Smoking electrics ok now, though the electrician has said

[sparkyshark]

Hello Electricians,

Some point last week the electrics were smoking see image (left cable going into on/off switch) we got worried and thought it was some load causing it. So we scrambled and switched off most of the appliances.

Called the insurance people up as we had emergency cover and they sent someone over the next day! Anyway the electrician said I'd need a new board as the part would no longer be available (the main on/off switch) and the smoking was caused by a loose cable which was tightened on the day. The Fishy smell has now disappeared and we have had no recurrence of the issue.

Insurance paying up to the policy limit of £250 which includes the call out charge of £65 and they want me to pay for the additional amount of £124 all in to fit the new unit.

Is this good and should I get it replaced for the new RCD version they are recommending? If I recall they said it would be another wylex board.

Let me know what you think. Cheers.

Wylex FuseBox Innards

• sparkyshark
• 3 Mar 2011
• 1

Wylex Fusebox

• sparkyshark
• 3 Mar 2011
• 1

 

[RF Lighting]

If all you have to pay is £124 for a replacement wylex CU and the new one has RCD protection, then it's definately worth it.

The advice you've been given sounds pretty straight too.

The main switch for your current CU is well obsolete now, and the new equivalent will not fit.

Whilst nipping up the terminal has cured the fault for now, the cable certainly and by the looks of it the switch terminal too have been damaged, and they will fault again. You really need to get these replaced before too long.

 

[sparkyshark]

Super! Thanks very much RF Lighting.

 

[sherlockholmes]

Great deal for you. Personally I'd consider getting rcbos instead since you're getting a cut rate deal, which means each circuit would trip on its own rather than all the circuits on the rcd if there's a fault.

 

[sparkyshark]

Ok so let me get this right... as I'm not 100% on what the RCD would actually do when used in this example:

I've had a light bulb blow in the past and that tripped what I thought was the RCD in the fuse box e.g the one with the white lever.

So how does the additional RCD or even the RCBO help in this situation?

Cheers.

 

[sherlockholmes]

The one with the white lever looks like an mcb, as are the blue and red adjacent to them before the main switch. They break the circuit if too much current flows, which can happen when a light blows. RCD or RCBO makes no difference in that situation, just the one breaker might blow and not much you can do about it. An RCD trips if there's a fault on the circuit which leads to more current going out than is coming back, it doesn't care about how much is flowing. It can't be turned back on until the fault is fixed. If there are multiple MCBs on one RCD and there's a fault on any circuit, there're all out until it's fixed or isolated.
RCBO's are an MCB + RCD in one, a fault just takes out the one circuit.

 

[sparkyshark]

Ok thanks I understand the differences now.

I can see the benefits of having the RCBO's however they are nearly £30+ a pop on screw fix...!

How common is it to have a fault on the curcuit? I presume the engineer will test the circuit somehow before actually installing the new unit?

 

[PrinceofDarkness]

There's no such thing as a 'great deal', Sherlock, when dealing with Insurance Companies. Someone, somewhere, has to foot the bill for this 'deal' - and it certainly won't be the Fairy Godmother Insurance Co. It will result in increased premiums for the individual claimant - or will be passed on to the general policy holders.

That Wylex main switch is by no means 'obsolete' now, because it's still available on certain websites. Moreover, I'd question that it needs replacing at all, solely due to that loose connection. That type of m/s can easily be cleaned up and the wire cut-back and reterminated without further ado - at minimal cost.

So, now the O/P has the bother of RCDs, just for the sake of a loose connection? Oy vay!


Lucia




Lucia.

 

[londonboy]

There's no such thing as a 'great deal', Sherlock, when dealing with Insurance Companies. Someone, somewhere, has to foot the bill for this 'deal' - and it certainly won't be the Fairy Godmother Insurance Co. It will result in increased premiums for the individual claimant - or will be passed on to the general policy holders.

That Wylex main switch is by no means 'obsolete' now, because it's still available on certain websites. Moreover, I'd question that it needs replacing at all, solely due to that loose connection. That type of m/s can easily be cleaned up and the wire cut-back and reterminated without further ado - at minimal cost.

So, now the O/P has the bother of RCDs, just for the sake of a loose connection? Oy vay!


Lucia




Lucia.

My thoughts exactly, I hate to see perfectly operational equipment slung into a hole in the ground.

 

[sherlockholmes]

Ok thanks I understand the differences now.

I can see the benefits of having the RCBO's however they are nearly £30+ a pop on screw fix...!

How common is it to have a fault on the curcuit? I presume the engineer will test the circuit somehow before actually installing the new unit?

It happens from time to time. And a fault that trips an RCD can also be in a light fitting or something plugged in anywhere, which increases the fault frequency a bit. There are also occasionally likely to be nuisance trips, more likely with a shared RCD because of the natural variations in multiple circuits.

The extra cost is why most boards now rcd arrangement, which is certainly good enough. I just personally much prefer rcbos and would pay the extra in your position, which'll still come in fairly cheap for a new CU install.

 

[sherlockholmes]

There's no such thing as a 'great deal', Sherlock, when dealing with Insurance Companies. Someone, somewhere, has to foot the bill for this 'deal' - and it certainly won't be the Fairy Godmother Insurance Co. It will result in increased premiums for the individual claimant - or will be passed on to the general policy holders.

That Wylex main switch is by no means 'obsolete' now, because it's still available on certain websites. Moreover, I'd question that it needs replacing at all, solely due to that loose connection. That type of m/s can easily be cleaned up and the wire cut-back and reterminated without further ado - at minimal cost.

So, now the O/P has the bother of RCDs, just for the sake of a loose connection? Oy vay!


Lucia




Lucia.

A new wylex CU fitted for 124 is a good deal is what I meant. How much is an out of production main switch going to cost on its own? And what happens when he wants work done that needs RCD protection put in? False economy. He pays his premiums, so he's already footed the bill a dozen times over. And he'll keep paying his premiums in case one day he becomes one of the few who need to claim the big one. That's insurance.

 

[sparkyshark]

Ok just to complicate things I have another connected fuse box upstairs see image (used to be 2 flats now 1 house).

So I want to be absolutely sure I’m not going to get any additional headache if I went for theRCD replacement and it sounds as if there might be.

Prince of darkness if anyone’s at fault it’s the guys that came over and diagnosed it. I’m just a guy who’s paid my premiums and if the advice of the engineer was to replace it then who am I to argue.

I just want to be sure that its sound advice thus the posting.

So there are obviously differences of opinion as to whether it should be replaced or at least cleaned/fixed.

So taking away the premiums being passed on story which option do I go for now that i've complicated it further...!

2nd FuseBox

• sparkyshark
• 3 Mar 2011
• 1

 

[Paul_C]

My thoughts exactly, I hate to see perfectly operational equipment slung into a hole in the ground.

Ditto. It's not as if that board is that old, and as mentioned already, main switches can still be obtained without too much trouble, even if considered an obsolete range now.

You can even pick up used ones cheaply on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220741973235

 

[westie101]

A thought, if you do other than recommended, will the insurance company continue to provide cover if there is a further incident. They will know what the recommendation is and may require proof it was carried out!

 

[sparkyshark]

I remember the guy having a heated discussion with the insurance company & said it was a risk if it wasn't changed.

I agree with westie101. In reality and if you think about it every bloody thing is now on the computer & if any future claims were to be made it would be based on any remedial work taking place. A report would also need to logged by the engineer otherwise they would not get paid!