meter tails

[andypandy]

The on site guide mentions that all meter tails should be 25mm for tns. Every house (old) that I have been to has had 16mm tails and I have been changing them to 25mm. Is anybody else doing this?

 

[Big_Spark]

This has been happening for donkeys years.

 

[plugwash]

tails before the meter are not technically your problem though a lot of people change them anyway

beyond the meter if you are replaceing the CU or adding you should definately change the tails if they are less than 25mm or if they are only single insulated

 

[AdamW]

Have 16mm feeding 25mm? What if someone comes along and sees the 25mm tails and decides to draw 100A via a 74A cable? Perhaps you should put a 60A FCU in there?

Wait a minute, the meter has a fuse in it

Bloody 'eck I must be bored.

 

[plugwash]

the service fuse is there and should match up with the tails from it to the meter

but as i have said that is the recs problem NOT YOURS

 

[securespark]

Chances are if the pre-meter tails are 16mm2 your meter could do with updating. Ask for a meter change. When they change the meter, they should upgrade the (pre-meter) tails, too. Do what I did if they seem reluctant to change the meter.

Tell them you want to fit an outrageously large electric shower, and as you have three rings and a cooker etc... already, want to be upgraded to a 100A (or better still, 125A) supply.

They offered me an appointment then!!

Was stupid, really. My house was built in 1961, and according to the REC, the meter should have had a 20 year lifespan (making it due for renewal back in 1981), but I'm still stuck with the original 40A meter with rotary dials in 2004. And the b*stards are reluctant to change it even now!!

43 years - good going, huh??

 

[ZenStalinist]

Blame Little John... Maybe if you'd ask the 'leccy board in the good ole days they'd have bothered, because they were into something called 'public service' rather than 'pocket lining'.

 

[Big_Spark]

Simon, there is a way to make them change the meter.

Soft Iron Core..about 100mm long and 10mm diameter.

1mm varnish insulated copper cable..wind it around the core tightly..make about 6 layers.

Then connect the ends to come terminals, your decision as to whether you power it via SELV or Mains..I have done a few via 110V Tx's.

Lovely Electromag..dosesn't half bugger the meter if left beside it for a week or two!!

 

[securespark]

Don't thinK I need to be that drastic, Jim!!


But thanks for the tip. [Evil laugh!]

 

[Stod]

Yes, if you put a strong magnet near the disk of an electro mechanical meter it will make it go slow. And demagnetise the magnet in the meter.

When you remove the magnet, the meter goes faster because its magnet can't brake the disk anymore. So you will be paying several times as much for your juice. If you complain, you'll get caught: they will know you've been playing with magnets because any other fault on the meter makes it go slow. If you leave the magnet with the meter, you get caught again!

 

[ZenStalinist]

Surely though the magnet is at risk of demagnetizing over time anyway...

So this could occur naturally over a period of time and make your meter overcharge...

 

[securespark]

United Utilities came today to change the meter. I told the office that I would not be there, and if I left a DP henley, would the geezer attach the outgoing tails from my isolator switch to the CU tails. Yes, he said.

Did he bu**ery!!

Just left things as they were before, with the iso i had installed left untouched. £%%(%&*)£$.........

 

[securespark]

Have put my tails into the meter today. The engineer told me to do the work and then ring the office to book another engineer to reseal.

I rang the office to book an engineer, and they went mad because I had cut the seals.
I told them the engineer himself had advised I do it this way, otherwise red tape would mean the process taking forever...

It's a crazy system where the blokes on the ground tell you to do it one way, and the office insist on another. I know the seals ought not to be cut, but if you are a pro, there is no alternative in the real world but to cut now and apply later for an engineer to reseal.

I had a case last year where someone rang to say their old Wylex board was very hot. By the time I got there, it was smoking. So I cut the seal, and pulled the fuse to avoid the obvious. Norweb wanted to take me to court, and I'm really disappointed they pulled out, because it would have been fun challenging them in front of a judge....