Meter tails

[Robojin]

Was looking at small a job this morning and I noticed that the meter tails to the Henley look like 16mm (no I did not pull em out and measure Patch Blushing) but the tails in are 25mm and to two sets of tails out of the Henley (two C/U) are also 25mm

So far as I can tell this is the original configuration from the meter install (Henley cables look very old too) is 16mm normal?, as I'm thinking it's possibly code2 for no other reason than 25mm to 16mm to 25mm, the 2nd C/U is mostly 6A and two 20A feeding low load usage locations

Comments please(yes Patch even your funny ones will do )

 

[Apache]

What size is the main fuse? 16mm can take 87A!

Nothing silly nor daft!

 

[Robojin]

What size is the main fuse? 16mm can take 87A!Nothing silly nor daft!

It was a standard 1361 100A Type II, both incomers on the CU were 100A, so my thinking was this was a little odd

from the Henley two of the 25mm tails were put in around 1996 (grey PVC), the other set to a 8+ year old CU, tails are possibly as old as the meter in RED and Black but are in imperial equiv of 25mm, I understand these were in a SubDB with the older rewire fuses (it was not changed at the full rewire in 1996? cost I guess)

BTW I'm assuming that because the meter tails are slightly smaller that they are 16mm ish (but will be also an imperial size) I don't imagine they have used a single insulated cable (or am I wrong on that point)

 

[Andy™]

It was a standard 1361 100A Type II, both incomers on the CU were 100A, so my thinking was this was a little odd

have you seen the 100A fuse? many say 100A on the sticker, but often contain a 60 or 80A fuse

 

[Badger]

have you seen the 100A fuse? many say 100A on the sticker, but often contain a 60 or 80A fuse

apart from ours of course although thats never been confirmed

BlushingBlushing] ]

 

[Andy™]

apart from ours of course although thats never been confirmed BlushingBlushing] ]

yours is probably a solid link!

 

[Evans Electric]

It happens a lot, house rewired , not allowed to change tails to meter so fit Henleys, new tails 25mm to comply with 100a fuse , shove the 16mm in Henleys live and leave it to the metering company to upgrade. This , of course , never gets done, theres millions like that. I'd like to bet the 16mm tails never even get warm.

Theres been a post on this ( Patch ?) I was told by a certain person (no names,no pack drill) to cut meter seals, fit new 25mm tails and inform whoever supplies the power what you have done, always forget though ]

Deke

 

[Andy™]

up here they dont seem bothered about cutting meter seal, providing its done to change tails etc - its the seal into the meter where you could tamper with it is there bothered about

 

[Robojin]

have you seen the 100A fuse? many say 100A on the sticker, but often contain a 60 or 80A fuse

Well of course I have no way to tell because I'd have to pull the fuse, and I would not wish to do that because of course that would be illegal

But suppose for argument sake it was 100A, what do you reckon about the meter tails with clearly a smaller csa out than the CU tails, is this ok or needs improvement e.g. code 2

 

[Evans Electric]

I'd say in theory its wrong and undersized but in the real world , there are thousands of situations the same and I'm sure that one foot of 16mm will handle that load. What annoys me is that it is left to the likes of you and me to pick up on these problems( I've found 10mm tails in the past) but the rules are that we are not allowed to put it right. Round here its a nightmare trying to get any sense out of whoever owns the network at this time. Used to be MEB at least you could get to speak to an engineer now you get a schoolkid .

Deke

 

[Robojin]

Just for clarity, after the meter, it's the customers installation, accepting that you can't get access to the tails in meter

 

[Andy™]

some newer meters have 2 covers for the terminals - one for the load and one for supply. no surprise, but both sides are normally sealed

 

[Badger]

wouldnt that just be to stop people taking the cover off when the meter is live ??

 

[Andy™]

wouldnt that just be to stop people taking the cover off when the meter is live ??

no. its to you dont have to break seal on supply side - terminals are still live unless you pull the fuse though. or you have a meter with built in isolator under the cover

 

[steptoe]

its perfectly legal to have 16mm tails, or even 6mm tails(if the board they are feeding is for example a 1way shower board with 30a fuse) if you do the calcs on 16mm singles they will carry over 100A(for such a short distance-neglible resistance&air spaced).

 

[Robojin]

BS 7671 IS NOT LAW

7671 IS NOT LAW: True but I think they make it large and thick so it hurts more when they throw it at you :^O :^O:^O

PS Is it remotely funny or just coincidence that BS can mean something else ; \

 

[Badger]

that wouldnt be B**L S**te by any chance would it :^O