Hi,

Some guidance please everyone, apologies for the numptie descriptions and
assumptions, i hope they make sense to you! The electrical setup in my house
seems pretty straightforward. The thick black supply cable that appears from
out of the ground feeds into a black unit stamped Norweb and sealed with a
wire and lead seal (presumably this is the main fuse). From there two tails
feed into the meter then into a switch (isolator ?) and finally into a 100A
split load consumer unit.

The main fuse (stamped Norweb) is always hot to the touch (on the left hand
side if it matters?) even when the meter is turning slowly. When say then
shower (9.5Kw) is running the fuse is hot to the point where its not
possible to keep a finger on it for more that 2 or 3 seconds without it
being painful and there is a definite smell of, not burning, but that
similar to switching on an electric heater thats not been used for months.

I guess the question and concern is whether this is normal? If yes, great,
if not, what do I do next please? Electrician or Electricty Board?

Hope you can help,

Regards
Ron

"A_H" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Some guidance please everyone, apologies for the numptie descriptions and
assumptions, i hope they make sense to you! The electrical setup in my
house seems pretty straightforward. The thick black supply cable that
appears from out of the ground feeds into a black unit stamped Norweb and
sealed with a wire and lead seal (presumably this is the main fuse). From
there two tails feed into the meter then into a switch (isolator ?) and
finally into a 100A split load consumer unit.

The main fuse (stamped Norweb) is always hot to the touch (on the left
hand side if it matters?) even when the meter is turning slowly. When say
then shower (9.5Kw) is running the fuse is hot to the point where its not
possible to keep a finger on it for more that 2 or 3 seconds without it
being painful and there is a definite smell of, not burning, but that
similar to switching on an electric heater thats not been used for months.

I guess the question and concern is whether this is normal? If yes, great,
if not, what do I do next please? Electrician or Electricty Board?

Hope you can help,

Regards
Ron


No this is not good, call out NORWEB to check, it is worth an emergancy call
today.

That is the supply co.'s fuse and is their responsibility - it should not ever
get hot and only under rare occasions get warm (full load for a while) i.e.
cooker shower and electric heating on.

If it does, especially under light loads I would say get them in as a matter of
some urgency as something is definitely not right !
Nick

"A_H" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Some guidance please everyone, apologies for the numptie descriptions and
assumptions, i hope they make sense to you! The electrical setup in my house
seems pretty straightforward. The thick black supply cable that appears from
out of the ground feeds into a black unit stamped Norweb and sealed with a
wire and lead seal (presumably this is the main fuse). From there two tails
feed into the meter then into a switch (isolator ?) and finally into a 100A
split load consumer unit.

The main fuse (stamped Norweb) is always hot to the touch (on the left hand
side if it matters?) even when the meter is turning slowly. When say then
shower (9.5Kw) is running the fuse is hot to the point where its not
possible to keep a finger on it for more that 2 or 3 seconds without it
being painful and there is a definite smell of, not burning, but that
similar to switching on an electric heater thats not been used for months.

I guess the question and concern is whether this is normal? If yes, great,
if not, what do I do next please? Electrician or Electricty Board?

Hope you can help,

Regards
Ron

"A_H" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Some guidance please everyone, apologies for the numptie descriptions and
assumptions, i hope they make sense to you! The electrical setup in my
house seems pretty straightforward. The thick black supply cable that
appears from out of the ground feeds into a black unit stamped Norweb and
sealed with a wire and lead seal (presumably this is the main fuse). From
there two tails feed into the meter then into a switch (isolator ?) and
finally into a 100A split load consumer unit.

The main fuse (stamped Norweb) is always hot to the touch (on the left
hand side if it matters?) even when the meter is turning slowly. When say
then shower (9.5Kw) is running the fuse is hot to the point where its not
possible to keep a finger on it for more that 2 or 3 seconds without it
being painful and there is a definite smell of, not burning, but that
similar to switching on an electric heater thats not been used for months.

I guess the question and concern is whether this is normal? If yes, great,
if not, what do I do next please? Electrician or Electricty Board?

