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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

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  • 0
    Sparkingchip:

    I do need to urge to to be very careful if you are going to try and manhandle these tails back into the consumer unit enclosure.


    It is not at all unusual to find that the person who stripped the sheath back ran a very sharp knife around the cable and sliced into the inner insulation. You really need to check that the inner insulation is sound at the point the sheath ends.


    Personally I only strip sufficient sheath to allow the termination of the cable into the main switch, usually 10 mm or less, I cannot understand why some people strip the sheath right back within the enclosure removing the mechanical protection from the insulation for no apparent reason.


    Lucky it’s pretty rare method of install of tails, but I was thinking why the outer sheath had been removed so far back. Perhaps the entry hole with the grommet was to small? At least we can now see why tail glands are such a good idea. 


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  • 0
    Sparkingchip:

    I do need to urge to to be very careful if you are going to try and manhandle these tails back into the consumer unit enclosure.


    It is not at all unusual to find that the person who stripped the sheath back ran a very sharp knife around the cable and sliced into the inner insulation. You really need to check that the inner insulation is sound at the point the sheath ends.


    Personally I only strip sufficient sheath to allow the termination of the cable into the main switch, usually 10 mm or less, I cannot understand why some people strip the sheath right back within the enclosure removing the mechanical protection from the insulation for no apparent reason.


    Lucky it’s pretty rare method of install of tails, but I was thinking why the outer sheath had been removed so far back. Perhaps the entry hole with the grommet was to small? At least we can now see why tail glands are such a good idea. 


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