A safety warning

[Evans Electric]

A couple of weeks back I was replacing an old rewirable distribution board in a factory . Having fitted an MEM Eaton 24 way T/Phase I was short of a 10 amp SP MCB to power some office lights.

I fitted a Proteus from the van ( it sort of fitted) temporary till the next day.

Return with the correct breaker, switch off the Proteus, remove the two cables from it , accompanied by a great splatting and sparking performance. Find that the Proteus does not actually switch off although it felt positive in both directions. Have never known a breaker do that before.

And don't give me the "Oh you should have tested it first" sanctimonious stuff 'cos I bet you would have done the same.

Deke

 

[Andy™]

ive had a few things like that not work properly before, so tester is always used just to make sure. even if its just sticking one probe on a terminal

(and last time i didnt have tester with me, i cut through a 6mm

 

[Evans Electric]

ive had a few things like that not work properly before, so tester is always used just to make sure. even if its just sticking one probe on a terminal (and last time i didnt have tester with me, i cut through a 6mm

 

[Andy™]

Oops !!

surprisingly, it did very little damage to cuttes.... ill get a pic later

 

[batty]

ive had a few things like that not work properly before, so tester is always used just to make sure. even if its just sticking one probe on a terminal (and last time i didnt have tester with me, i cut through a 6mm

 

[Andy™]

damage to cutters

note: i dont normally use these cutters for 6mm twin! i had left a job to go price another, and was asked if i could remove a cooker cable whilst i was there. didnt have my main tool bag (which includes tester!), and these were the first thing i found in van that would cut through the cable

even with the damage, they still cut very well

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

ive had a few things like that not work properly before, so tester is always used just to make sure. even if its just sticking one probe on a terminal (and last time i didnt have tester with me, i cut through a 6mm

 

[green-hornet]

[No message]

 

[Andy™]

3036? pull the fuse maybe a good idea?

it was isolated (or so i thought!) at the cooker switch

 

[Andy™]

 

[binky]

A couple of weeks back I was replacing an old rewirable distribution board in a factory . Having fitted an MEM Eaton 24 way T/Phase I was short of a 10 amp SP MCB to power some office lights. I fitted a Proteus from the van ( it sort of fitted) temporary till the next day.

Return with the correct breaker, switch off the Proteus, remove the two cables from it , accompanied by a great splatting and sparking performance. Find that the Proteus does not actually switch off although it felt positive in both directions. Have never known a breaker do that before.

And don't give me the "Oh you should have tested it first" sanctimonious stuff 'cos I bet you would have done the same.

Deke

Had a callout - proteus MCB only passing 210V nasty as it gave the impression of a dead circuit.

Had another weird one today 60A fuse in switch fuse isolator only passing 180V so lights would flicker on and then die, RCD test button wouldn't operate, sockets worked intermittently - never encountered this before so took some working out

 

[Evans Electric]

Had a callout - proteus MCB only passing 210V nasty as it gave the impression of a dead circuit.Had another weird one today 60A fuse in switch fuse isolator only passing 180V so lights would flicker on and then die, RCD test button wouldn't operate, sockets worked intermittently - never encountered this before so took some working out

Are you saying the fuse had blown and was passing current through the carbonised residue inside the cartridge, Ive kown that happen.

Deke

 

[binky]

Are you saying the fuse had blown and was passing current through the carbonised residue inside the cartridge, Ive kown that happen.Deke

Don't think so, its a new installation in a garage put in by me. But the 60A fuse I obtained from the wholesaler did seem like it had been on the shelf for a long time!!!! Plus I thought there were some strange goings on when I first energised system, like MCBs vibrating slightly when florries started up. It tested OK at the time, but didn't seem quite right - and it wasn't.