Pulling the electric co's fuse...

[Stephen Dawson]

Very easy to obtain.

part no 03080 or 03081 about £3 each plus vat and delivery

[a]

I just folded a piece of cardboard around the body and taped it in place - dont suppose it matters as long as you cover the terminals well.

[Andy Wade]

Interesting... what's a 'police probe'[*] for?

[*]

[Lobster]

- I don't think I want to know!!

[Stephen Dawson]

[*]> --

When I popped in to the factory I asked the same question. It evolved after a policeman on a search was electrocuted during a search of undergrowth.

[Andy Hall]

Especially without a Megger to go with it.

[raden]

In message , Andy Hall writes

Or the KY

[MJ]

Just the job. Thanks.

Further to those who suggested removing the fuse or blanking the space with tape, I actually wanted something to cover just the live end whilst leaving the tail end accessible. I nearly had a heart attack once when I almost unscrewed the screw too much and I thought it was going to drop on to the live terminal.

MJ

[Antony]

"Mike" wrote > > Unfortunately, although the electric co replaced the meter last week

I live in West Yorks and I asked the elec co (NPower) to come and do it. They didn't charge and weren't concerned about anything beyond their fuse.

Antony

[Stefek Zaba]

No!! NNNNN-OOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Really, truly, no. Money-grubbing shareholder-value-only meanies though you may want to consider them, your Regional Electricity Company would a thousand million times rather you disconnected the load (i.e. turned the main switch on your CU firmly OFF), snipped through the seal, and pulled the fuse simply and safely right out, than tit about jiggling it "almost" out just to keep the seal intact. Keep the fuse in your pocket or in some other way away from the socket-wot-you-pulled-it-from the whole time you're working on the circuits; and keep the load very definitely OFF when you replace the fuse! (If you don't immediately understand why this is important, DON'T touch that fuse - get the electricity co. to disconnect and reconnect, or pay a few tenners over to someone who does.)

Jiggling the fuseholder "just out of contact" runs at least two significant risks. The main one is that you haven't isolated the downstream stuff (meter/CU tails) properly - there could be as little as a couple of tenths of a millimeter gap doing the "isolation", and a passing rumbling HGV could be all it needs to reenergise the downstream conductors. Not remotely "safe working"! The subsidiary risk is that you end up, after your timid titting about, with a fuse carrier half-in/half-out, making poor contact, which causes enough heating and sparking under a heavier load to lead to a fire. You'd be unlucky to get just the "right" degree of poor contact to let enough current through to the load but lose enough to heat up the main fuse area dangerously, but relying on luck isn't smart.

Stefek

[Lobster]

Thanks for all the feedback - really helpful.

So, next step, then...

I've been looking at sourcing an isolator switch to interpose between the lecky meter and my Henley blocks, which will enable to me to isolate the whole system to work on it, and also fit the new CU. However, these switches do appear to be pretty expensive

- 87 GBP + vat) when really I only want this for the interim period until rewiring is complete.

So I'm now thinking - would it be acceptable to buy my new CU, and then connect my Henley blocks direct to the main switch in the CU (ie, is that possible? safe?), thereby using that to isolate all 5 separate circuits of my old system instead, while rewiring the house?

Thanks David

[Lurch]

On 28 Nov 2004 14:15:00 -0800, [e-mail] (Lobster) strung together this:

No need for all that. One of these with a 100A DP switch in, the same as you would get as a main incomer for the CU which I can't see on TLC, but your local electrical wholesaler will have them on the shelf, with the enclosures.

[Bob Eager]

Exactly what I did, except I got them both from CPC!

[RichardS]

thanks for this - has answered a question that I was about to post about isolators.

went into the local electrical warehouse pricing up a new CU, and asked about price of isolators at same time. "ooh, 100A isolator, hmm, they're pricey - about £100 or so" was the answer, but it seems all I need is a 2 way enclosure and a 100A DP main CU isolator switch which works out a fraction of the price.

whatever my timing of the upgrade to CU is, I reckon I'll fit an isolator before christmas, just in case the leccy companies decide to get cute & start questioning broken fuse seals post part P (although I dont' think that they'll be any more bothered, the cynic in me thinks that the gvt might pressure them to do so in an attempt to enforce pt P)...

[Lobster]

Great, thanks - that's more like it!

What if I do want to get my meter resealed afterwards... if I ring up the elec co and ask them to do it, could I potentially get myself into deep do-do - ie better to keep my head down? If I say, 'oh my electrician fitted the new CU and said I needed to call you to get it resealed' would that be considered normal and OK? Or will they just be amazed that someone's asking them to do it, full stop?

It's just that as the new meter was fitted only last week at my request, I can't blame some previous householder for having broken the seal, as I otherwise could.

Cheers David

[Al Reynolds]

Wickes have them - about £14. Only one screw on each of the connecting points - they need tightening up now and then.

Al

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Isn't it possible to simply change the CU in one go? Modern ones are pretty safe to work on 'live' afterwards if you just take a little care.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I pulled the fuses when I rewired many years ago, and the seals have never been replaced. Even when they changed the meter...

[Lurch]

On 29 Nov 2004 00:05:01 -0800, [e-mail] (Lobster) strung together this:

Don't bother, if you ring up you'll only end up speaking to someone who has no idea what a 'meter' is. I've never requested for one seal to be replaced and I've removed hundreds.

[Lobster]

Well, yes, except when I said I would be *replacing* the CU, that was a slight exaggeration, in that there's no CU to replace... The configuration is: Meter -> Henley blocks -> 5 separate, grotty old fused switches of different vintages, and each of which I think is still providing power to different areas of the house (not investigated that yet!). So I thought, OK, fit the new CU, then connect the Henley blocks direct to the CU's main switch in order to preserve the existing circuits while I fully rewire the place in parallel; and the CU main switch will serve to cut off all power to the house (old and new circuits) in one go. I'm not going to disturb any of the old circuitry downstream of the Henleys as some of it looks pretty iffy, ie I'm not wiring the old circuits directly into separate fuseways, even temporarily.

So is that reasonable...?

David