nightmare c/u upgrades

[eeb1933]

do any of you get frustrated with consumer changes when you test and there is neutral and earth faults on rings borrowed neutrals etc. customers or shall i say some just think your inventing work, oh yea i love fault finding not X(

 

[batty]

That is why I hate doing cu changes. Doing some in London at moment have had a lot of neutral to earth faults and open circuit on ring mains and insulation resistance on lighting circuits has not been good but as I have been using RCBO's hopefully should not be a problem.

Batty

 

[eeb1933]

rcbo's are the way though more expensive, but hey customer is paying for it. at least you only lose 1 circuit when it trips not 6 with dual boards.

 

[a1]

The price come down on RCBOs yet?

 

[M107]

The price come down on RCBOs yet?

I'm getting Hager at about

 

[batty]

I have been using wylex metalclad boards the ones that have the extra height these are good for Rcbo's.

Batty

 

[green-hornet]

CU upgrades are a preverbial pain in the butt.

I have just done one this week where two circuits were connected to the old fuse board, but had no end use.

One was traced to a cut cable still in situ in the attick the other where to some sockets in the attick room fed from water heater that was removed by the plumber and left live terminals.

Head aches all the while.

 

[sellers]

With regard to cu upgrades when testing, i take it all faults must be rectified as its an eic you fill out? doing one over tonight and tommorrow night and i have 2 32 amp mcbs with 3 and 2 cables in, none being a ring!! arrgghhhh

 

[green-hornet]

You must always identify a circuit before you re-energise. 32amp protection on a 2.5mm cable which goes to say 1 socket would be a no no, and like wise 32amp protection on a 2.5mm cable that is terminated flush with the plaster, cut out by Mr Builder but not removed from the fuse board would be a no no. :^O

 

[binky]

With regard to cu upgrades when testing, i take it all faults must be rectified as its an eic you fill out? doing one over tonight and tommorrow night and i have 2 32 amp mcbs with 3 and 2 cables in, none being a ring!! arrgghhhh

I tend to re-fit 20A MCBs except in in high useage areas like kitchens, and certainly carry a few spares just in case

 

[sellers]

yeah i refit 20a mcbs, I know its ok to double up on mcbs but what do you record on your test sheets as realistically its 2 seperate circuits? I tested them both, and recorded both results, but when it comes to the test sheets with only one row for that mcb what do you write down? common sence would tell me to write down the one with the higher zs. or lower IR readings, etc

 

[batty]

yeah i refit 20a mcbs, I know its ok to double up on mcbs but what do you record on your test sheets as realistically its 2 seperate circuits? I tested them both, and recorded both results, but when it comes to the test sheets with only one row for that mcb what do you write down? common sence would tell me to write down the one with the higher zs. or lower IR readings, etc

But if you are changing a consumer unit there should be no need to double up circuits.

 

[ianmacd]

With regard to cu upgrades when testing, i take it all faults must be rectified as its an eic you fill out? doing one over tonight and tommorrow night and i have 2 32 amp mcbs with 3 and 2 cables in, none being a ring!! arrgghhhh

I also hate the nice little ring with fairly low r1,r2&rn then when you measure R1+R2 they are well off where someone has decided to spur a radial off the ring still in 2.5mm still on a nice 30A fuse or 32A breaker. I treat them as a radial and drop the new MCB to something more realistic (20A or even 16A).

Had 2 of these in the last week or so (one on a recent CU upgrade that "someone" did that had no cert, one RCD as main switch, etc... that I fitted a new socket onto and one on a CU upgrade I was doing).

Ian.