State of service fuse etc. (with pics)

[ukants]

Hello folks, I would value your opinion this cold night. Looking at a friend's electrics today, I was less than impressed at the state of the installation. Am I being Mr. Fussy or is this unsafe? Many things to note, including:

M.E.T. hanging loose and in poor state.
Main earthing cable 6mm
Red tail between meter and neutral
Two TNS connections on incoming (?)
No cover on CU
No fuse or blank in one fuseholder
Board on which meter and service fuse placed is rotten

My main question is about the service fuse set up. It appears to be rewireable. What age is this? There was no seal on it , so I carefully opened it up to make sure it, at least, didn't have a fused neutral, which it doesn't. But how do you tell the size of the fuse wire? The ceramic holder says 30A on it but can this be trusted? I've added a few pics. Can I insist on the service provider updating the service fuse and main earth cable?


Cheers everyone.

 

[RF Lighting]

I've seen worse.

It is not immediatly dangerous providing you shut that cutout again.


On the negative side of things you missed asbestos flash pads, fuse wire tube and door linings in the cutout

On the plus side, the tails are PVC and the neutral is a solid link.

The earth is a bit of a concern if it is loose, but the fact it is only 6.0mm² is only 'not to current standards' rather than dangerous.

Must cutout backboards are rotten or full of woodworm, but if you dont disturb it it will be OK.


The only way to find out what size the fuse is is to look at the wire, but YOU MUST NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY AND REMOVE THE FUSE.
The ceramic fuses and ceramic surrounds have a habit of shattering when you try and pull a slightly welded fuse holder out. This puts you in real risk of a big bang or electrocution.

The cutout will be from between 1930 and 1960 ish.

You can contact the DNO and request an upgraded cutout and PME earth terminal, but as it is not immediatly dangerous they will probably charge you for the privelege.




BTW I see you are from Lancashire. You seem to have strayed over the pennines

 

[JohnD]

Hello folks, I would value your opinion this cold night. Looking at a friend's electrics today, I was less than impressed at the state of the installation. Am I being Mr. Fussy or is this unsafe? Many things to note, including:

M.E.T. hanging loose and in poor state.
Main earthing cable 6mm
Red tail between meter and neutral
Two TNS connections on incoming (?)
No cover on CU
No fuse or blank in one fuseholder
Board on which meter and service fuse placed is rotten

My main question is about the service fuse set up. It appears to be rewireable. What age is this? There was no seal on it , so I carefully opened it up to make sure it, at least, didn't have a fused neutral, which it doesn't. But how do you tell the size of the fuse wire? The ceramic holder says 30A on it but can this be trusted? I've added a few pics. Can I insist on the service provider updating the service fuse and main earth cable?

Thanks, we like pictures

I think if the householder contacts the electricity supplier (no need to know who the DNO is, he can write to the address on his bill) and says the service head is insecure, hanging open, and can he have a TNC-S fitted please, they will probbaly fit one. They may do it free, if they agree the old head is unstaisfactory; they may charge £50 - £100 which is typical for changing to PME. If he points out that there is a pipe clamp on the incoming cable, and the paper insulation looks in poor condition, they may stir themselves.

If he writes, a letter is more likely to be routed correctly rather than being brushed off or misunderstood by the telephone "service" desk.

You or your friend can (and should) fit a new Earth Block (get an 8-way) and upgrade the size of the main earth bonds (this is the consumer's responsibility, not the electricity company's) to 16mm between seervice head, MET and CU; 10mm to gas and water.

The solid neutral link is not wrong.

The two pipe clamps - one is on the armour and one is on the ?lead? sheath. I don't think that's "wrong".

The red insulation between meter and service head is the DNO's problem, but I don't suppose they'll care. You can put rings of black tape round the N tail, and red tape round the P tail, if you like.

edited: bah. the distance down here means that it took a long time to post my reply.

 

[mst]

my father inlaws got one like this. hes also got those old fibre based tails too.

can any of you gents tell me what the 2 (normally wooden) caps are on the side? just for my education really.

also on one of the (very good)pictures it says on the side 30A....whats this relating too?

thanks

 

[RF Lighting]

The wooden caps are basically just to fill any unused holes in the cutout

Sometimes the cable will enter from the side, and the wooden blanks are to bung the spare holes. This is required as the bottom part of the cutout is filled with pitch.

The 30A is the maximum rating of the whole cutout. (this is acheived by using no more than 30A fuse wire)



Side entry cast iron cutout:

 

[JohnD]

No cover on CU

This is very unsatisfactory.

Put up a photo (I bet I know what it is though) and tell us the brand and colour; somebody might have one knocking about that your friend can have for the cost of P&P.

p.s. if you friend blows the main fuse a few times, on convenient days, by turning on the immersion heater, oven, tumble drier, washing machine, kettle and toaster at the same time, they will have to come out to fix it, and that might be a good trigger to getting a nice new head fitted. His installation must look safe, though, or they might refuse to reconnect.

 

[mst]

Thanks RF

 

[ukants]

Thanks everyone.
More pics..

(..and yes it's a Wylex!!)

I did replace the M.E.T. and cover the CU while I was there (with some improvisation on the cover!). Even though I was only passing through, I didn't really want to leave it like that. Sorry for the confusion; I was just commenting on the overall state before I started. I will be going back to do more inc. update earth cable and eq bon (one (10mm) appears to be very recent), though finding the stop tap and gas supply is proving something of a challenge!

 

[ukants]

The 30A is the maximum rating of the whole cutout. (this is acheived by using no more than 30A fuse wire)

RF, so on a PIR, for example, what would you put for the service fuse size? I take it you would have to get it "by enquiry".

Thanks for the answers, by the way. I do learn a lot from them. Of course, coming from Lancashire it does take time to sink in !
(I work in Ilkley...can't afford to b****y live there, mind ).

 

[RF Lighting]

RF, so on a PIR, for example, what would you put for the service fuse size? I take it you would have to get it "by enquiry".

I would put 30A. They are not allowed to be fused above this, and I've never known one rated less, but it would be by enquiry.

I work in Ilkley...can't afford to b****y live there, mind ).

Really?

About four and a half mins from my house. Infact if you come from the M62 you probably pass my house .

Won't say where it is, but near all the big roadworks, left at the traffic lights.

 

[Steve]

A white painted wooden Wylex standard. Dont see many of them! What is its rating?

I had an 8-way black wooden wylex standard, rated at 100 amps. Nobody believes me though.

 

[RF Lighting]

A white painted wooden Wylex standard. Dont see many of them! What is its rating?

Looks like a standard 60A model.
I beleive there were very few of these, as they went to plastic backs pretty soon after they changed from brown to cream.

I had an 8-way black wooden wylex standard, rated at 100 amps. Nobody believes me though.

I don't beleive you

 

[JohnD]

very irritatingly, although it's got the late-model plastic shields on the live terminals at the main switch, the insulation round the cores has been stripped back to make it easy to touch exposed live conductors when the cover's off

 

[karatedragon]

es schaut ein wenig geschmolzen

 

[RF Lighting]

es schaut ein wenig geschmolzen

Bedeuten Sie den mittleren roten Sicherung Halter? Er ist die Brandfleckmarkierung von gerecht, wo eine Sicherung durchgebrannt hat, und ist durchaus ein allgemeiner Anblick. Es ist nicht gefährlich oder eine Störung.