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Consumer Unit Change Video. Nice.

Zoomup
I liked this video because it is well filmed, has no loud music, and the sparks is very pleasant and explains things well. With plastic conduit I cheat and use manufactured elbows and bends sometimes because they save time and are very consistent and neat. What do you think?




Z.
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    Nothing like pulling the main fuse and then posting the evidence on line! ?
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    Putting the SPD at the far end of the bus bar on the second RCD means that the circuits on the first RCD have effectively over a meter approx of cable path (L+N) between them and the SPD. It should really be put before the RCDs, next to the main switch.
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    I wouldn't worry too much about that since the thing most likely won't work anyway..

    £70 for a couple of jelly bean components, a blob of solder and a plastic box which may or may not work when required - it all depends upon whether or not that little blob of solder inside has been 'calibrated' to go off at the right time! I do wonder what effects ambient temp may have on that solder!

    Never mind, a fool and his money are easily parted. What with these things and AFDDs, we truly live in an era of the Empoerer's New Clothes.

    Now where did I put those bottles of snake oil?

    As for the fire resistant grommet - you can get M20 CTS glands with small/medium/large holes in the middle to accomodate different sized cables.
  • 0
    It's not a blob of solder. Its usually either a thyristor or a gas spark gap thingy. And it has a specific set of tests it will have had to pass during manufacture, with specified voltage rises and rates, e.g. the 8/20uS pattern. Also, these things are not one-shot wonders: they can happily suppress 1000's of transients and only "blow" if they receive a transient beyond their rating (e.g. due to a nearby lighting strike).
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    It's not a blob of solder. Its usually either a thyristor or a gas spark gap thingy.




    Err, it is normally a transorb or varisitror  ( this sort of thing )   Spark gaps have the problem of staying in arc once struck, and are more suited to higher voltages, or smaller gas filled ones on LV when you do not mind the fuse being blown.


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    Putting the SPD at the far end of the bus bar on the second RCD means that the circuits on the first RCD have effectively over a meter approx of cable path (L+N) between them and the SPD.



    It's worse than that, putting it after a non-delayed 30mA RCD means that the RCD will likely nuiseance trip as soon as the SPD reacts to the first pulse - the 2nd pulse to come along then finds the SPD disconnected, but half the installation on the other RCD still connected - but now completely unprotected.


    If you do have to put and SPD downstream of an RCD it should be at least an S-type (as per note to reg 534.4.7).

     

    It should really be put before the RCDs, next to the main switch.



    I completely agree!


      - Andy.
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    out of the box
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    end of first day
    02f811ad8c6ff4b5060a08ebd6db222d-huge-captureterms2.png

    end of job
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    It would appear the installation was put in to service without main protective bonding see Regulation 641.1. But the bonding was installed the next day so that's alright then?


    How comes the neutral earth problem was not discovered during the dead testing process rather than energising and tripping the RCD? Or is this a version of the 230V bang test?


    Should I mention the absence of a circuit chart, an RCD label, a Mixed colour label and a periodic label or am I being fussy?
  • 0

    John Peckham:

    It would appear the installation was put in to service without main protective bonding see Regulation 641.1. But the bonding was installed the next day so that's alright then?

     




     

    I thought that at first John, looked again and it seems he reconnected the old bonding to the gas overnight. Then upgraded it and added the water bond the next day. There were a few pipes in the old cylinder cupboard which also dive into the floor, I assume flow, return and hot water which could introduce earth potential and might have needed to be bonded.

    Dead tests were done before the old board was removed apparently  "gonna do some tests on these rings and stuff, see if they got continuity and stuff".

    edit; Although we suspect the installation was energised overnight and the clients were home, we don't know that for sure. Indeed the fact that the RCD tripping occurred the next day suggests it wasn't energised overnight.



  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    Handyman Chris does quite a few YouTube videos and to be fair most are pretty decent and informative.

    i believe he is a plumber by trade who dips in and out of doing electrical work but does know what he is talking about...as plumbers go he is probably the neatest I have seen in a long while...


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