Old and odd cutouts.

[RF Lighting]

A very old cutout.
Jeez what a mess.

A strange new supply. It is 3no. SP supplies on a 3P cutout & meter. It feeds a 3P DB.

How very odd.

 

[securespark]

How are you sure they're 1P?

 

[RF Lighting]

Because it says so on the meter

 

[securespark]

Slaps head and utters "Doh!"....

 

[RF Lighting]

 

[Steve]

But why?

We have that exact same meter at work and it only records 2 readings

What is that strange supply feeding? The only reason I can think that they wouldnt supply 3 phases to that head is if the customer requested it this way. And wouldnt there be a lot of load on that neutral? My understanding of 3 phase theory is that if all 3 phases are balanced as much as they can be, there is very little load on the neutral. Here, there could be 300A+ on that neutral, depending on the main fuses.

The cutout in the first piccy, how old would that be? I've seen that one in one of our shops. Whats this one feeding?

 

[RF Lighting]

Right, some more photos to try and explain a bit clearer.

This is all in a cupboard in a night club in Leeds.

The big cutout in the middle feeds everything in the top row of doors.

This includes a feed to two floors of offices above the club via the M/C wylex switch fuses in the top right of the picture, and also the landlords power via the 4 way wylex below the switch fuses. We have no idea what the plastic switch fuse feeds.

The old cutout also feeds another 100A SP cutout in the top left of the photo with 50mm² (?) VIR tails which has had an extra 100A fuse taken of it. This supplies a shop above the club via the MEM 1way CU above it, and also feeds an unmetered pyro which we have not yet traced.

There is also an unused 100A SP supply in the bottom of the pic.

The odd 3no. SP supply feeds a TP dist board for the night club. There is no reason I can see that they would have chosed SP over TP. There is even a TP submain from DB1 to the DB behind the bar area.



(this is all in the same club as the badly joined YE cable i posted about yesterday)

 

[Steve]

And the original complaint was . . . ?

Looks like you're going to be busy! What is your plan of action? Are YEDL going to be involved here at all?

 

[Spark123]

It does seem strange that the three phase cut out is being used for 1 phase, what size fuses are in there? (Looks like the cutout seal fairy has already been there!!). Like Crafty says, the concern is the neutral loading as with single phase the current will add up. Same concern echos for the other submain, assuming the neutral conductor is same size as the phase. Just out of interest have you had voltage measuring equipment on to prove is it 1ph?
Is that a nice mix of TN-S and TN-CS just to make it more interesting too?

 

[RF Lighting]

We were called in by the ladlord of the property due to the high electic bill he was recieving.

He was supposed to be paying for a supply which feeds the communal areas of the two offices above the nightclub.

His meter should have been feeding a supply to 7no. 6' flourescent fittings, 4no. emergency lights and the fire alarm panel on the communal staircase.

He started getting upset when he was receiving an elecrtic bill of £200 per month.

It turns out that his meter actually supplies the two offices, the communal supply, and an untraced submain whicn we measured at supplying 6A to somewhere. (at 5.30 on a friday night, so who knows what power they use through he day )

The single phase / TP supply is nothing to do with our work.

YEDL will be getting involved to install seperate meters (and probably cutouts) for each property.

I'm sure there will be more photos to follow
The job is rapidly turning into an F-ing nightmare.

The old lucy oxford cutout is a TN-S supply, while the new club supply is TN-C-S

The old supply has one hell of an earth clamp attached to it, feeding most of the supplies

 

[dingbat]

Rather you than me, Rob!

I get this sort of thing all the time on a smaller scale in Headingley - the Land of Landlords - properties divided and subdivided; isolators not labelled, live feeds to who-knows-where, non-isolatable circuits. All down to generations of shoddy, undocumented, patchwork electrical bodgery.

 

[kai]

It seems really dangerous to have FOUR service fuse blocks in one property - the safest bet is to rip the whole lot out, and only have ONE supply feed to the property - try isolating the feeds in an emergency - it will be very hard to, if not impossible with this setup!

 

[RF Lighting]

That's DNOs for you.

There is actually two more supplies in other parts of the club.

I've seen worse.

 

[kai]

I bet you, when the time comes to demolish the building, one or more service feeds will be left live by mistake, and there will be a big bang when the service line is severed - I have seen it happen once on an old industrial site.

 

[RF Lighting]

There is an old industrial site near my house which has been flattend ready for yet another a new housing estate. All that remains is the old substation.

Rather worryingly(is this a word?) they have lined the block and mesh which surrounds the hole they are working down, with some heavy fabric stuff.

Does anyone know what this is for?

Is it some sort of blast sheild for passers by?