This is definitely not normal. Sounds like there is a poor connection to at
least one side of the board's fuse, so it's them you need to call, and
sooner rather than later would be good. :-)

Rick

Thanks a lot for the advice. For info as soon as I got the responses here
(three quick replies - all saying *problem*) I called up United Utilities
who advised that any excessive heat or a burning smell constituted an
emergency and an engineer has been and gone (seems a decent response -
around an hour from call to visit on a B Holiday?).

Anyway, he took a look and has advised that the unit (I'm assuming the fuse
unit thingy) needs replacing with a new one. Now awaiting another call from
an engineer to do this work (later tonight or tomorrow morning ) and in the
meantime I've to keep the loading as minimal as possible (no
showers/immersion etc) until it is sorted. Having said that the engineer
must've done something because the heat has gone and the bit that was hot
definitely is'nt hot anymore.

Having spent a few days *not* going with my gut feeling that things were not
right and feeling a bit of a plonker for not making the call sooner I'm
finally glad I asked you guys and got the right advice because something
clearly is/was wrong as you suggested from the off. Thanks a million!

Regards
Ron

"Richard Sterry" wrote in message
...
"A_H" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Some guidance please everyone, apologies for the numptie descriptions and
assumptions, i hope they make sense to you! The electrical setup in my
house seems pretty straightforward. The thick black supply cable that
appears from out of the ground feeds into a black unit stamped Norweb and
sealed with a wire and lead seal (presumably this is the main fuse). From
there two tails feed into the meter then into a switch (isolator ?) and
finally into a 100A split load consumer unit.

The main fuse (stamped Norweb) is always hot to the touch (on the left
hand side if it matters?) even when the meter is turning slowly. When
say then shower (9.5Kw) is running the fuse is hot to the point where its
not possible to keep a finger on it for more that 2 or 3 seconds without
it being painful and there is a definite smell of, not burning, but that
similar to switching on an electric heater thats not been used for
months.

I guess the question and concern is whether this is normal? If yes,
great, if not, what do I do next please? Electrician or Electricty Board?

This is definitely not normal. Sounds like there is a poor connection to
at least one side of the board's fuse, so it's them you need to call, and
sooner rather than later would be good. :-)

Rick

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 16:21:27 -0000, "A_H" strung
together this:

Hope you can help,

I'd ring NORWEB now. This is definitely not normal under any normal
circumstances. Ring them NOW.
--

SJW
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject

Well Ron it has been 9 hours now since your posting. What did Norweb
find when they came out?

--
Bill

"Bill" wrote in message
...
Well Ron it has been 9 hours now since your posting. What did Norweb
find when they came out?

Bill


Ron,

Ro..on

RON !!!

I do hope he called Norweb.

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 01:20:11 +0000, Bill wrote:

Well Ron it has been 9 hours now since your posting. What did Norweb find
when they came out?

Most likely he has not got any leccy now, so cant use the pc.

Dave

--

Some people use windows, others have a life.

In article ,
"BigWallop" writes:

"Bill" wrote in message
...
Well Ron it has been 9 hours now since your posting. What did Norweb
find when they came out?

Bill


Ron,

Ro..on

RON !!!

I do hope he called Norweb.

The Kentucky Fried Chicken in Dunstable got burned to a cinder
when their supply head burst into flames, with of course no
way to switch off the source of the energy.

--
Andrew Gabriel

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Dave Stanton
saying something like:

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 01:20:11 +0000, Bill wrote:

Well Ron it has been 9 hours now since your posting. What did Norweb find
when they came out?

Most likely he has not got any leccy now, so cant use the pc.

Ah well, at least he wasn't sunbathing in Phuket.
--

Dave

In message , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Dave Stanton
saying something like:

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 01:20:11 +0000, Bill wrote:

Well Ron it has been 9 hours now since your posting. What did Norweb find
when they came out?

Most likely he has not got any leccy now, so cant use the pc.

Ah well, at least he wasn't sunbathing in Phuket.

