Pulling the main fuse

[Andy™]

you'd think that

 

[mikep]

It's ridiculous, I'm gas registered and allowed to remove the meter to work on the customers pipe-work,

Mike

 

[a1]

One thing he did say, was that he has a 10% failure rate!... and one guy is coming up on his 4th visit/revisit

[quote name='Andy

 

[Hytech Steve]

Hi All,

Search Stephen P Wales on the net, buy pliers and seals and reseal every head or fuse without seal you work near. Then they are safe, then when supplier comes to do work they will replace seal with their own. I was told by Siemens senior eng they will not prosecute for isolating.

 

[batty]

Hi All,Search Stephen P Wales on the net, buy pliers and seals and reseal every head or fuse without seal you work near. Then they are safe, then when supplier comes to do work they will replace seal with their own. I was told by Siemens senior eng they will not prosecute for isolating.

Things are changing called out to property this evening with burnt out neutral bar I am in EDF area and this property had isolator in meter box which is very unusual for EDF. Will post some pictures when I have changed board as I only did emergency repair. Like you I reseal and welcome to the forum.

 

[Theorysparky]

I always reseal

 

[sellers]

I always remove it myself, and reseal.

I don't see why it can't be linked into your part p assesment! Would be very simple. Every spark who is part p reg is allowed to pull the DNO fuse.

 

[Theorysparky]

I always remove it myself, and reseal. I don't see why it can't be linked into your part p assesment! Would be very simple. Every spark who is part p reg is allowed to pull the DNO fuse.

makes perfect sense.....

maybe it is to easy of a solution.

 

[sparkatus]

I ,like others have said, very rarely come across a sealed cut out,and if it is sealed,it is often the result of recent work and hence there is the required isolator...however, I once did a job where having pulled the main fuse ,I was surprised to discover the c/u was still LIVE!!...after a bit of detective work it became apparent that there was a 10 mm earth sneakily routed into the c/u and fed directly into a 32A breaker...this 10mm was fed from.....the incoming side of the cut out,neatly concealed behind the mains fuse carrier,all plastered in the wall and not possible to see without A: removing main fuse ,where you could then see the earth behind the surface..or B: removing c/u cover and removing breakers.

The points I am making is, just think safety first and isolate as you feel appropriate( have the people who decide the finer points of isolation ever been on site? I doubt it!!) and also test,test,test and test again...and again...hahahahahaha

 

[Andy™]

I always remove it myself, and reseal. I don't see why it can't be linked into your part p assesment! Would be very simple. Every spark who is part p reg is allowed to pull the DNO fuse.

do you think its a good idea to have a kitchen fitter removing a fuse from a cast iron service head?

 

[netblindpaul]

[quote name='Andy

 

[sparkytim]

As the reason given by EDF for not continuing discussion about this issue was "lack of interest" I believe, maybe we should endeavor to change their minds.

Perhaps if we all sent them an email requesting further discussion they may get the point?

 

[sellers]

There are 2 different scope levels of part p. Full scope requires more quals and who's to say a kitchen fitter can't pull a fuse if they've been taught? If elecsa and co, set aside 30mins per assesment to explain and demonstrate how to pull a cut out then i see no problems.

Even someone with years of electrical knowledge and qualifications may be completely unqualified to pull a cut out, out of a cast head due to them not being taught and not having the experience to do so.

 

[netblindpaul]

As the reason given by EDF for not continuing discussion about this issue was "lack of interest" I believe, maybe we should endeavor to change their minds.Perhaps if we all sent them an email requesting further discussion they may get the point?

Exactly sparkytim!

 

[netblindpaul]

There are 2 different scope levels of part p. Full scope requires more quals and who's to say a kitchen fitter can't pull a fuse if they've been taught? If elecsa and co, set aside 30mins per assesment to explain and demonstrate how to pull a cut out then i see no problems. Even someone with years of electrical knowledge and qualifications may be completely unqualified to pull a cut out, out of a cast head due to them not being taught and not having the experience to do so.

sellers,

Fair cop.

A good point, I had not thought about the 2 levels of Part P assessment.

However, do you honestly believe that 30 mins is sufficient?

I believe it should be more than that unless the person under assessment can demonstrate a higher level of competence.

As the end of the day, removing a 60A cut out fuse in a domestic, may not be more dangerous than removing a set of 60A fuses from an industrial machine fed from a bus bar distribution circuit capable of supplying 250kVA in an industrial environment.

As far as the old cast iron heads go then perhaps if a person registered as competent to pull a cut out fuse finds one, then they should be able to ring the DNO emergency no & get a quick change out as should have been done already, same with 2 pole fusing?



Just a suggestion?

 

[Andy™]

There are 2 different scope levels of part p. Full scope requires more quals and who's to say a kitchen fitter can't pull a fuse if they've been taught? If elecsa and co, set aside 30mins per assesment to explain and demonstrate how to pull a cut out then i see no problems.Even someone with years of electrical knowledge and qualifications may be completely unqualified to pull a cut out, out of a cast head due to them not being taught and not having the experience to do so.

i know the dangers of removing the fuses, and have insulated gloves, but i wont open a cast service head unless its in very good condition (very unlikely). safer to cut the tails live and add an isolator, or get DNO to change it

and why should elecsa/other scam providers provide training as part of an assessment?

 

[sellers]

they shouldn't but if they teamed with DNO it would save having its own training, thus saving cost.

TBH how many of us have been officially trained to pull a cut out? but yet can safely do so, or not do so may it be the case.

 

[netblindpaul]

Andy/sellers,

I was just going to post a follow up to this, in that would an ELECSA/NAPIT/NICEIC etc.etc. assessor be competent to train in removing cut out fuses?

At the moment I doubt it.

There is also such a diversity of cut outs and applications then one would need to be very careful?

Paul

 

[sparkytim]

When authorized by Eastern Electricity to "Self connect" in the good old days,(Q Violins) we had to go on a 2 day course, pass a practical assessment and an interview with a Area Network Engineer to get approved, only open to NICEIC APPROVED contractors at the time.

We were issued with Full face mask (Use it for when chaseing in now) and rubber gloves along with Tools including a Neon screwdriver believe it or not, as this was the only recognised method of checking polarity!(All had to be paid for in the cost of the course)

They issued us with Blue plastic seals and the coded sticky labels which were traceable back to you.

It saved them money by us doing their work for them, (we even had to take Meter readings and send in on the paper work).

Bring back the Good old days I say

 

[gselectrical]

DNO in my area are awfull. The last meter i requested to be changed for a 2 rate meter took 2 months.

Usually Pull fuse and re-seal after.

If I waited for them, Id be bankrupt by now