Changing meter tails..

[ProDave]

OOooo  !  The words  cans  & worms spring to mind. 

Some folk have been known  to clean up the lead themselves  , fit a copper  braid earth strap to an earth block , held in place with a suitable P61 Constant Force spring  14mm  ---22mmm  dia.  so I'm told .  

Better than using a 951

 

[Evans Electric]

Too true ...it is , I believe the official modus operandi  .   Not sure but I think H&S has banned  DNO soldering a connection onto the lead sheath ..and as you say  an earth clamp can both crush the cable sheath AND become loose . 

Could Sweedy enlighten us on that ?   

 

[poni]

I have seen a clamp that looks a bit like a support clamp but in brass ,with two bolts one on each side, so it will only get so tight and will not crush the cable or get loose ,different sizes for larger and smaller lead sheaths, the main earth is taken from that,

a bit like the one used on earth rods but with two bolts .

 

[misssweden]

Too true ...it is , I believe the official modus operandi  .   Not sure but I think H&S has banned  DNO soldering a connection onto the lead sheath ..and as you say  an earth clamp can both crush the cable sheath AND become loose . 

Could Sweedy enlighten us on that ?   

I don’t know about banning, but no one really solders things anymore. I’ve only ever used the earth clamps that poni described, as long as you pick the right size for the cable they are good. 

 

[binky]

meter seals are widely available on certain websites. 

Personally I would have meter tails out of the meter - it's mine to play with afterall, and leave main fuse untouched. I have a good supply of meter seals, as we are required to fit these to solar generation meters, so having done what needs to be done, I would just re-seal meter cover.

 

[Geoff1946]

as we are required to fit these to solar generation meters,

I had wondered about that. I had my solar system installed about six years ago and they sealed the meter. What's the point? 

If it tampered with it I would be cheating myself. Surely no-one is going to go so far as re-routing the house supply through it, to wind it up?  

 

[kerching]

I've often wondered why the DNO come along and put THEIR seals on YOUR Henleys?  Nothing to do with them, not their property. I wonder if you could sue them for something? Don't know what though

 

[ProDave]

I've often wondered why the DNO come along and put THEIR seals on YOUR Henleys?  Nothing to do with them, not their property. I wonder if you could sue them for something? Don't know what though

Never do that here, and when they fit those meters with a built in isolator, only the input side of the meter is sealed.

 

[binky]

I had wondered about that. I had my solar system installed about six years ago and they sealed the meter. What's the point? 

If it tampered with it I would be cheating myself. Surely no-one is going to go so far as re-routing the house supply through it, to wind it up?  

it's difficult to fiddle solar as the FiT providers use forecast software to monitor your readings, so you sometimes get notifications from them about over / under performance. You can guarantee someone has tried it though! 

 

[phil d]

Picking up an old thread I know, but, the thing with cutting seals, as I was once informed by someone from the DNO is this, quote, "we don't mind you cutting the fuse seal but cutting the meter seal leaves you open to accusations of fiddling the meter". Honestly, I kid you not.

The best one regarding fiddling meters came about 2 years ago from this Indian bloke who owned a curry house, when I went round to the restaurant, the 'job' was to deal with a metering issue. Being tightfisted this 'electrician' had assured him that he could reduce his bill massively by altering his wiring, he'd come back in 12 months time and put it back to how it should be, ready for the meter readers. All the guy had to do was not allow them access for the next 11 months, which tbh isn't usually a problem, so the guy does his magic, relieves the indian of £250 and the Indian guy then goes all electric, why not, it's cheaper!

However 14 months later he's not seen the original spark and to cap it all the supplier is coming on Monday armed with a warrant to enter, just when it couldn't get any worse he reads the meter and realises he's used £5K worth of electricity MORE than usual, so much for reducing his bill!

He rings a mate of his who knows me and I go round, it was a classic, the previous 'electrician' has removed the outgoing neutral from the meter and taken it straight to the cutout, so the meter is still registering the amount used! Obviously he knew sod all about metering, lol. Anyway, I very kindly put it back into the meter, re-sealed everything and liberally sprinkled everything with dust, so it looked like it had never been touched in years, then billed him £150!

Obviously not deterred by the previous experience he asked me what he should do now, so I told him, "pay the bill and don't try fiddling the meter in future, but if you do, make sure the guy doing it knows how to do it properly". I don't think he found my advice helpful, lol

 

[apprentice87]

I completed the job i was doing [that started this thread.. Wish i had taken a photo.. i fitted the henly blocks but when i went to fit the tails from the meter the one was not long enough, they were only 16mm and the one had been butchered inside the cu and covered in insulating tape. I cut off the meter seal. installed new tails and refitted the original seal so it did not look like it had been messed with..

If they do ever see the seal has been removed they can also see that it is patently obvious WHY it was removed..

All looks well neat and tidy now too!!

john..

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