Whose is the space inside the meter box?

[Pete Verdon]

Hi,

Some time in the next couple of months I'll get round to running power to my shed. I've already posted here about the electrical design aspects of it; this is a question about physical installation.

I will be connecting the submain (via a switchfuse) to a Henley block before the consumer unit. The CU is inside the house, and the meter is in a meter box outside. There's no reasonable route from the CU area to the shed; what makes most sense mechanically is to fit the switchfuse etc in the meter box, and run the SWA from there. However, there is a tatty old label inside the box saying "for Board's equipment only". So,

1. Does this have any actual regulatory force behind it?
2. Is anyone likely to care?

The meter box is a typical white fibreglass thing embedded in the wall, with a chipboard panel in the back to which the service fuse and meter are screwed. I'm pretty sure there's room to add my extra bits in a tidy fashion.

Pete

[Colin Wilson]

Pragmatically, we've given people the OK to mount their equipment in there before now, but it's not generally advisable if you can avoid it

- meter boards can rot, and the meter boxes themselves don't last forever (ours is metal and starting to corrode slowly, despite being in a covered entry).

Having any of your equipment on (or in) there will prevent it from being changed - we're not allowed to play with your equipment, so the only real option would be to leave you off supply until you could get it moved, or disconnect for safety.

The last instance I can remember was when it was back-to-back with a newly formed wet room - the cust wanted to fit a switched fused isolator in the cabinet to protect their submain running to another part of the building.

[Andy Wade]

"Yes" to both questions (see Colin's reply).

Consider installing the switch-fuse in your own separate enclosure (of suitable IP rating) alongside the meter box. That would leave only the Henley block, and an earth block, if there isn't one there already, to go in the meter housing - a compromise that the DNO, meter operator and supplier are far less likely to object to.

[Richard Conway]

I recently swapped my CU and due to space constraints had to encroach upon the Board's board (IYSWIM). Is this likely to be a problem? Who is likely to notice and get upset?

[Pete Verdon]

This would involve having meter tails running outside the meter box on an external wall (admittedly only for an inch or two) and being longer than they would be if the switchfuse was on the same board. This seems less satisfactory to me.

Pete

[Andy Wade]

No, link the boxes with a sort length of conduit, or (say) 2x2 PVC trunking underneath, or butt them together and couple them using a conduit bush and locknut.

Whichever way, the tail length shouldn't be an issue, provided you're within your DNO's limit (2 or 3 m).

[Pete Verdon]

D'oh! Obviously :-)

Thanks,

Pete