Does new board need to be horizontal?

[ban-all-sheds]

But two separate CUs could be wired like that, if you wanted.

 

[diyer56]

Diyer, that one looks quite good, but it looks like an expensive version of 2 CU's mounted above each other! Unless you were going for that range design 30 anyway of course. What are the benefits specifically of one unit with 2 rows?

A fair comment; I was just of the mindset that if I wanted to replace the CU I wanted to do it once with a good quality unit. The feedback on here over time has seemed to rate the Hager kit and therefore I opted for that setup. I'd rather buy once and buy right.

I could have bought two smaller Hager units I suppose but the overall height would have been greater. In addition to this the new CU was replacing an existing unit near the ceiling with the cables for each circuit entering the old CU via the top (direct from the ceiling). Having one dual height board mounted in place of the existing unit allowed the existing circuits to be spread over the two rows, and therefore RCDs, without routing the cables into one CU, back out and then into the lower unit.

Interestingly the electrician initially suggested a standard 10 way board mounted vertically but did raise the concern around the front 'door' not falling closed. He was not aware that they made dual row units with as few as 10 usable ways. I sent him the product link and he supplied the kit via his wholesaler.

Finding a CU which fitted into the existing space meant I didn't have to rip out a hall cupboard and redecorate - so either way it saved me money!

That's the story I'm sticking to anyway

 

[JohnD]

there are (?were?) double-decker CUs by MEM (now Eaton).

I haven't got an up-to-date catalogue so I don't know if they are still listed.

View media item 6822
View media item 1090

 

[seasickstevie]

3rd Amen boards are only wider if you use RCDs. A non-RCD board with RCBOs is no wider than an old-style MCB-only board.