Fused Spur 25mm Back Box Nightmare

[Damian30]

Hi,

Thought I would share my day with you sparkles. Should give you a bit of a laugh at my incompetence.

Anyway, I have an electrician coming round in a few weeks to do a few jobs. One of those is to install a a fused spur from a socket in a visible location. Trying to be cleaver, I thought it would be good to match the socket brand and as you can't get them anymore (Tenby), I thought I would swap a unswitched FCU feeding the alarm unit in the cloakroom and fit an MK one there. Thought if I was careful it should be something I can do (and get the electrician to double check when they come round if necessary)

Anyway, removed the Tenby FCU no problem but 8 hours later, I'm still trying to install the MK replacement (even tried a Crabtree as well). It's really tight in the back box and has it is in the top corner of the room, there is minimal room to get a screwdriver in, the alarm unit is really close and as it is fully wired up can't easily be moved. I've not had to put the Tenby unit back on but not fitted to the box (even that took an hour to sort out). That 2.5mm twin and earth ring seems really tricky to work with and bend.

Anyway, is struggling to type as my fingers are that sore and pretty tired from standing on a chair for the last 8 hours. Completely demoralised as I took a valuable day off work to get a few jobs done (or none as it turned out).

Maximum respect to you chaps doing this stuff day in day out. Lots of lessons learned and I'm going to have to get someone round a bit quicker to get my out if this mess. A deeper back box would probably help but the stud is in the way. A couple of electricians I've spoken to think it should be easy enough to install into a 25mm box but it has got me beat.

Never again!

Damian

Untitled

• Damian30
• 25 Apr 2015
• 1

 

[securespark]

I don't see a back box!

Is that twin & earth cable off to the right feeding the panel?

 

[sparkwright]

I think he removed the box to get the fused spur temporarily going.

Yes, it can be a nightmare getting wires dressed neatly in a box where space is tight.

Deeper back boxes are available which certainly make life easier.

It is mainly down to experience, and a little bit of patience.

Sounds like you have been very patient.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Looks to be plenty cable there to make terminations, I to can't see backbox, be a shame to spend all that time on it, to have to disconnect to pull cables through backbox knock-outs! Looks like earth needs sleeving.
If wall is stud, is there any slack on cable in wall? This will help if struggling with cable length for access to plate terminals.

Not sure how the load cable is going to end up?

 

[Chri5]

OP do you have a decent chisel and a malet?

Taking 10mm or so out of the wood stud and then mounting a metal back box (with grommets for the cable entries) isn't difficult. Well not if you've done it a few hundred times.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Anyway, I have an electrician coming round in a few weeks to do a few jobs. One of those is to install a a fused spur from a socket in a visible location. Trying to be cleaver, I thought it would be good to match the socket brand and as you can't get them anymore (Tenby),

Tenby Glacier is still available, mostly on Ebay.

 

[333rocky333]

If you dont mind it looking a bit ugly, you can get a white plastic extension sguare to give you an extra 15mm

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MKK2134.html

 

[Damian30]

Thanks for the comments.

Got it sorted in the end. Managed to refit the existing FCU (after noticing that you could still get old stock on the web - doh - should have checked first). The limited room above the terminals was the main issue, managed with a stubby screwdriver and lots of patience in the end.

Will keep away in future (or check on the web first for old Tenby stuff!).

Thanks,

Damian