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60 Amp Junction Box.

Mornin' All,

I came upon a burnt out terminal on a Crabtree ceiling 50 Amp. shower cord switch yesterday. The cables had become so hot after 3 years of use that the line P.V.C. had completely fallen off the conductor and had left a horrible black smelly sticky mess.

I had to replace the shower cord switch, but the damaged cable was then too short after removing the softened copper and damaged insulation.

So I had to make a trap in the room upstairs, which turned out to be wooden boards over other wooden boards to access the cable below with a view to lengthening one cable. I used a new 60 Amp junction box as it allows two large conductors to overlap and be secured by 4 screws. It is solid and of good quality.

It is this item.....

https://www.toolstation.com/60a-junction-box/p98775?store=N2&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIufLP1ZD25gIVybTtCh2YWAeiEAQYASABEgJZkvD_BwE

Z.

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0 Zoomup over 5 years ago

One may also wonder why this cable got hot and burned up its insulation. This will certainly be due to a loose connection, and probably a screw left loose or very low clamp pressure. Crimp connections are much more reliable than screws, provided the correct crimp and crimp tool is used.

What a lot of bother using crimps, heat shrink sleeving, a hot air gun and still you have to house the big ugly joints, no, I prefer an all in one 60 Amp junction box with strain relief clamps inside. There is nothing wrong with well installed screw terminations as used for many years. Millions of electricity meters use screw type terminals.

The heat was produced by a terminal screw not being tightened properly, or a bad switch contact. The Crabtree 50 Amp double pole ceiling cord switch has terminals located so that they are difficult to check if the switch is located next to a wall, as most are in bathrooms. The terminals are also single screw only which is a weakness in design. Even if the screws are tightened with the switch hanging a little way off the ceiling before fixing, a terminal can become lose if the switch is rotated when screwing it up to the ceiling. Then perhaps three screws can be checked for tightness, but the fourth is inaccessible as it is too close to the wall to test for tightness.

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0 Zoomup over 5 years ago

One may also wonder why this cable got hot and burned up its insulation. This will certainly be due to a loose connection, and probably a screw left loose or very low clamp pressure. Crimp connections are much more reliable than screws, provided the correct crimp and crimp tool is used.

What a lot of bother using crimps, heat shrink sleeving, a hot air gun and still you have to house the big ugly joints, no, I prefer an all in one 60 Amp junction box with strain relief clamps inside. There is nothing wrong with well installed screw terminations as used for many years. Millions of electricity meters use screw type terminals.

The heat was produced by a terminal screw not being tightened properly, or a bad switch contact. The Crabtree 50 Amp double pole ceiling cord switch has terminals located so that they are difficult to check if the switch is located next to a wall, as most are in bathrooms. The terminals are also single screw only which is a weakness in design. Even if the screws are tightened with the switch hanging a little way off the ceiling before fixing, a terminal can become lose if the switch is rotated when screwing it up to the ceiling. Then perhaps three screws can be checked for tightness, but the fourth is inaccessible as it is too close to the wall to test for tightness.

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60 Amp Junction Box.

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