Info about my mains supply cable route - plus other bits...

[RWhites]

Hi all.
I've tried to search on this but not got anything useful. I'll try to be brief and get to the point....

Basically, I'm going to be doing some re-jigging of some of my internal walls shortly, and my (very old) mains supply cable, main fuse, electricity meter, and (old again) consumer unit are currently attached to one of the walls I want to remove. My long term plan is to replace the consumer unit with a modern one, about 2ft from the current location, but the mains supply cable and main fuse are causing me a headache.

I've pretty much decided that the best option is to have the mains supply cable and main fuse relocated to the other side of the house, and mounted outside on the front wall (above the gas meter) in a new box, and put the electricity meter in the new box also.

My main question is this: Is it ok for the supply cable to be run along the outside of a house wall at 1st floor(ish) height? The current cable does this and goes to the back of the house, and I would want it re-routing down the passageway between me and next-door, attached to my house, and then down to the new box at the front of the house. OR - will they insist on the cable being buried? (The passageway belongs to my neighbour, so this would be a problem).

I've asked 'Northern Power' this question, and they are unable to help with 'technical' questions.

My second question is: Will the electricity supply company also be happy to move my meter? - I've had conflicting answers on this.

My third question: Is there any kind of restriction on the length of, or the routing of, the cables from meter to CU? And what is best practice for routing them through the house wall? The new meter location outside is about 20ft from the planned CU location.

For the record, I do not plan to touch the mains supply cable myself, but would be keen to do the prep work for the new meter-to-CU cabling in advance of the connections being made.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[securespark]

westie is best to answer your questions about the supply cable.

As far as the feed from the meter to the CU goes, 6 metres would have to be done on a submain.

Take your tails out of the meter along with your earth into an 80A switchfuse unit inside the building, then run your supply cable from there to the CU location. SWA would be adequate, I should think.

But if you can plan it so that you can reduce the distance between the meter and the CU so you can connect directly via tails without the need for a submain, that would be much better. Fewer joints and no need to fuse down.

 

[sparkybird]

You may well rethink when your elec supplier tells you how much it's going to cost...

Think in the '000's.... I'm afraid

 

[RWhites]

You may well rethink when your elec supplier tells you how much it's going to cost...

Think in the '000's.... I'm afraid

Their website estimates about £800 ish. Gulp!

It isn't something I particularly want to do, but I don't have too many options when the existing setup is in my hallway next to the bathroom....

I've not seen as many of these as you lot will have, but just looking at mine makes me nervous.... I've uploaded some pics....

Main fuse overview

• RWhites
• 31 Jul 2012
• 1

Anything that looks this tatty makes me nervous....

Still nervous...

• RWhites
• 31 Jul 2012
• 1

It is this last one that makes me most nervous, that's the mains supply cable running just under the plaster about 5' to the main fuse.

Main supply entering house

• RWhites
• 31 Jul 2012
• 1

The white bit to the left is a window frame. The cable was just underneath a window surround...

(Hope that's worked!)

I've had the tape out, and the cable length of the tails would be about 8m when vertical distance is added.

 

[securespark]

Yeah, that looks......nice!

It's overhead, I take it?

The thing is their rules & regs are very different to ours.

It seems to have an earth...is it provided by them or is it from a rod in the ground?

 

[westie101]

A lot depends on the individual DNO.
The proposed location seems fine but there could be a restriction running the cable along the passageway, if low and reachable it would possibly be deemed too low or would require expensive and unsightly mechanical protection, this is why the underground option is generally favoured.

There are solutions but that would be up to the individual staff dealing with the job and DNO policy.

The DNO will move the meter at the same time but as suggested you will need a fused switch back to back with the box and a sub-main to your consumer unit if the tails would be over about 2 to 3 metres.

You could of course move the consumer unit to back to back with the meter position to avoid the sub-main

 

[RWhites]

westie is best to answer your questions about the supply cable.

As far as the feed from the meter to the CU goes, 6 metres would have to be done on a submain.

Take your tails out of the meter along with your earth into an 80A switchfuse unit inside the building, then run your supply cable from there to the CU location. SWA would be adequate, I should think.

When you talk about a switchfuse, are you referring to this kind of thing?:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Submain-S...ilar-MEM-800KMF-and-Click-DB700-/160696840300

And when you refer to SWA, do you mean for coming through the wall, or are you talking about running SWA from the switchfuse to the CU?

 

[RWhites]

Yeah, that looks......nice!

It's overhead, I take it?

The thing is their rules & regs are very different to ours.

It seems to have an earth...is it provided by them or is it from a rod in the ground?

Overhead, yes - but only about 6'6" from the floor.

Earth-wise, I'm not aware of any rod in the ground, so I presume it comes from them. The big yellow sticker on the main fuse referrs to 'protective multiple earthing'.

 

[sparkybird]

just looked again at the pics - is the supply cable into the bottom on the company head twin and earth????

(Or do I need new glasses??)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Earth-wise, I'm not aware of any rod in the ground, so I presume it comes from them. The big yellow sticker on the main fuse referrs to 'protective multiple earthing'.

It could still be an overhead supply - many which were originally TT have been converted to PME.

 

[RWhites]

A lot depends on the individual DNO.
The proposed location seems fine but there could be a restriction running the cable along the passageway, if low and reachable it would possibly be deemed too low or would require expensive and unsightly mechanical protection, this is why the underground option is generally favoured.

There are solutions but that would be up to the individual staff dealing with the job and DNO policy.

The DNO will move the meter at the same time but as suggested you will need a fused switch back to back with the box and a sub-main to your consumer unit if the tails would be over about 2 to 3 metres.

You could of course move the consumer unit to back to back with the meter position to avoid the sub-main

Thanks Westie.
So I can reasonably assume that if it is high enough in the air (approx 10ft currently), then it is likely to be ok?

I forgot to ask earlier, what is a "sub-main"?

Also worth asking... if I were to ask the supply to be moved a few feet internally (instead of taking it to the other end of the house), would they fit a new (& neater) main fuse, or would I have to fit in something of similar size to currently?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

just looked again at the pics - is the supply cable into the bottom on the company head twin and earth????

Looks like it.

 

[westie101]

Yes I would think 10ft would be classed as fine

The new main fuses are not much different in size to the one you have.

 

[RWhites]

just looked again at the pics - is the supply cable into the bottom on the company head twin and earth????

(Or do I need new glasses??)

It looks like twin & earth to me. 6mm at a guess, though it could be 10mm. Do I take it that isn't normal?

And the old tails are pathetic little things too.

 

[RF Lighting]

Which bit of Yorkshire are you in?

I've worked on supplies like that in the past. The feeder cable is a bit like twin and earth, only it's twin without an earth, and the external sheath is much tougher than normal PVC, more like hi-tuff It looks like a 16.0mm² supply to me. The last one I saw was just outside Halifax.

The supply type is PME. Note the big yellow sticker on the bottom of the cutout Most likely a TT conversion I'd imagine.

You may have to get your meter operater involved in the supply move. The last supply Northern Powergrid moved for one of my customers, they did NOT move the meter