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Consumer Unit proximity to combustible material

Apostolos

Good afternoon

We are looking into installing a metal consumer unit within a wooden kitchen cupboard.

I was looking through BS7671 but cant find any reference as to how close can the CU be to a wooden surface since the wooden cupboard that would host the CU could be considered as a combustible.

Am I missing something?

Is there anything in BS7671 I have missed?

We are looking at the minimum dimensions that the kitchen cupboard needs to have in order to host the CU.

Thanks

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  • 0 in reply to Peter Brooks

    Morning Peter  a "consumer unit' in this context means the circuit breaker equivalent of the traditional fuse board. Its a bit of a mis-nomer as it consumers next to nothing, rather serves as the automatic disconnection of things that do, should they become faulty.
    examples..

    https://consumerunitworld.co.uk/wylex-consumer-units-278-c.asp

    Mike

  • 0 in reply to mapj1

    Thank you Mike:

    Again here in the US, we use the same words as you do in the UK, but it means something completely different !

    Peter

  • 0 in reply to mapj1

    Hello  Mike:

    Breaker boxes can cause fires.

    I had to have my main house breaker box replaced a few years ago because the design of this unit would allow (over time) high resistance connections to develop, There was also  a US Fire alert on this specific design/manufacturer.

    Prior to getting it replaced one was advised to place one's hand on the box cover to see if it was getting warm to the touch once a month.

    In fact my property insurance company would not insure me, until I got it changed out.

    Peter 

  • 0 in reply to Peter Brooks

    There was also  a US Fire alert on this specific design/manufacturer.

    Was that the (in)famous Federal Pacific  "stab-lok" ones?

    We had a not too dissimilar situation a few years ago (although not related to any particular manufacturer) where design changes over time meant that some terminals (esp cage clamp ones with large stiff conductors) tended to overheat, and the plastic enclosures weren't quite as fire resistant as most expected. Modern consumer units (mostly with steel enclosures) are meant to have mitigated that risk.

      - Andy.

  • 0 in reply to AJJewsbury

    Yes Andy:

    That was the manufacturer!

    Peter  

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