AM I supposed to just pull these off?!

[JohnW2]

As I said in a later response I think is down to the individuals risk aversion. The examples of possibilities you suggest are not things I have ever come across in 50 years but I am not saying they don't exist ...

Exactly the same for me. Come to that, nor have I personally ever come across a situation in which anyone has come to harm as a result of pulling such a CU fuse whilst significant current was flowing through it (although the fuse holder may have been somewhat damaged).

, what does concern me is that some of the replies are possibly reinforceing the doubt the poster seems to have in the competence of his electrician. That is the way it reads to me anyway.

I don't think it can be taken to say anything about how 'competent' the electrician is (to undertake work satisfactorily) but it has to be remembered that this is a DIY forum, and that people reading about what an electrician has done might take that to mean that there is no potential problem in doing the same. I wouldn't dare to mention here some of the ('dangerous') things I've done in my time, but always will a full understanding of the risks and a belief that I was doing what was necessary in order to mitigate them!!

Kind Regards, John

 

[john4703]

if you know any elderly people, they are very likely to have a card of fusewire in the shed or in the cupboard under the stairs. most likely theu now have a modern CU with breakers and will never need fusewire again.

you might find a card pinned to the wall or lying in the dust next to your CU.

Stop it, my wife phoned me a few years ago, ((ages ago as I was at work and I retired 10 yers ago) to say a fuse had "blown". I went to an old fashioned ironmogers and bought a card of fuse wire. I got home and discovered 3 or 4 similar cards on the shelf under the fuse box.
(I have now changed it to a consumer unit with RCBOs but I am wondering if I ever threw away the old cards of fuse wire.)