Consumer units and equipment outdoors

Chris Pearson: 
 

GTB: 
A competant electrical installer would IMHO design the installation to prevent that happening, and something I was taught as a 16yr old apprentice, any outdoor enclosures entries should always as far as practicable enter from the bottom elevation as water cant run “Up” a cable or conduit.

What about light switches? Surely they will normally be at the bottom of a length of conduit.

Chris,

Being based in the West of Scotland I was basically told, try and not use conduit outdoors, simple reason water ingress into conduit/accessories plus condensation. If client insisted then conduit was a heavy gauge galvinised or stainless.

Conduit didnt go in top of switches they dropped either down just below the mid point of the switch enclosure or well below the bottom of the enclosure a T box was then added with a suitable drain plug put in the bottom entry and then a short piece of conduit run into the bottom of the enclosure or at a slight upward angle into the side, of course using an appropriate threaded entry/sealant or IP washers depending on the enclosure.

Of course designer needs to take into account all environmental conditions including flaura and fauna. Its of course good designers that spec higher IP rated equipment because our rainfall and the way the wind direction comes it may as well have a jet of water hitting it.

Just because the “Market” produces forever cheaper and cheaper and less quality materials to get the costs low doesnt mean thats what you have to use. I have seen countless enclosures full of water due to “Drain” holes put in them, drilling of the back of the enclosure for fixings rather than the isolated pre drilled fixing holes the manufacturer provided on the outside of the cover gasket, enclosures with fixings over tightened distorting its shape causing gasket not to be compressed correctly, gaskets damaged, missing, trapped on install that lets water in.

Unless the instructions say it can be done then any electrical contractor drilling any “Drain” hole on any one of my projects would be changing it at their own cost.

Yes, I have had RCBO's fail and contactor and relay coils fail due to corrosion on the internal wiring. Equipment today is not manufactured with the same safety factors and over engineering as we had in the past.

Of course its down to designer and installer what the select and install, what I was getting at was people doing their own thing about drilling holes in enclosures or altering them to suit, as I doubt manufacturer would replace in the future FOC if you tried to return it.

GTB   

Chris Pearson: 
 

GTB: 
A competant electrical installer would IMHO design the installation to prevent that happening, and something I was taught as a 16yr old apprentice, any outdoor enclosures entries should always as far as practicable enter from the bottom elevation as water cant run “Up” a cable or conduit.

What about light switches? Surely they will normally be at the bottom of a length of conduit.

Chris,

Being based in the West of Scotland I was basically told, try and not use conduit outdoors, simple reason water ingress into conduit/accessories plus condensation. If client insisted then conduit was a heavy gauge galvinised or stainless.

Conduit didnt go in top of switches they dropped either down just below the mid point of the switch enclosure or well below the bottom of the enclosure a T box was then added with a suitable drain plug put in the bottom entry and then a short piece of conduit run into the bottom of the enclosure or at a slight upward angle into the side, of course using an appropriate threaded entry/sealant or IP washers depending on the enclosure.

Of course designer needs to take into account all environmental conditions including flaura and fauna. Its of course good designers that spec higher IP rated equipment because our rainfall and the way the wind direction comes it may as well have a jet of water hitting it.

Just because the “Market” produces forever cheaper and cheaper and less quality materials to get the costs low doesnt mean thats what you have to use. I have seen countless enclosures full of water due to “Drain” holes put in them, drilling of the back of the enclosure for fixings rather than the isolated pre drilled fixing holes the manufacturer provided on the outside of the cover gasket, enclosures with fixings over tightened distorting its shape causing gasket not to be compressed correctly, gaskets damaged, missing, trapped on install that lets water in.

Unless the instructions say it can be done then any electrical contractor drilling any “Drain” hole on any one of my projects would be changing it at their own cost.

Yes, I have had RCBO's fail and contactor and relay coils fail due to corrosion on the internal wiring. Equipment today is not manufactured with the same safety factors and over engineering as we had in the past.

Of course its down to designer and installer what the select and install, what I was getting at was people doing their own thing about drilling holes in enclosures or altering them to suit, as I doubt manufacturer would replace in the future FOC if you tried to return it.

GTB