How many spare spaces would you allocate for solar panels and an EV charger?

Are there any other things that warrant spaces allocating for them?

As many as the customer is prepared to pay for is the simple straight answer If you have the money and the space allows it, I'll stick you a 18/24/36 way 3phase board in if you wish. But be aware that with short product life cycles, you may not be able to fill that last couple of spare ways in 10 year's time because the manufacturer has discontinued the range.

." Electricians follow instructions and follow rules much more than carrying out problem solving and innovation that engineers do all the time."

This is because these days they are not taught critical thinking and problem solving skills, but merely to slavishly follow 'the regs' without question

If you wish to apportion blame, then look to the rulemakers and educators rather than the end product..

Fusebox do a nice double-stacker with all internal links and connectors pre-assembled for a good price.The Schneider items look to be something of an expensive faff, with lots of 'extras' to buy on top of what already is a very expensive board for what it is.

whjohnson said:

But be aware that with short product life cycles, you may not be able to fill that last couple of spare ways in 10 year's time because the manufacturer has discontinued the range.

You make a valid point about manufacturers discontinuing products. It's more of an issue with protective devices than other accessories, which should generally be deemed as safe if they physically fit and can safely be connected. In Continental Europe it's common practice to use wire links in consumer units whereas the British practice is to use a rigid live busbar, although dual live neutral busbars are also common in Continental Europe. This possibly helps to explain why mixing protective devices from different manufacturers is more commonplace in Continental Europe than in Britain.

whjohnson said:

This is because these days they are not taught critical thinking and problem solving skills, but merely to slavishly follow 'the regs' without question

If you wish to apportion blame, then look to the rulemakers and educators rather than the end product..

I don't honestly think that engineering degrees are good at developing critical thinking and problem solving skills.

I think the problem is the general nature of day to day work. Some jobs are better at fine honing critical thinking and problem solving skills than others.

Continental Europe it's common practice to use wire links in consumer units whereas the British practice is to use a rigid live busbar, although dual live neutral busbars are also common in Continental Europe. This possibly helps to explain why mixing protective devices from different manufacturers is more commonplace in Continental Europe than in Britain.

The other difference is that the UK tend to have low impedance single phase supplies with correspondingly high prospective fault currents - e.g. 16kA - whereas our continental cousins tend to have much lower ratings per phase so thinner supply conductors and lower PFC - for domestics at least they normally wouldn't have to deal with anything over 3kA - certainly not over 6kA - all within the capabilities of individual MCBs. Whereas we need a UK specific annexe to the standard with lots of ifs and buts to somehow get a 6kA MCB to work with a 16kA fault current - and one approach to that is to make sure that anything (e.g. products of arcing) that escape the MCB are safely contained within the enclosure - which does require a bit more co-ordination between box and module than it physically fits.

    - Andy.

Which would be fine if we made that clear and very specifically required type approved assemblies with supplies with a PSSC exceeding that of the weakest breaker, but it is rare to see that distinction made clearly. 

Also even in the UK a great many settings with domestic style CUs never see anything like a true 6kA PSSC, let alone a 16kA one, and the situation of an exploding MCB or RCBO being saved by the prompt actions of the BS88 style company fuse is a pretty extreme corner case. I suspect truly faulty breakers are more likely.  60439-3 Annex ZA does exists, but we do not often need to invoke it.
There is a reason that the millions of hot wire fuses were never really a problem despite a name plate breaking rating of 3kA or less...

(and for wire tails to things like bell transformers inside a CU, but behind a suitable MCB, what is the real problem ?)
Mike

Get a man in. (Smiley). The RCD is probably doing what it was designed for. There are procedural steps to be taken in the fault finding using test instruments.

Jaymack

Every now and again, when I walk past the house a couple of doors down on the other side, I wonder what their PSSC might be because they are next to the transformer. Ours is about 1kA.

Terraced houses with front doors directly on to the street might be slightly different.

I see what you mean, but the size isn't the issue. Our current board is in fact two end-to-end.

whjohnson said:

But be aware that with short product life cycles, you may not be able to fill that last couple of spare ways in 10 year's time because the manufacturer has discontinued the range.

Then instead of blanks, fit an appropriate MCB or RCBO. Everything is there in my garage ready for an EVCP, but the technology (and the Regs) were still in a state of flux at the time.

We also have a big fat distribution circuit up into the attics, so that is PV sorted as well.