crabtree mcbs

[Stephen]

Hello,

I've bought some crabtree mcbs (starbreaker?) from screwfix, as I couldn't find anyone cheaper. They look slightly different to my existing ones. I know there was a recall not so long ago but I thought these ones were not affected, so why the redesign? Is it just a coincidence? Are the changes just cosmetic or have the internals been improved?

Thanks, Stephen.

[ARWadsworth]

It is just a cosmetic change. Wylex did similar in June.

[Stephen]

Thank you. Why do they keep changing them. It's not as if mcbs are fashion accessories that need to change by the season?

Thanks, Stephen.

[andrew]

I don't know about the changes but I did notice the recall notice in TLC referred to 3 brands and inferred that they were all made by the same factory.

AJH

[ARWadsworth]

Often they are changed when there is a tweak to the CU design.

does suggest that there is something special about the new Wylex MCBs but I am sure that it is really just sales talk.

Of course the manufacturers treat their CUs and MCBs as fashion accessories - thats why their sales literature refers to them as eyecatching or elegant.

Cheers

[ARWadsworth]

Volex, Crabtree and Wylex. All owned by Electrium. Plus the recall extended to rebadged MCBs such as Newlec, Steeple, Sector and Alto.

[Stephen]

Thanks. I knew a lot had been recalled but AFAICR the crabtree starbreakers were one of the few that weren't. I can understand that they redesigned the "bad" ones to fix them but if these weren't bad, I was suspicious why they had been changed. Perhaps it was just more economical to do them all in one go? I was going to say perhaps they are all the same inside with different shaped outsides but if that were the case, the starbreakers would have been recalled too. Perhaps I'm just too paranoid for my own good ;)