Circuit Breaker manufacture dates

Indeed, we still get the occasional old dear with a wylex BS3036 board who can't remember how to rewire the fuse. Usually the installation is fine other than not being up to current specs. It's more common these days with the halogen replacement GLS lamps for them to pop the ageing fusewire when they shuffle off the mortal coil.


If it's a common occurrence we will install the 60898 replacement plug in breakers, often for free  (they're only a few quid each). But if it's not regular? Why replace it?

I didn’t say they cannot be used, I merely pointed out that they are obsolete if they are not in the current catalogue.


The only reason I can think of of hand for having a list of the dates devices were manufactured is to aid filling in the estimated age of the installation box on an EICR, but you also need to decide if it I’d the original consumer unit as the wiring could be a lot older.


Andy Betteridge

Andy,

Apologies, I did not mean to put words in your mouth, I just wanted to make sure nobody read it that way. I have had many occasions where I had to look at modifications to an old installation with limited information on the installed equipment and had to make use of old catalogues to reverse engineer the system design. This is unlikely on a domestic installation but can happen on an industrial one - one recent installation I looked at had a switchboard dating from the 1990s, and that was the new one. The old ones were from the 1960s. Needless to say the design information available would fit on a post-it note (with room to spare)..

Alasdair

One from a domestic EICR on Monday morning. 

The circuit two MCB has failed,  but it is an unused circuit. 

Estimated date of original installation 1970?


Andy B 

For every EICR I seem to end up playing the guess the date of the original installation, I declined to do one EICR that had been requested by a college because there were international students lodging in the house  and told the landlady to just get it rewired, because I dated the original installation that was still in use to around 1895.


It had a lovely rosewood and porcelain double pole fuse board and fabric covered cables, I dated the installation by doing an internet search to find out when the electric tram tracks were laid past the house that were removed before most of the forum members were born.


 Andy Betteridge

It’s about three years since I last saw porcelain double pole fuse holders on a rosewood board still in use.


Andy Betteridge

An apt topic for my next question!

Do any of you learned fellows recall whether or not a Wylex 100A main switch can be swapped out for a WSES 100/2 30ma RCD ? Items like these -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WYLEX-WSES-63-2-63-AMP-30mA-RCD-CIRCUIT-BREAKER-AND-100-AMP-MAIN-SWITCH/233265624217?epid=1607852068&hash=item364fb6f499:g:NSoAAOSwYS5caVRf


Will the RCD fit straight in?

I am going for the 100A version.

I have a old Wylex (cat no ) NS704 cu which feeds 4 off-peak storage heaters and would like to provide some quick and easy RCD protection by swapping out the main isolator for a RCD version.

Comments welcome.