Consumer unit behind new garage door runners.

[JohnW2]

Don't I remember someone asking if you were BAS reincarnated. Or am I thinking of someone else.

It would have been more of a cloning than a reincarnation, since we were both here simultaneously for many years

 

[Fred Blogs]

If I may be allowed a moment of nostlagia ....
... this reminds me of my very first post in this forum (here) , on 28th January 2011, after a number of years of 'lurking silently'. I did get the answer I wanted (to look for DIN-rail connectors) but, as I was fully expecting after those previous years of silently watching what went on in the forum, I got my 'baptism by fire' by being well-and-truly "BAS-ed"

Seriously though, it did make me acutely aware of the reason why some OPs whose message, like mine, starts "This is my first post in this forum" rapidly disappear and are never seen again - since they come to a forum like this for answers and advice, not to be interrogated, 'lectured' and to some extent 'accused'

Kind Regards, John

Well this is not my first post and I have been here for a number of years. I will admit that I don't post a lot and when I have it is usually to decry some of the argumentative posts that appear on here much to the annoyance of the other participants no doubt. Surprisingly I do not have anyone on ignore because, again surprisingly perhaps, I find these combatative posts entertaining. This is probably only the second time that I have actually asked a relevant question for myself. Bottom line is that this is a do it yourself forum even though it it is called diynot and not a political mouthpiece but those posts can be entertaining as I have said. JohnW2's last line is particularly relevant.

So anyway I will get a spark in fact I am going to ask the guy who installed the CU a few years ago to come and have a look. I did have an electric garage door installed before this new one but it was a different design and quite old so I decided to get it changed I knew that runners would go across the face of the CU and to be honest the CU is perfectly accessable with only the door not now being able to close so I could just leave it and save the expense. The runners can be removed quite easily and the only information I was after was can it be done without have to go to the huge expense of a whole house rewire because I did not knot know whether the existing wires to the CU could be extended. This question has been answered so thank you.

 

[mattylad]

If you can access the CU to turn on/off the various levers in it AND the runners can easily be removed for maintenence of it then IMO I'd leave it alone.
Re the lid, I'd knock up some way of making the lid so it can be attached while the runners are in situ, as in remove it from it's current pegs snd come up with another way of fitting it.

 

[securespark]

I'd be pee'd off that at the site visit there was no mention by the door people that "You might want to get that moved down, Guv, before we come and fit the new door..."

 

[FrodoOne]

I'd be pee'd off that at the site visit there was no mention by the door people that "You might want to get that moved down, Guv, before we come and fit the new door..."

That is what I thought also.

The original installer of the CU is also to "blame",
since it should have been obvious that, in the future, a "Door-Opener" may be installed.

In addition, is there not a "regulation" in the UK which stipulates that a CU must not be installed above a certain height from the floor level?

In Australia, this maximum height above floor level (of the entire CU) is 2 metres
and
that CU appears to be installed higher than at that height.

Hence, I would say that the CU installer made his job easier,
at the cost of this (future) problem
and
may have contravened a "regulation".

 

[Fred Blogs]

Well now it is what it is. I could just leave it as the switches are perfectly accessable with only the CU door not being able to close. IF, and it is a big if, I get a spark to do the job the runners are easily removable so that he can get at the CU and to be honest the CU does need to be brought up to current safety standards but I'm not convinced that it is worth the cost. We shall see. On the plus side the garage door has given me another six inches width which means I can now get my car into the garage to do maintenance which I couldn't do before without folding the mirrors and even then it was a squeeze.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have just had a new Garador garage door fitted. I didn't realise it at the time but now that it is fitted the runners are in front of the consumer unit. The CU is not inaccessible but I now cannot shut the front cover nor can I see the fuses with getting close.

A roller style of door, would have easily fitted in there, and would have been well clear of that consumer unit.

 

[ericmark]

Oh my father-in-laws door was worse, the garage had no personal door, and they fitted an electric door which needed lifting to get access to the consumer unit. Had to get them back to fit a manual release mechanism. Lucky noticed before any power failure.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Oh my father-in-laws door was worse, the garage had no personal door, and they fitted an electric door which needed lifting to get access to the consumer unit. Had to get them back to fit a manual release mechanism. Lucky noticed before any power failure.

My roller door's motor/gearbox unit, has a deliberate weakness built into the drive shaft. I managed to overload the drive, break the drive shaft, so my door wouldn't roll up electrically, despite the motor running. It had a manual crank, accessible from inside, and I have two additional door ways into the garage/workshop - except the manual crank, cranks the motor round. Manually cranking the motor round, did absolutely nothing.

 

[EFLImpudence]

In addition, is there not a "regulation" in the UK which stipulates that a CU must not be installed above a certain height from the floor level?

No

 

[ericmark]

In addition, is there not a "regulation" in the UK which stipulates that a CU must not be installed above a certain height from the floor level?

I think there is a HSE ruling, about ability to step back from an electrical box, but not in BS 7671, which most rely on to keep within the rules.

Well now it is what it is. I could just leave it as the switches are perfectly accessible with only the CU door not being able to close.

I can see that the consumer unit can be accessed with door open or closed, but what about half way?

I had the problem with a German stair lift, if it failed top or bottom of stairs no problem, but it failed half way up. I asked how to manually wind it back to a station (top or bottom) and was told to call out their engineers who were 12 miles away, how does that help? They were not 24 hour, so fail at 6 pm and 10 am before the stairs can be cleared. Stenner had option to manually wind up or down.

It just seems both manufacturers and installers are blinkered, I was taught, method statement, then risk assessment, not trust to the lord. And I had to sign documents which said I had designed, installed, then inspected and tested, even having a new shed, the installers came and looked at the location, and told us what needed doing first.

 

[Fred Blogs]

A roller style of door, would have easily fitted in there, and would have been well clear of that consumer unit.

I thought of that but I didn't have the height. The people that owned this house before me built a loft which lowered the ceiling in the garage to just above the garage door lintel. My drive also slopes down away from the garage door and I would either have had to lift the ceiling or lower the floor to get a roller door to fit and give me enough headroom.

 

[Alec_t]

I could just leave it as the switches are perfectly accessable with only the CU door not being able to close.

I'd leave it as is if the runners can easily be removed when necessary. Any chance you could modify the CU lid or its fixings slightly to make it removable (but obviously securely closable too)?

 

[Collectors]

Cut the rail & fit 2 more brackets so you can work on the board when needed & refit the rail afterwards. You could also say, when was the board last opened?.

 

[Fred Blogs]

I think cutting the rail would invalidate the guarantee as the door has only been fitted in the last month or so. The two rails that are covering the board are easy enough to remove as they are. I opened the CU door a couple of weeks before the door install to reset one of the MCB switches that had popped when a bulb blew, I just left it open, luckily, or it would be now closed and unable to be opened unless I removed the rails. I could modify the door I suppose but if I'm going to leave it as is it can stay open for me, probably not best practice but practical until someone else sees it.