Upgrading 60A house fuse

[pcboffinuk]

In the process of rewiring my father's house, I needed to check the house fuse for the certificate.

Having found the cover loose and falling off in my hand (honest guv) I found it was a 60A fuse in a ceramic holder.

3 questions follow from that.

1) in practise, how easy is it to get the REC to upgrade it to 80 or 100A. Is their wiring into the meter likely to be up to it without modification, or are they likely to charge through the nose to do it (if you can actually get them to consider it at all in the first place!). I'm in Dartford, so EDF area if that helps.

2) Of course I would never consider replacing it myself, but in this case I couldn't anyway because the ceramic holder seems to be moulded round it so that the fuse will not come out without breaking - I haven't seen this before, but the wiring is/was old so wonder if it was their way of stopping people replacing it.....The ceramic holder is marked Siemens 60A - Are such things available now , even to the REC if they had to come out to replace it?

3) Given that the house is on a 60A fuse, is it good practise to use lower than normal mcbs in the new MK CU I have fitted to avoid it ever blowing as I imagine it would be a major hassle to get the REC out quickly to replace it.

The fuse boxes I replaced had rewirable fuses totting up to some 106A for sockets/immersion, 30A for lighting and more yet for the storage heaters.

...any offers for a double pole fused lighting CU, circa 1936 btw?

Many Thanks

Gavin

 

[JohnD]

The suppliers will usually change the fuse for a bigger one if it blows. They are usually quite quick replacing main fuses. The main fuse is quite slow. If marked 60A it will probably take about 85A to blow it.

If you want, you could encourage it to blow at a convenient time by putting on all the electric heaters, the immersion, oven, washing machine and tumble drier one weekday morning. It will probably be fixed by lunchtime.

BTW never remove or replace a fuse without turning the load off. It is a bad idea to tinker with main fuses as old ones may be cracked.

 

[Adam_151]

You'll find it takes a lot more to make it fail than you'd think, you'd need about 100A for about three quaters of an hour , if however you can load it more than that (and be careful not to melt any old switchgear, etc) it gets quicker pretty fast, 200A for example would do it in 10 seconds for example

You may as well leave it, 60A shouldn't blow in a house under normal useage, afterall it'll take 90A constantly without failing, and you won't be pulling that sort of a load for very long

(and would be easier to take it out and use a car battery and some heavy duty jumper cables .... with care of course ....)

 

[greenbarn]

I'm not suggesting this is a good solution, but I discovered a way to blow the main fuse when moving the breakers in a CU. All you have to do is put your brain in neutral and on refitting the common connection strip misalign it so that it bridges L&N poles on the CU main switch......... Switch on, fuse blows instantly. The guy who came out from the REC scratched his head and fitted a larger fuse, no charge. Just remember to get the connection strip fitted properly before he turns up...

 

[pcboffinuk]

Thanks for the suggest greenbarn but I think I'll live with it as it is

Many thanks for the useful info...

Gavin