meter and it
serves no further useful purpose other than to fulfil their quotas of
fitting them.

They ought to care as Im on a variable tariff and Im almost certainly
under-paying them at the moment. They need the data to calculate my bill.
You cant just €œread€� a smart meter manually and get months of half-hourly
consumption data.

Thanks for the warning about linking smart meters and variable tariffs.
It sounds overly complex an issue.

Well my present tariff is the modern equivalent of Economy 7 and if you
have an EV its definitely worthwhile being on a variable tariff.

If you dont have a significant load that you can timeshift then probably
not worth the bother.

As I have an EV it very definitely is worthwhile.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 12/05/2021 13:03, Tim+ wrote:
Mark Carver wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, 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 €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Mine did that in January. My power company OVO were utterly useless,
kept sending meÂ* emails with questions about LED lamp flashing, but
never actually sent anyone to sort.
Then suddenly last month it burst into life again, all by itself.

Was it after a power cut? ;-)
Ha, no, my router has been up since the last known power cut on July 7th
last year, so no, that didn't do it !

This self sorting phenomenon seems quite common and Ive often wondered if
its been a power cycling caused by a brief power cut that is €œrebooting€�
the modem.

Anyhow, it would seem that Octopus must spy on Usenet as just this morning
Ive had an email with dates for an engineers visit. (I had also
badgered them yet again by email so the Usenet spy theory might not be
correct.). ;-)

Well that's interesting because given the poor CS over this, I'm
considering switching to Octopus !

Perhaps not then ! ?

On 12/05/2021 12:40, Chris J Dixon wrote:

After I pulled the fuse to change a CU some considerable years
ago, there was an issue that I didn't spot affecting the contact
surfaces. Subsequently I experienced occasional supply dips, and
eventually noticed overheating of the fuseholder.

They were round to sort it in very short order.
I hadÂ* a new DNO point installed 18 months ago. As part of that they
fitted a double pole 100 A switch (downstream of the meter, but
obviously upstream of the CU)
Is that a new policy to avoid folk 'meddling'Â* with the fuseÂ* ?

Mark Carver wrote:
I hadÂ* a new DNO point installed 18 months ago. As part of that they
fitted a double pole 100 A switch (downstream of the meter, but
obviously upstream of the CU)
Is that a new policy to avoid folk 'meddling'Â* with the fuseÂ* ?

I'm not sure if it's policy, but it's good practice and simple to do.
Electricians can fit an isolator if the cutout is removed, as can the
supplier (who own the meter). It would seem to make sense to do it as part
of a new install.

Theo

On 12/05/2021 09:29, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Bacon was thinking very hard :
How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

No, they are usually easily accessible, but sealed by a wire/lead seal
against being tampered with.

Which you can cut off, and no one will seem to care...

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 12/05/2021 14:32, Theo wrote:
Mark Carver wrote:
I hadÂ* a new DNO point installed 18 months ago. As part of that they
fitted a double pole 100 A switch (downstream of the meter, but
obviously upstream of the CU)
Is that a new policy to avoid folk 'meddling'Â* with the fuseÂ* ?
I'm not sure if it's policy, but it's good practice and simple to do.
Electricians can fit an isolator if the cutout is removed, as can the
supplier (who own the meter). It would seem to make sense to do it as part
of a new install.

I'm trying to remember now whether it was actually the meter man from
OVO who fitted it, or the DNO.
It might have been the meter man, (seeing as his bit was downstream of
the 100 A fuse)
I didn't take a photo between the DNO lads leaving, and Mr OVO arriving.

Anyway, it will prove very useful at some point in the future.

On 2021-05-12, John Rumm wrote:

On 12/05/2021 09:29, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Bacon was thinking very hard :
How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

No, they are usually easily accessible, but sealed by a wire/lead seal
against being tampered with.

Which you can cut off, and no one will seem to care...

Is that because theft of electricity is a lot less common than it used
to be?

"Adam Funk" wrote in message
...
On 2021-05-12, John Rumm wrote:

On 12/05/2021 09:29, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Bacon was thinking very hard :
How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

No, they are usually easily accessible, but sealed by a wire/lead seal
against being tampered with.

Which you can cut off, and no one will seem to care...

Is that because theft of electricity is a lot less common than it used
to be?

I would have thought it was more common now with cannabis grow houses.

Tho I spose those wouldn’t be hard to find when
you are suspicious when you see the seal cut off.

