Dave Plowman (News) presented the following explanation :
I agree. The teaching and care taken with installation is poor these days. I settle the wires in, tighten, slacken a bit, re-settle then give a final tighten.
Dave Plowman (News) wibbled on Sunday 15 November 2009 09:35
And re-tightening. Especially with larger cables (eg 6-10mm2), but a good idea on any cable, it's a very good idea to go round again and retighten everything. If you regard this as part of the "inspect" phase of doing something, it's not too onerous - quick tighten and double check everything's in the right place.
I've tightened 10mm2 quite well in an isolator, only to find it settled after replacing the fitting (bending the wires probably caused the effect) and needed a little more doing up.
Harry Bloomfield wibbled on Sunday 15 November 2009 09:39
Quite possibly. I've seen utter crap being sold over the last 20 years. That's why I stick to known decent brands. MK for inside and Duraplug for rough use - though this is not an exclusive list.
Also true I suspect - but crap work has always been around to a degree.
A very interesting discussion with two distinct camps (as always - but that leads to healthy analysis of the problem).
If I was now doing this task, I would use a switched fuse outlet to a
15A round socket and have suitable plugs on the ends of the leads to the light and the immersion heater. And actually having written that, the fused outlet is unnecessary as the radial circuit is protected at the CU.I've only worked on one naval ship but all the sockets were 15A round pin. I don't know if that was historical, done to prevent non- approved mains equipment being plugged in, or because the Navy doesn't like the 13A system.
Rob
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Harry Bloomfield saying something like:
It was you that came up with the bone-headed suggestion, not me.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember snipped-for-privacy@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel) saying something like:
Are you agreeing or disagreeng with me or JR?
One can excuse that as youthful stupidity, but really - I though you, of all people, would know better.
The 13 amp system was designed for domestic use. Not others.
=A0 London SW
So why is it used in all factories, etc. for low power connection ? And going back to the point about ships, in the space that we were using, there was a 13A outlet for the installation team, etc.
Rob
I can't understand why anyone would use a plug at all in this circumstance. Have one SFCU/SCU for the immersion, and another for the outside light. Upgrade the CU with a label that say "+ outside light" on the immersion MCB. Job don, no sockets.
If you want the posh version, then check and tighten the connections on the existing connection for the immersion.
Because so much equipment comes with a fitted plug. But where the the load is fixed it's more usual to use radial circuits rather than rings - but you can still use 13 amp outlets.
The navy may have kept to an old standard to avoid having to change everything over. I'd be surprised if there weren't 13 amp sockets in crew quarters etc, though, on a modern ship.
And that is what I have now done - thanks for your comments.
John W
There is another reason, a lot of ships are on a IT supply, so they can still keep working on first earth fault.... The star point of the transformer is connected to earth via a high impedance indicator unit...
James
I don't recall now.
About 10 years ago, I replaced their Wylex CU. I had opened it up with a view of using a spare way, but discovered the 30A ring circuit connection had been overheating and had melted the insulation on the wire and burned away some of the supporting bakalite. That was due to a bad contact between the blade on the fuse carrier and the socket it goes in to.
Replaced the whole CU with an MEM Memshield2 with RCBOs, expensive, but a delight to use.
A week ago, it was inspected as part of estimating for some building work they're having done. The builder asked my mum who installed it. Somewhat tentitively, she said her son did it, wondering what he was going to say was wrong. He responded that he knew it was a DIY install - it was far too high quality to have been done professionally. That made her day!
In article , Andrew Gabriel Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:50:23 writes
There must be a good reason why that cost £2.50 v. £0.50 for unbranded.
Only likely reason for overheating between them is the fuse contact.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.