So was it their fuse, and did they give you any hastle?
HELP! loud bang and no electric
- Thread starter cravenbiker
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This happened to a customer of mine recently:
http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1612734#1612734
http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1612734#1612734
SO
It turn out that whatever is on their side of the meter IS NOT theirs .
But whatever ins on their side of the MAIN SERVICE FUSE is theirs.
When the guy from DNO (lets call him Dino as thats an apt name i reckon) came round he looked at the fuse board in my flat and checked that cut out before my meter had not blown. it wasnt and there was no electrcity going into it.
Next step - we went to the main distribution board in the communual hall (pictured below) which takes the electrcity from the DNO`s main servise fuse and seperates the electricity into the individual flats i.e each flat has a 60amp fuse before their meter.
the door to the main distribution box told him what fuse was for my flat -
X marks the spot on my fuse
Dino said that the distribution board does not belong to the DNO therefore he could not toch it as it could get him into trouble if anything happened.
He was a nice bloke, very helpful and not a jobsworth like a lot of these service engineers are that come direct from these big companies.
He told me that I should get an NIC electrican in to remove the 60 amp fuse and to replace it.
I asked him what an electrician would do that I could not do or what equipment he had that i would need to do myself.
tyhis is the bit that you guys are going to cringe at.
Dino said that I could do it myself if I had already made safe the initial fault and to isolate the ringmain just incase to reduce the risk of arcing at the Main Distribution board.
he did that for me in the flat, took the main cutout from in front of the meter and took out the main 60amp fuse cartridge.
I went to the wholesaler, got a new one. screwed it in. plugged it in to dist. board, closed it all back up and made sure it was secure, went into flat, reconnected the main cut out in front of the meter , re inserted all of my cartridge fuses into the board (soon to be changed for new board with mcb`s) and then switched all of my boards to the on position and then the moment of truth to see if my radio worked.......it did. all had returned back to normal.
I am deffinately getting the fuseboard upgraded as i have learnt a lot about electrics due to this little incident and understand how unsafe these old style, fuse wire cartridges are.
Thanks for all your help guys and may the torrents of abuse for replacing the 60amp fuse myself commence!!
oh and by the way, this has got me really interested in electrical curcuits and the way domestic electrics works that i am going to do a part time course on it (just for my own knowledge) so if anyone can recommend a learn it yourself course or a group that does a similar thing that would be handy
Thanks again
T
It turn out that whatever is on their side of the meter IS NOT theirs .
But whatever ins on their side of the MAIN SERVICE FUSE is theirs.
When the guy from DNO (lets call him Dino as thats an apt name i reckon) came round he looked at the fuse board in my flat and checked that cut out before my meter had not blown. it wasnt and there was no electrcity going into it.
Next step - we went to the main distribution board in the communual hall (pictured below) which takes the electrcity from the DNO`s main servise fuse and seperates the electricity into the individual flats i.e each flat has a 60amp fuse before their meter.
the door to the main distribution box told him what fuse was for my flat -
X marks the spot on my fuse
Dino said that the distribution board does not belong to the DNO therefore he could not toch it as it could get him into trouble if anything happened.
He was a nice bloke, very helpful and not a jobsworth like a lot of these service engineers are that come direct from these big companies.
He told me that I should get an NIC electrican in to remove the 60 amp fuse and to replace it.
I asked him what an electrician would do that I could not do or what equipment he had that i would need to do myself.
tyhis is the bit that you guys are going to cringe at.
Dino said that I could do it myself if I had already made safe the initial fault and to isolate the ringmain just incase to reduce the risk of arcing at the Main Distribution board.
he did that for me in the flat, took the main cutout from in front of the meter and took out the main 60amp fuse cartridge.
I went to the wholesaler, got a new one. screwed it in. plugged it in to dist. board, closed it all back up and made sure it was secure, went into flat, reconnected the main cut out in front of the meter , re inserted all of my cartridge fuses into the board (soon to be changed for new board with mcb`s) and then switched all of my boards to the on position and then the moment of truth to see if my radio worked.......it did. all had returned back to normal.
I am deffinately getting the fuseboard upgraded as i have learnt a lot about electrics due to this little incident and understand how unsafe these old style, fuse wire cartridges are.
Thanks for all your help guys and may the torrents of abuse for replacing the 60amp fuse myself commence!!
oh and by the way, this has got me really interested in electrical curcuits and the way domestic electrics works that i am going to do a part time course on it (just for my own knowledge) so if anyone can recommend a learn it yourself course or a group that does a similar thing that would be handy
Thanks again
T
Good to see that you have it sorted now..
and I can't see that anyone is going to "have a go" at you for changing some fuse wire!
and I can't see that anyone is going to "have a go" at you for changing some fuse wire!
H
holmslaw
..
That is an odd setup if they say they do not own and operate that fuseboard.....
apparently it belongs to the meter company and not the DNO
ha!
I'm sure ownership is with the DNO (not the supplier)
BUT there may be a company with a contract to look after the meters and fit new ones; this might not be same company that looks after other parts of the network, or the same company that (is supposed to) change the main fuse. I do not know the rules for those fuses in blocks of flats.
there are a lot of service companies out there doing work that once upon a time would all have been done by the Electricity Board or later the REC.
I'm sure ownership is with the DNO (not the supplier)
BUT there may be a company with a contract to look after the meters and fit new ones; this might not be same company that looks after other parts of the network, or the same company that (is supposed to) change the main fuse. I do not know the rules for those fuses in blocks of flats.
there are a lot of service companies out there doing work that once upon a time would all have been done by the Electricity Board or later the REC.
Is it just me or does that not look to be a particularly large supply given the number of flats it appears to be serving?
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