Wylex plug-in breakers ("upgrade" for ancient fused CUs)

Spotted that CPC have these, new.

Not cheap though. 8.59+vat.

6, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40A.

The 10 seems a bit of an oddity.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson
Loading thread data ...

Ideal for a lighting circuit with more load than usual. I've got one here.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I had to upgrade the 6A lighting breaker to 10A in our village hall after 2

500w floodlights were added to the lighting circuit.
Reply to
charles

En el artículo , charles escribió:

I was going to ask if the wiring is up to it, but on googling see that

1mm^2 is ok to 10A and 1.5mm^2 to 15A.
Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

En el artículo , Dave Plowman (News) escribió:

Thanks. Not seen those in 10A before.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

It's not quite that simple.

1mm is OK for 16A when clipped in free air and 1.5mm for 20A.

Surround that cable with insulation and you half the current carrying capacity.

Now that is usually only a problem IF you are near full load or IF you have very long cable runs so that the earth loop is too high to trip the MCB in the event of a fault.

The second one is not very likely to occur on most properties. The first one depends on the lights that are fitted. A couple of 500W halogens could shove things over the limits

Reply to
ARW

I don't have any old copies of the Regs to give me current capacities, but our hall was wired in 3/.029. ISTR it was a bit more than 1.5mm

Reply to
charles

10A is actually a standard value, although you don't see it much in domestic environments.
Reply to
Tim Watts

formatting link

any good sir?

Now what is this voltage drop per 100 ft:-)?

Reply to
ARW

Oh, handy...

ok wikied it:

formatting link

anyone have a source for the sheath sizes?

Reply to
John Rumm

Excellent - that was the small brown book?

Reply to
charles

Do they have any benefit?

The switch lever sticks out a little way, can you use the fuse cover if you install them?

Reply to
Michael Chare

En el artículo , Michael Chare escribió:

No. Some of the newer ones (beige) have a knockout in the fuse cover so you can fit it over the MCBs, but I don't think many people bother.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

Surely if you have such an ancient unit, it would make more sense to change it for a modern one with RCD protection?

You can get decent deals on fully populated ones. And it's not that difficult a job to fit, if you take your time and label things carefully.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Putting the possible NE faults or borrowed neutrals to one side that is not a bad DIY idea and could be cheaper.

Any circuits that trip the RCD could be put on the non RCD side until any problems are fixed.

Prat P is ignored but who cares?

Reply to
ARW

En el artículo , Dave Plowman (News) escribió:

Agreed, I was only commenting on how the plug-in MCBs to replace fuses are still available new for such antique kit.

The price, though, as you said, is such that it would be cheaper to buy a new CU fully populated with breakers for not much more than the Wylex plug-in replacements alone.

One of my properties has the Wylex plug-in MCBs, which were there when I bought it. Since the CU itself and the wiring are in good condition, I left it alone. It was useful to be able to add a 40A plug-in MCB though, plus an external RCD, for an electric shower.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

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.