On 11/05/2021 17:28, 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 €œ reboot€� 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


I've got the same, apart from I had ignored it up until today, but it
explains why my Home Display stopped displaying electricity.

Still works for gas, just not leccy. Stopped working about 5 months ago.
The actual meter display shows a sensible number. I just get estimated
electricity bills and no electricity figure on the Home Display.

Strange:

https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360030097111-Can-I-get-smart-meters-if-my-current-meters-are-more-than-10-metres-apart-

"Gas meters send their readings through the electricity meter. When
they're more than 10metres (32 feet) apart, the gas meter won't be able
to communicate with Bulb or the smart network."

So the electricity box is responsible for networking. Mine can report
gas figures just not its own internal figures.

Smells like a software bug, rather than network issues. Might be a bug
at Bulb, rather than my meter.

In article ,
Scott wrote:
On 11 May 2021 17:18:10 GMT, Tim+ wrote:

Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but I’ve never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but I’m beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and “ reboot” my smart meter which has lost it’s ability to
communicate with my power company.

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

Well I would have to break the seal….

I thought it was a criminal offence to tamper with the seal. I think
you need to get permission first.

It's a criminal offence to steal electricity. And they'd know if the seal
was removed to do this.

--
*I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don't care.

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

On Thu, 13 May 2021 19:14:11 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


Is that because theft of electricity is a lot less common than it used
to be?

I would have thought it was more common now with cannabis grow houses.

Of course, you senile auto-contradicting sociopath! You ALWAYS think and say
the opposite of ANYTHING anyone says! BG

--
Kerr-Mudd,John addressing the auto-contradicting senile cretin:
"Auto-contradictor Rod is back! (in the KF)"
MID:

On 13/05/2021 10:18, Pancho wrote:

"Gas meters send their readings through the electricity meter. When
they're more than 10metres (32 feet) apart, the gas meter won't be
able to communicate with Bulb or the smart network."

My electric smart meter, and dumb gas meter are about 8 or 9 metres
apart, but on the same wall, so there's 8 or 9 metres worth of bricks,
insulation, and breeze blocks between the two.Â* OVO want to upgrade the
gas meter to a smart one, but I'm not sure whether the comms would work
anyway ?Â* Anyway, I keep rejecting the idea, telling them I want to
witness a full 12 month period of reliable operation from the electric one.

On 13/05/2021 08:49, Adam Funk wrote:
On 2021-05-12, John Rumm wrote:

On 12/05/2021 09:29, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Bacon was thinking very hard :
How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

No, they are usually easily accessible, but sealed by a wire/lead seal
against being tampered with.

Which you can cut off, and no one will seem to care...

Is that because theft of electricity is a lot less common than it used
to be?

Probably not. More likely to be a combination of the supplier using
historical data and algorithms to spot fraud rather than fuse seals, and
the meter readers no longer technically clued up people who are part and
parcel of the organisation actually responsible for billing.

(there is also a slight distinction between meter seals and fuse seals,
where the latter will be more broken commonly anyway for reasons of
isolation of supply).


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 12/05/2021 12:01, GB wrote:
On 12/05/2021 08:23, John Rumm wrote:

Clearly excessive, but you can't die from too much safety.

Apparently, there is a chance that an old fuse holder/socket can
shatter when you pull the fuse.

Yup metalclad pre-war ones like:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/...CladCutout.jpg

Ours was installed in 1971. Some sort of plastic, clearly in good nick
still. So, I think his risk was small.

Nevertheless, I don't blame the guy for taking precautions, although I
was a bit surprised at the time.

Mine is similar. The leccy board man is of course doing it all the time,
unlike you. Also, he'll be aware that if he has an accident while not
wearing the stipulated PPE it will screw his chance of compensation (and
could get him fired).

On 2021-05-13, John Rumm wrote:

On 13/05/2021 08:49, Adam Funk wrote:
On 2021-05-12, John Rumm wrote:

On 12/05/2021 09:29, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Bacon was thinking very hard :
How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

No, they are usually easily accessible, but sealed by a wire/lead seal
against being tampered with.

Which you can cut off, and no one will seem to care...

Is that because theft of electricity is a lot less common than it used
to be?

Probably not. More likely to be a combination of the supplier using
historical data and algorithms to spot fraud rather than fuse seals, and
the meter readers no longer technically clued up people who are part and
parcel of the organisation actually responsible for billing.

(there is also a slight distinction between meter seals and fuse seals,
where the latter will be more broken commonly anyway for reasons of
isolation of supply).

Good points, thanks.