Meter tails

[ack351]

Ho can anyone give me advice please. I've recently been renovating my shop which required major electrical changes (full re-wire, incoming suply and meter being moved etc)
The electrician i used has re-wired the entire building, and wired back into a 3phase isolator ready for nedl to come and move the suply and fit a new meter. NEDL came out, moved the suply to the new location up to and installed upto the fuses and said another guy would come out and fit the meter. This is where my problems lie. When the guy to install the meter came he said he couldnt wire the meter in coz as my electrician hadnt left 4 tails hanging from the isolator to connect onto. The electrician says its only his job to wire back to the isolator?? So i'm at a stand still. I'm getting nowhere fast. Can i just buy the correct tails, Connect them into the incoming side of the isolator then ask NEDL to come and wire them into the meter??? If so where would i buy the tails with the correct colours, as i can only find them in blue/brown.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The electrician says its only his job to wire back to the isolator??

IMO he is wrong. If you had no isolator, just a DB, would he expect the metering company to open that up and connect to it?

Can i just buy the correct tails, Connect them into the incoming side of the isolator then ask NEDL to come and wire them into the meter???

Yes.

If so where would i buy the tails with the correct colours, as i can only find them in blue/brown.

Other colours are made.

e.g. http://www.batt.co.uk/products/view/75/6181Y-Double-Insulated-Cable-300/500V

Someone here might know where you can buy them by the m, or you could start phoning round wholesalers.

Or you could buy brown & blue ones and some coloured heatshrink sleeving. Often the outer sheath of 6181Y cable is always grey anyway, no matter what's underneath, and identification needs adding if you are not to go the tacky route of removing some of the sheath to expose the inner insulation.

 

[Steve]

Strictly speaking, yes, the electrician should have left the tails hanging, and the meter guy is in the right. But he sounds like a right jobsworth.

This is what Maggie did for our electricity industry. Time was, one bloke would come, dig a hole, connect and run a cable, fit a fuse head and a meter on the end of it, and connect it to the customers equipment. Not now. Takes 5 blokes now.

One to dig the hole, expose the cable and take the muck away.
One to make the connection down below.
One to run it into the building and connect a fuse head to it.
One to test and inspect the above.
One to fit a meter.
Then the first blokes come back with the muck and fill the hole in, and 2 days later a road repairs team will lay new tarmac.



Anyway, I digress. You can buy the meter tails, you need 3 lengths of brown and one of blue. But given this is a commercial premises, consider your insurance cover for this work.

 

[ack351]

yeh it has been a bit of a hassle going through this process but what can you do when your strangled by red tape.
So is it ok to use three lengths of brown for the 3 phases or must i get black and grey lenths for other 2 phases? If its not ok to use 3 brown lenghts could i get away with sleeving them?

 

[OwainDIYer]

This is what Maggie did for our electricity industry. Time was, one bloke would come, dig a hole, connect and run a cable, fit a fuse head and a meter on the end of it, and connect it to the customers equipment. Not now. Takes 5 blokes now.

One to dig the hole, expose the cable and take the muck away.
One to make the connection down below.
One to run it into the building and connect a fuse head to it.
One to test and inspect the above.
One to fit a meter.
Then the first blokes come back with the muck and fill the hole in, and 2 days later a road repairs team will lay new tarmac.

It all makes work for the working man to do.

 

[LoveRocket]

So is it ok to use three lengths of brown for the 3 phases or must i get black and grey lenths for other 2 phases? If its not ok to use 3 brown lenghts could i get away with sleeving them?

Yes. It's OK to use brown and sleeve them. The outer sheath will likely be grey anyway.

 

[Spark123]

3 browns and a blue will be fine, to indicate which phase is which you can use coloured cable ties or as some do just wrap a bit of brown, black, grey, blue insulation tape around.
If you're feeling brave you could also use alphanumerics to label them L1, L2, L3, N.

Do you have any 3 phase equipment with motors in them?

 

[ack351]

Thanks people very helpful, much appreciated.
Sparks, no there is no 3 phase equiptment in the shop. didnt actually even need the 3phase but it was already in so just left it.

Thanks again.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

So is it ok to use three lengths of brown for the 3 phases or must i get black and grey lenths for other 2 phases? If its not ok to use 3 brown lenghts could i get away with sleeving them?

Or you could buy brown & blue ones and some coloured heatshrink sleeving.

The outer sheath will likely be grey anyway.

Often the outer sheath of 6181Y cable is always grey anyway

 

[sparkwright]

Your DNO may insist that these tails have ring terminals crimped on the ends ready for them to connect in, so may be worth checking.

 

[RF Lighting]

My biggest concern here will be sizing the tails correctly, and as someone else mentioned, depending on the cutout type, they may require lugs fitting to the ends of them, which you will not have the tools to do.

Either get your electrician told to put some tails in, or find a different one who is prepared to.

I have never ever known a DNO, and especially not a meter man to supply tails. it has always been the responsibility of the consumer, or the electrician working for them.

 

[1john]

unless the spark isnt very experienced perhaps he assumed that what he did was the equivalent of the DNO supplying an isolator and you going from there. I have NEVER had the DNO supply tails, they wont even supply a bit of 16mm CPC on a TT upgrade to PME, you got to leave the cable there for them, even if it is only going into a henly block until a later date.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It would cost them too much.

1) They would actually have to buy and stock the stuff.

2) It would cost money to store the stock securely.

3) Presumably they'd issue the fitters with a reel of brown, a reel of blue and a reel of G/Y - sooner or later some of these, and possibly the van they're in, would get stolen.

4) Cutting and installing the tails would add to the time taken to fit a meter, therefore increasing the cost of that.

5) They would have to pay someone to keep track of it and to periodically reconcile what's there with what should be there.

6) They would have to account for its use - it's an asset they are buying and then selling, so there's an accounting overhead.

Much easier not to have to bother with any of that.

 

[333rocky333]

You can buy L1, L2 L3 and N rolls like insulation tape if you prefer.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

514.5.1 .....The identification shall be clearly legible and durable.....