Well if he had been then that would really Phuket

--
geoff

Thanks a lot for the advice. For info as soon as I got the initial responses
last night here (three quick replies - all saying *problem*) I called up
United Utilities who advised that any excessive heat or a burning smell
constituted an emergency and an engineer called (seems a very good
response - around an hour from call to visit on a B Holiday?).

Anyway, the engineer took a look and advised that the unit (I'm assuming the
fuse unit thingy) needed replacing with a new one. In the meantime I was to
keep the loading as minimal as possible (no showers/immersion etc) until it
is sorted. Another hour on and a pair of engineers called and spent a couple
of hours doing some more work. As of about 11pm last night I've got a shiny
new fuse 'thingy' (100A fuse). Looks like they've also moved the meter and
replacd the various tails that feed everything. a few hours from start to
finish and I have to say I've been impressed with the whole thing.

Having spent a few days *not* going with my gut feeling that things were not
right and feeling a bit of a plonker for not making the call sooner I'm
finally glad I asked you guys and got the right advice because something
clearly is/was wrong as you suggested from the off. Thanks a million for the
help and concern, sorry I didnt get back earlier but as guessed the power
was off until late and then family visit type stuff has kept me away since.

Cheers again everyone,

Regards
Ron

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 15:16:34 -0000, "Ron Atkinson"
wrote:

Thanks a lot for the advice. For info as soon as I got the initial responses
last night here (three quick replies - all saying *problem*) I called up
United Utilities who advised that any excessive heat or a burning smell
constituted an emergency and an engineer called (seems a very good
response - around an hour from call to visit on a B Holiday?).

Anyway, the engineer took a look and advised that the unit (I'm assuming the
fuse unit thingy) needed replacing with a new one. In the meantime I was to
keep the loading as minimal as possible (no showers/immersion etc) until it
is sorted. Another hour on and a pair of engineers called and spent a couple
of hours doing some more work. As of about 11pm last night I've got a shiny
new fuse 'thingy' (100A fuse). Looks like they've also moved the meter and
replacd the various tails that feed everything. a few hours from start to
finish and I have to say I've been impressed with the whole thing.

Having spent a few days *not* going with my gut feeling that things were not
right and feeling a bit of a plonker for not making the call sooner I'm
finally glad I asked you guys and got the right advice because something
clearly is/was wrong as you suggested from the off. Thanks a million for the
help and concern, sorry I didnt get back earlier but as guessed the power
was off until late and then family visit type stuff has kept me away since.

Cheers again everyone,

Regards
Ron



Very good outcome.

I think that several of us were starting to have visions of you
sitting in your garden with a smouldering pile of house in front of
you :-)


--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

In article , "Ron Atkinson"
says...
Thanks a lot for the advice. For info as soon as I got the responses here
(three quick replies - all saying *problem*) I called up United Utilities
who advised that any excessive heat or a burning smell constituted an
emergency and an engineer has been and gone (seems a decent response -
around an hour from call to visit on a B Holiday?).

Anyway, he took a look and has advised that the unit (I'm assuming the fuse
unit thingy) needs replacing with a new one. Now awaiting another call from
an engineer to do this work (later tonight or tomorrow morning ) and in the
meantime I've to keep the loading as minimal as possible (no
showers/immersion etc) until it is sorted. Having said that the engineer
must've done something because the heat has gone and the bit that was hot
definitely is'nt hot anymore.

Probably an oxidised contact was causing the heat - he'll have
cleaned it up, but wants to fit a new one anyway.

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 15:46:58 -0000, Rob Morley
strung together this:

Probably an oxidised contact was causing the heat - he'll have
cleaned it up, but wants to fit a new one anyway.

I've had that before, dodgy main 3 phase cutout with one phase down
which I cleaned up a bit and it sort of worked, but wouldn't have
lasted. 9pm on a Saturday it was, so I managed to get an engineer out
to site within an hour and had a complete new cutout the next morning,
(which was Sunday late morning, when the MEB disconnected the overhead
line from the transformer feeding the houses in the area, I sent the
customer round to tell everyone to pause the cokking of the roasts!)
--

SJW
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject