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Ring Main at Consumer unit

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
My daughter has just had an electrical safety check done and I suspect that the electrician has been over zeleous..

Would anyone care to comment.


There is no grommet where the meter tails enter the consumer unit and the outer insulation stops just short of the knockout.

He has graded this C1.   Now my opinion is that that does not present an  an immediate threat to the safety of personell

It needs fixing but surely only a C2?


More intriguing.  He gives a C3 to the ring circuit because the two legs enter the consumer unit through separate knock outs.  I can't find that in the regs


And finally an old chestnut which has been discussed before.   A C3 because two radial "circuits" are served by a single breaker..  I have always argued that the definition of a circuit is that it is served by a single breaker.  Certainly if both radials were brought to a junction box outside the CU and then connected to the breaker by a single cable it would meet the definition of a radial..


Thanks for your attention

Parents



  • The 'borrowed neutral' problem sometimes seen where upstairs and downstairs lights meet at the stairs in a dual gang switch, and current for one light flows back down the neutral of the wrong circuit.

    Easy enouhg to avoid, but a sod to fix if the mistake is plastered in already - so the quick fix is to put the upstairs landing light on the downstairs wiring so it is not the wrong circuit anymore


    About 20 years ago I replaced an old consumer unit with a new split load type. All went well and tested o.k., except that that evening when the central heating programmer called for heat, one of the R.C.D.s tripped out due to a borrowed neutral.


    It was a Devil's own job to explain to the householders why this happened, even though I explained that the new equipment was more sensitive. They were not sympathetic.


    I did rectify the problem though to my cost. "The customer is always right".



    Z.


     


Reply



  • The 'borrowed neutral' problem sometimes seen where upstairs and downstairs lights meet at the stairs in a dual gang switch, and current for one light flows back down the neutral of the wrong circuit.

    Easy enouhg to avoid, but a sod to fix if the mistake is plastered in already - so the quick fix is to put the upstairs landing light on the downstairs wiring so it is not the wrong circuit anymore


    About 20 years ago I replaced an old consumer unit with a new split load type. All went well and tested o.k., except that that evening when the central heating programmer called for heat, one of the R.C.D.s tripped out due to a borrowed neutral.


    It was a Devil's own job to explain to the householders why this happened, even though I explained that the new equipment was more sensitive. They were not sympathetic.


    I did rectify the problem though to my cost. "The customer is always right".



    Z.


     


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