Well, six months on and the thread having died a death (or morphed into one about the BBMF) and things have begun to happen.
Today, ENW arrived, dug up our drive and fixed a nice white box on the wall. Knowing what they were about to do, I asked (after offering to make them some tea, but they already had tea-making facilities in their van!) whether they'd mind my watching. The response was favourable, so I enjoyed a very educational hour learning how to work safely on live (and presumably high current - 600A?) cables. Obviously, I'm not going to describe what they did as I'm sure that most of you reading this will already know, but you were quite correct, SS; the new cable that now leads to the box and new cut out was one of these:
http://www.batt.co.uk/products/view/610/Split-Concentric-Cable-BS7870
Tomorrow, Quarzelec engineers will come (I am assured) and do the interior work. I'm told they will run armoured cable under the floor, in the same direction as the existing supply, from the new cut out in the outside box - via the meter, which will be relocated out there - and in to the existing CU. I'm told they'll need to turn the power off for a couple of hours, which is fine by me. They've asked me to lift the carpet and (loose) floorboards over the old cast iron box, which I've already done, lift the carpet adjacent to the CU - they will lift the floorboards, and lift the carpet at an intermediate point in the hall, where I already have loose floorboards. It should be possible to feed through the new cable through using these three access points. Although I did offer to help by going under the floor (I've been there before), but they'll probably decline on the grounds of H&S!
Having got our new supply in place (hopefully), ENW will come again on Friday to remove the old connection and fill in the hole (and tarmac over). My wife will be very pleased to be able to put her car back in the garage; she doesn't like leaving it out (I have to leave mine out, although in fairness it's an old banger. Some would say my wife's an old banger too! Thank God she doesn't visit this site!).
So far, so good. I'm really pleased that ENW (and their subcontractors) are finally doing this work. I'm not complaining, of course; I know that it isn't an urgent matter, and after all it isn't costing me a penny.
I hope this lot is of interest to some of you.
Today, ENW arrived, dug up our drive and fixed a nice white box on the wall. Knowing what they were about to do, I asked (after offering to make them some tea, but they already had tea-making facilities in their van!) whether they'd mind my watching. The response was favourable, so I enjoyed a very educational hour learning how to work safely on live (and presumably high current - 600A?) cables. Obviously, I'm not going to describe what they did as I'm sure that most of you reading this will already know, but you were quite correct, SS; the new cable that now leads to the box and new cut out was one of these:
http://www.batt.co.uk/products/view/610/Split-Concentric-Cable-BS7870
Tomorrow, Quarzelec engineers will come (I am assured) and do the interior work. I'm told they will run armoured cable under the floor, in the same direction as the existing supply, from the new cut out in the outside box - via the meter, which will be relocated out there - and in to the existing CU. I'm told they'll need to turn the power off for a couple of hours, which is fine by me. They've asked me to lift the carpet and (loose) floorboards over the old cast iron box, which I've already done, lift the carpet adjacent to the CU - they will lift the floorboards, and lift the carpet at an intermediate point in the hall, where I already have loose floorboards. It should be possible to feed through the new cable through using these three access points. Although I did offer to help by going under the floor (I've been there before), but they'll probably decline on the grounds of H&S!
Having got our new supply in place (hopefully), ENW will come again on Friday to remove the old connection and fill in the hole (and tarmac over). My wife will be very pleased to be able to put her car back in the garage; she doesn't like leaving it out (I have to leave mine out, although in fairness it's an old banger. Some would say my wife's an old banger too! Thank God she doesn't visit this site!).
So far, so good. I'm really pleased that ENW (and their subcontractors) are finally doing this work. I'm not complaining, of course; I know that it isn't an urgent matter, and after all it isn't costing me a penny.
I hope this lot is of interest to some of you.
