Following up to The Reid
now I start looking more closely I see there are no free fuses on the fusebox, 2 lighting rings, house ring, kitchen ring, shower and an emergency light and a freezer on the other, which could be moved into the kitchen ring I suppose. I think I may just decide its a job for an "expert", new unit with tripping fuses and a couple of extra circuits + the cooker point, all done in one job while I read usenet posts :-)
That has always been the case with lefties. They have realised that it takes very little to out-think a Labour MP. :-)
Might as well have a few extra double sockets put in at the same time. I had some work done last year - 4 or 5 new doubles in the kitchen, a couple of wall-mounted lights, new light+shaver socket in the bathroom, replaced a couple of damaged sockets. The consumer unit had re-wireable fuses, and I had those swapped out for the little re-settable ones - same box, just replaced the old fuses with the modern ones.
Sheila
Following up to S Viemeister
that's the sort of thing I would do, er, did, er, myself in the future. IYSWIM. But a new consumer unit, well, let the man do it.
got to be better.
Following up to Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)
the government, "lefties"!!!!
Sounds OK. You won't find a 32A switch easily so use a 45A switch. Also, you want it on the non-RCD side, if you have an RCD split load consumer unit.
Christian.
I'm trying to think of the name of a clever Tory MP. Or any Tory MP, come to that. Or any clever MP...
It's actually not that difficult provided you label all the cables when you remove the old one. Masking tape and a waterproof felt pen are ideal.
'Pulling' the main fuse just needs rubber gloves and wellies. ;-)
Following up to Dave Plowman (News)
they just said "Cameron has been elected by a 2 to 1 margin", I didnt realise the Tories still had that many MPs :-)
Following up to Dave Plowman (News)
especially as its my own wiring.
From when we did the original rewiring, I seem to remember disconnecting a rather thick wire rather carefully!
Pass
Boris Johnson - don't quite see him mastering Part P
Mine. Vince Cable. Seriously clever.
Very good!
If you are replacing the consumer unit, for an above-average size house with own garage,do get a split-load type with 10-12 spaces, two of these will be Master trips including a RCD, the others are power and lighting rings (each probably x2 on separate floors/zones), spurs (radials) for:- shower (protected) , cooker, and immersion heater. The subsidiary, modular, resettable trips come in 3 current load types. You can never have enough double-gang switched outlets, so add them if you can afford the budget. Warning! You will need some battery-operated emergency lighting and tools while changing over a consumer unit - as the main supply fuse's security seal has to be compromised, fuse dissed (and reconnected and re-sealed later). Jim
On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 18:38:37 GMT someone who may be "Jim Gregory" wrote this:-
An interesting concept. When did such circuits start to be used in houses?
the same approach can be adopted with 1.5mm2 for lighting ceiling roses and drops to switches, dimmers and wall brackets. The benefit is lower voltage drops at the nodes when all rooms are lit. Jim IMO the extra cable costs compared to a radial daisy-chain are almost negligible.
I did my first one in 1974. Got it from that DIY guide that was popular then. Seemed standard then.
Ther have to be clever to get elected and thus get access to that highly suspect pension scheme - either that or just plain lucky and I sadly for the state of the country I suspect the latter applies in a lot of cases
Not really; voltage drop should be within spec regardless of the circuit type, when fully loaded, if correctly designed. Domestic lighting circuits are limited to 6A anyway (because of the possibility that SES or SBC lampholders may be used) which is well within the rating of
1.5mm2, even when derating is applied.Also, there is no diversity allowed on a lighting circuit, with each point required to be rated at 100W or actual load if greater. The characteristics which make a ring circuit useful for sockets are (1) the use of a cable rated at 20A on a 30A circuit (2) considerable diversity in that any number of sockets may be used - 20 or 30 x 13A does not require a 390A circuit.
Owain
You might want to go back and see if the guide's authors made any other errors which you unwittingly followed :-)
Owain
I thought it was party members who could vote. They must have three.
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