And I agree with him. Unfortunately a common occurance.
That is one of the reasons that the latest wiring regulations mandate that consumer units should now be constructed of a "non-Combustible" material.
MCB melted
- Thread starter catlad
- Start date
That is one of the reasons that the latest wiring regulations mandate that consumer units should now be constructed of a "non-Combustible" material.
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Seemingly. They seem to feel that changing the regs so as to contain the fires after they have started is a satisfactory (perhaps even 'better') alternative to changing the regs (and perhaps relevant product Standards), or something, so as to reduce the risk of the fires starting in the first place!
Kind Regards, John
Well thanks for your replies but every now and then I am going to take a look at the consumer unit myself just to be safe.
Torque screwdrivers?
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You've heard my views on that before. Maybe BAS is right that I 'overtighten', but I would be terrified to be living in a house in which the terminals of MCBs, RCDs etc had only been tightened to the recommended torque. As I've said, I can often very easily get an extra quarter turn, or more, by hand without much effort!
Kind Regards, John
I agree to a certain extent. But as manufacturers refine these settings, I think it will get a lot better.
Hopefully - but I'm not going to hold my breath. In the meantime, even if some regard it as 'silly' or 'wrong', I will continue to tighten these things "to my satisfaction", particularly whilst I have 'combustible' CUs!
Kind Regards, John
In a simple mass produced electrical screw terminal there are too many variables to allow a simple torque setting ensure a terminal and conductor are securely and reliably connected.
That's entirely your choice, but to be honest, I wouldn't really expect you to go out and buy one anyway! It's not like they're £20!
I've actually got two (quite apart from more meatier torque wrenches)! If I didn't have at least one, how do you imagine I'd know that I am uncomfortable leaving terminals tightened to only the 'recommended torque'??
Kind Regards, John
I'm inclined to agree. ... and the 'recommended torques' published by manufacturers are 'suspiciously' similar (regardless of the exact nature of their terminals) and, even more 'suspiciously', most are metric conversions of 'very round' imperial torque figures!
Kind Regards, John
Don't forget that stately home fire, that was caused by an over-tightened terminal!
Seemingly so, yes. As I said, maybe I'm over-tightening, and maybe I'm wrong, but I personally really don't feel comfortable leaving a terminal screw that I can easily tighten a lot more by hand.
Kind Regards, John
I used to rebuild Rootes Imp engines for rallying. I could easily (often accidentally) overtighten any of the engine studs by hand.
Yes, that's true, but when we are doing 'mechanical' things, we usually use spanners or socket wrenches of appreciable length (many inches), hence appreciable leverage, whereas when tightening electrical terminals, the screwdriver will not usually not have a radius greater than half an inch or thereabouts.
However, as I said, I really don't know the rights and wrongs of this. I suppose my thinking is based on the fact that I was tightening electrical terminals "to my satisfaction" for 40+ years (without any apparent problems) before I ever met a torque screwdriver, and I was then rather shocked to find that this piece of kit wanted me to leave terminal screws much 'looser' than I had been doing for all those decades.
Kind Regards, John
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