UK Power working live? But, for how long?

[GB]

The chap from Lowri Beck came round to change the meter, but he couldn't get the main fuse out of the input cable. So, they have passed that on to UK Power. It's a ceramic bodied fuse, so it could be as old as the house, ie 80 years. It was last removed 25 years ago, so there's probably some corrosion since then.

UK Power are planning to come and take the fuse out, using a bit of brute force AFAICS. If necessary, they will change the entire header on the incoming cable. All without turning the electricity off.

I asked the nice lady on the phone how they do this safely, and her reply was "they wear gloves". :)

[Colin Bignell]

Electrical insulating gloves rated to 1000v AC / 1500V DC.

[Theo]

And be Very Careful not to touch the live and neutral.

It's fairly standard to change the service head like this if it's very old. UKPN did that to my 1960s bakelite BICC version. I'd guess they may well just do that to yours, without mucking about with something old.

How old does your service head look? There's a few pictures of old ones here:

Theo

[SH]

and full face shields in case of flying hot metal sparks if the cutout explodes....

PLus its a two person job so one can raise the alarm if the colleague working on the business end is injured in the course of duty!

[GB]

The nice lady did say that they are careful. :)

It's similar to the JP metal cutout.

[charles]

and I've seen that - as a student with SESEB. Old cutout was getting too hot, pitch flowing out. Decision was to fit a new cutout lower down the cable. Hacksaw slipped between phases. Bang.

[Theo]

In which case it's highly likely they will replace the whole thing. Do you know how many amps your supply fuse is? The one in the video only goes up to 30A, although I suppose thicker fusewire could be fitted.

You could ask to keep the old one for your museum if you like :-)

Theo

[SteveW]

Yup. When I changed my consumer unit, they upgraded the main fuse from

60A to 100A and replaced the whole unit (cast-iron) with a modern moulded one. They removed the fuse, removed the tails and, with thick rubber gloves, protective apron and facemask, they smashed the cast-iron unit with a lump hammer. Then they fitted the new unit and sealed the incoming and outgoing cables with what seemed like an epoxy putty, but could have been an intumescent sealant.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes, well lets hope said gloves are regularly tested then. Brian

[Andy Burns]

The insulating gloves usually have leather over-gloves to protect them from mechanical damage, and when not being worn are kept in protective boxes. Yes, at the fire service where I know they carry them, they do get taken back regularly for inspection (not sure it they're actually tested).

[Tim+]

Given that their primary function is to protect from flash burns rather than shock I’m not sure that testing would involve much more than visual inspection. I could be wrong though…

Tim

[Theo]

For one of these where the conductors are potted in pitch, like the 1940s metal one I linked to, how do you safely remove them? I suppose you have to cut the cable, but how to cut it safely? Maybe you can use a ceramic saw, but still the risk of pinching the conductors together.

Theo

[Theo]

If you're going to be actively holding live conductors, as opposed to trying not to touch them, you really want your PPE to do its job. Most of the time PPE is to protect you just in case you touch something inadvertently, but when live working it's likely necessary to deliberately touch something that's continuously live. If the PPE is the thing standing between you and probable death, I'd very much want to make sure it's properly tested.

The overgloves can be visually inspected, but the rubber insulating gloves get an airtightness test every time, and I assume there is some kind of frequent testing/replacement regime.

Theo

[Andy Burns]

Yes, I suspect it's just that "someone else" has responsibility for doing the inspections centrally, rather than the firefighters ...

[Jack Harry Teesdale]

They are regularly inspected and tested, the results are logged, on some a tag is affixed to the glove with the date of test.

[Fredxx]

I would hope they are better tested than that, perhaps fill the gloves with saline, place ion a saline bath, and measure dielectric strength.

Air-tightness might add some confidence to a visual test but what if the glove has worm thin?

I would hate to rely on a visual test, especially by someone clocking off at 5pm.

[Brian]

In our previous house, we had the meter moved - a long story. It involved running a new cable from the under the pavement etc, under the garden, to the new meter position. Fortunately, we weren’t paying.

They did the splicing of our new cable to the main cable ‘live’ - wearing very thick gloves and boots.