SWA current capacity

[ban-all-sheds]

I still find it hard to believe that a 4-bar electric fire would melt a 2.5mm² aluminium cable!

I find it, if not hard, then at least very puzzling, that a 4-bar electric fire even existed. AIUI, a "bar", traditionally was a 1kW load. (at, traditionally, 240V

Spoiler

[please be quiet, Winston]

), so a 4-bar one would be 4kW, 16,7A - too much for even a BS 546.

OTOH, if we dispense with the "1 bar = 1kW" convention, "4-bars" means nothing, and we are left wondering what sort of maximum 15A load would melt the insulation of 2.5mm² cable.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

thank you, but that is not the question i asked originally. Dont think this forum is an exam paper??

No.

But it is a jolly good way of exposing the ignorance of people who are not competent to do the work they think they can do.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Well, the RCD would be 30mA, I would expect. But did you mean RCD?

Well that's what he said.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

if he did replace the MCB (with one having a different rating) as well as the cable, I think that would probably be sailing very close to the wind of a "new circuit", wouldn't it?

No.

He would have gone so far past it that the boom would have come round, smacked him upside the head and pitched him unconscious into the water.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

and after its been installed i will get it inspected!

It doesn't work like that, unless before you start you have engaged the services of a registered third party certifier. Have you?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If some of you Electricians did not charge so much , you would prob get an awful lot more work. Smaller profit = greater turnover? it worked for me for 20 odd years as self employed. Incidentally, in my lifetime I have been trained as a Mechanical technician, Armaments fitter, years ago I did the original ONC Electrical, later trained as an Electronics engineer working from early Valve Calculators to the latest main frame computers and then changed to Process Control instrumentation and Meteorological instrumentation. I only asked my original questions because I am too lazy now to look up the relevant Reg's and being on a fixed pension i can't always afford the rates being charged. I am quite capable of doing the work safely. Just wanted to make sure i got my figures right.

What has any of that got to do with anything you had said or asked about up until then?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I can see where John is coming from , but what would you rather do have a job for £100 and be paid for it or charge £150/200 for the same job and not get it? that is a fundamental question that is at the root of a lot of our problems in this country I think. BUT lower charge = less income is surely better than higher charge but No income?

What has any of that got to do with anything you had said or asked about up until then?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

you all choose to misunderstand what i said. Of course you have to cover your costs, living expenses and make a profit to allow for replacing tools etc or expansion. but i am suggesting that a lot of businesses and that includes the top "managers" are obscenely greedy.As for Brit.Gas and other utilities, I don't know what sort of accounting systems they use, but but whoever wrote those programs should be sacked for sheer incompetence. Come to think of it, so should their top managers.

What has any of that got to do with anything you had said or asked about up until then?

LittleJohn of the Daily Mail for Prime Minister! LOL

If that is not a joke, I wonder if you have any idea what it says about you?

 

[JohnW2]

if he did replace the MCB (with one having a different rating) as well as the cable, I think that would probably be sailing very close to the wind of a "new circuit", wouldn't it?

No. He would have gone so far past it that the boom would have come round, smacked him upside the head and pitched him unconscious into the water.

Is it your view that changing an MCB constitutes installing a 'new circuit'?

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I find it, if not hard, then at least very puzzling, that a 4-bar electric fire even existed. AIUI, a "bar", traditionally was a 1kW load.

I certainly don't recall ever having seen 4-bar ones, but I do recall 2-bar and 3-bar ones with 750W (and maybe also 500W - I'm not so sure about that) elements.

Kind Regards, John

 

[bernardgreen]

The fire in our front room was 3 by 1kW, vertical bars each its own reflector and the reflectors aimed in three different directions. ( 45 degrees apart ) so placing chairs in he right places meant three people got direct radiant heat directed to them. The memorable feature was the minimalist guards in front of the elements and the frequent time there was a smell of burnt fur when the cats tail got through the guards.

 

[AndyPRK]

if he did replace the MCB (with one having a different rating) as well as the cable, I think that would probably be sailing very close to the wind of a "new circuit", wouldn't it?

No. He would have gone so far past it that the boom would have come round, smacked him upside the head and pitched him unconscious into the water.

Is it your view that changing an MCB constitutes installing a 'new circuit'?

Kind Regards, John

He is changing the cable and mcb?

If you change a broom head and broom handle that sounds like a new broom to me.

 

[Iggifer]

If you change a broom head and broom handle that sounds like a new broom to me.

Not if you're Trigger!

 

[JohnW2]

He is changing the cable and mcb? ... If you change a broom head and broom handle that sounds like a new broom to me.

It does rather! However, IF folk reckon (I'm personally not sure) that one could change the MCB (for a different rated one) without it becoming a 'new circuit' (that's why I asked BAS for his view), then if one did that, and then subsequently changed the cable (which, in itself, does not create a 'new circuit'), it would seem that one would not have done any pieces of work which, in themselves, created a 'new circuit', even though one had ended up with the equivalent of 'a new broom'.

As we've discussed many times before, this whole 'new circuit' business is a can of worms!

Kind Regards, John

 

[AndyPRK]

I guess the intention is that a qualified person needs to select the correct mcb to match the cable size.

Therefore parts can be replaced by diyers but not new circuits designed/created