Mystery stepdown

[jg321]

Hi jg321, in the pic you can see a piece of blue card left by Manweb when they changed the meter; barely legible but I think the date on it is 30/01/93

Yep, and the 93 sticker on the meter. Surprised they haven't changed that yet!

 

[JohnW2]

Wow! That electric meter is around 25 years old!

Indeed. I don't really understand the behaviour/policies of electricity suppliers. One still sees a good few like that one in service, yet in the 30 years I've been in my house, they must have undertaken 'routine replacements' of my meter 4 or 5 times (the last three having been electronic).

And that bell transformer is probably the newest item in the picture!

Indeed.

Kind Regards, John

 

[rsgaz]

Oops...

 

[JohnW2]

Oops...

Probably nothing that a shove and a repositioning of the cable clip would not cure

Kind Regards, John

 

[Taylortwocities]

Probably nothing that a shove and a repositioning of the cable clip would not cure

Kind Regards, John

Nah. It needs a complete rewire, and a smart meter.
Then the OP is ready for Brexit.

Meerkat

• Taylortwocities
• 11 Dec 2009
• 53

Simples!

 

[JohnW2]

Nah. It needs a complete rewire, and a smart meter.

I did, for a moment, think of suggesting that

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I was going to advise him, given the age of the meter, to do some research on Smart Meters in case when they come to replace his they try to tell him he "has to have" a SM when he would rather not.

 

[flameport]

Wow! That electric meter is around 25 years old!

The '93' sticker is the calibration date, 1993.
The actual meter was made in 1974, so it about 44 years old, the first part of the serial number generally indicates the year of manufacture.

 

[big-all]

Hi John, the bell works fine, I took the actual bell part off it because it was deafening, but it still makes a sufficiently loud rattling to serve its purpose. I measured the current by getting someone to push the switch while I held a mutlimeter cross the inputs to the bell. Tried DC first and the needle barely moved, but switching to AV it showed a clear 6 volts. I didn't think of the consumer unit. I'll have a look tomorrow and see if there's anything that looks like a transformer....not that I would recognise it if it's there.

to be fair the bell power supply voltage could be far higher possibly 9-12v as bell windings can be quite crude and drag the volts down in connection with further resistance over a long run
turn off each circuit in turn until the bell stops working
if its on the upstairs ring or downstairs lights the transformer might be under the floor boards upstairs

aaahhh ok just seen its sorted

 

[Blueflash]

Judging by the buckle saddles on those cables the 2.5mm cable tagged onto the 6.00mm and the installation requires " inspection" certainly older than 25 years

Dave

 

[JohnW2]

Judging by the buckle saddles on those cables ...

We might well be seeing a lot more of them, or some equivalent/variant thereof, again, before too long!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnD]

I feel sorry for that poor little JB

 

[SUNRAY]

I was just about to write "were they still installing those boards in 93?" - but John suggested the most likely set of events.

Indeed I installed one of those boards in my current property and we moved in November 1994 so I estimate the change was 1995 or 96 AND not all of the circuits were MCB's either.
I fitted another in the shed which would have been even later.

 

[SUNRAY]

It looks as if he didn't actually put in a new consumer unit - he 'adapted' the existing fuse boxes by replacing their fuses with plug-in MCBs and adding an external RCD. However, you're probably right that the transformer was changed at that time.

Kind Regards, John

I reckon he did replace the original cast iron fuse box, the outline of it is still clearly visible.

 

[SUNRAY]

Yep, and the 93 sticker on the meter. Surprised they haven't changed that yet!

Our meter is 1982, cert 83 and I still see the old metal versions which I guess stopped being made in the 40's or 50's