MWC and MEBs

[40 watt spark]

I got collared by a neighbour this morning to have a look at a pendant in his hallway, he'd replaced the old one and then the fuse blew immediately......., I had a quick look to see whats amiss and he'd basically screwed up his connections and fried the terminals .

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• 40 watt spark
• 28 Jun 2008
• 1

I've replaced the pendant and tested the circuit (all tests passed OK). Looking at his CU, an old grey metal 6 way wylex fuseboard, his MEB's are only 6mm.........(TNCS by the way).

So the question is can I just put them as undersized and recommend upgrading in the comments section in part 2 of the MWC or do I need to upgrade them ???

I want to build a portfolio of jobs ready for my NICEIC later in the year, and if I'm going to do it I want to do it right.

 

[GaryMo]

Unfortunately, no addition or alteration should be carried out unless the installation is verified as safe. That includes any earthing or bonding arrangements.
By completing a MWC without installing correctly sized main protective bonding conductors you're in direct breech of regulation 131.8.
I would suggest installing the correct main protective bonding conductors and then completing a MWC.

 

[Spark123]

Are you altering anything though?

 

[GaryMo]

Replacing a ceiling rose, would you not class that as an alteration?

 

[Spark123]

Not really, more maintenance work?

 

[40 watt spark]

I know that the bonding must be correctly installed and verified if I were adding to or altering a circuit, but I wasn't sure about it in this circumstance as its a like for like replacement of a damaged accessory.

What happens if you had a call out to something similar i.e no upstairs lights in the house, fuse keeps blowing etc if the bonding was as in this case undersized do you refuse to do the repair until the bondings upgraded ?

Just want to make sure I have my understanding correct......

 

[GaryMo]

I was thinking more of covering the original reason why the ceiling rose was replaced.

I can, however see the point made by Spark123 and yourself.

 

[securespark]

Our company does shed-loads of direct replacements without upgrading the MEB's. This has been okayed by the ECA.

If we do installation work, then we have to upgrade earthing arrangements if inadequate.