Volex Consumer Unit - Busbar one section or two?

[lleigh]

We have just installed a Volex Consumer Unit - a split load one. When it arrived, the busbar was in one section and this is how my dad has installed it. However, my husband has been looking at pictures on the Internet of various consumer units and they all show the busbar as two separate sections - one attached to the main side of the unit and the other attached to the RCD side of the unit.

 

[Adam_151]

Two sections, its split load, leave it in one piece, and the RCD will trip. (edit:not to mention that the action of the RCD tripping won't disconnect the phase, like it should...)

And are you are you arn't out of your depth with this task?, installing a CU is not something to be understaken lightly, my opinion is that you are

 

[lleigh]

Thanks for the advice. My husband had worked out that that was probably what was causing us problems. Out of our depth, possibly. My dad used to work with electrics some time ago and has a brother who is an electrician (but doesn't live near by). My dad's knowledge of electrics is very good, however he doesn't have any experience with modern consumer units. He was, however, confident until now that he would be able to manage changing the fuse box for a consumer unit without any problem. If, having split the busbar, we still have problems we will, pleased be assured, call in a professional. Thanks, however, for answering the question.

 

[andy]

Thanks for the advice. My husband had worked out that that was probably what was causing us problems. Out of our depth, possibly. My dad used to work with electrics some time ago and has a brother who is an electrician (but doesn't live near by). My dad's knowledge of electrics is very good, however he doesn't have any experience with modern consumer units. He was, however, confident until now that he would be able to manage changing the fuse box for a consumer unit without any problem. If, having split the busbar, we still have problems we will, pleased be assured, call in a professional. Thanks, however, for answering the question.

and i assume you know how to test insulation, test ELI to ensure that MCBs will trip in time, test the earth rod (if you have one), test ELI at source to make sure you have the right breaking capacity MCBs

 

[lleigh]

Good point. I personally don't know but I will check each of those tests with my dad to make sure he knows how to do those. Should he not know how to do them, or not have the equipment, rest assured we will get an electrician in to carry them out. We're currently working on a loft conversion and have to put in a new circuit for the loft - hence making sure our current electrics conform to all the necessary standards and are completely safe. I'm not sure our setup is perhaps the same as many as we have the consumer unit upstairs where our fuse box upstairs used to be but we also have the supply coming in downstairs and through a main isolating switch. Our house was, at one time, split into two in a manner of speaking in that the upstairs was rented out and that seems to be the reason for the extra fusebox having been there. Perhaps this makes putting in a consumer unit on the upstairs setup different from changing your average fusebox over? Having divided the busbar, the Consumer Unit seems to work as expected and we have solved the problem we were having on one of the circuits in the house. Rest assured, however, that I will this evening find out about the tests you describe and check to see that they can be carried out. Thank you very much for your help. Please also be assured that I do not have the knowledge that my dad or my husband have and so it may look like we are more out of our depth than we actually are. It's just that I have more time to post and read replies and pass on information to the parties who are actually doing the work.