Solid fuse links?

[Evans Electric]

Called out this morning to a rented property  , no power all last night , no power today.     Smell of burning from the consumer unit .    ( Had to be the other side of city of course!!!) 

Under the Risk of Fire  and Someone Could be Killed and There,s No answer From the Supply Metering Company to come & pull the fuse, Act   2015 ..... I removed the main fuse  , replaced the  tails , replaced the burnt out main switch , connection loosened by Smart Meter Man  twisting the neutral tail  IMHO .

Question is :-   The main fuse had a solid link fitted , presumably by Smart Meter man , wasn't like that two years ago because we fitted a new board back then and would have seen it .          Its a row of houses with the usual incoming  PME supply  so what is the reason for the solid link I ask ?   

Trying to find copy of our cert , must be one as the landlady has top copy for my phone number. 

 

[Manator]

The main fuse should never have a solid link, if it was an old incomer then it is possible that what used to be a neutral fuse is now a solid link.

I am confused, a picture would have been good.

 

[Evans Electric]

Its a standard plastic  100A    PME cut-out  with a single fuse carrier that , two years ago , had a fuse in it , now a link ,  re-sealed with marked seals. 

 

[kerching]

Its a standard plastic  100A    PME cut-out  with a single fuse carrier that , two years ago , had a fuse in it , now a link , APPARENTLY I BELIEVE IT MAY HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN re-sealed with marked seals. which had been removed prior to our arrival

FTFY

 

[Tony S]

Solid links can be fitted to sub-main supplies, the carrier is usually red. A photograph really would help.

 

[Evans Electric]

Yes I know they can , usually in flats with fuses elsewhere.      This is a bog standard domestic cut-out  on the end of a service cable , in a house  .  

We were there two years ago  and it was a fuse , smart meter has been added , now its a solid link .  There is no fusing downstream  now between the house supply and the network.      Unless someone knows the reason for this It doesn't look right to me   .    But who am I compared to a Smart Meter fitter . :innocent ? 

FTFY

Yes thats what happened  , that what I meant to say .  

 

[Phoenix]

I think I'd have called the DNO out and told the telphone operator there has been crackling and burning in the vicinity of their equipment. Change the main switch in the mean time, when the jointer arrives show him the main switch, ask him to check all the terminals in the meter and cutout and then ask him what is going on with the cutout fuse

 

[Evans Electric]

I take your point Phoenix  but as it was double time for this Saturday morning , its hardly fair to the customer to have me standing there scratching my ass until the network turn up . 

I think I'l speak to WP  on Monday ...see what they say . 

 

[kerching]

I take your point Phoenix  but as it was double time for this Saturday morning , its hardly fair to the customer to have me standing there scratching my ass until the network turn up . 

I think I'l speak to WP  on Monday ...see what they say . 

They will probably say 'it was not one of our engineers , .it must have been one of the bigger boys, the bigger boys made me do it'

the bigger boys are responsible for lots of things

 

[ProDave]

I never understand the demarkation between the linsemen and the meter guys these days.

On a new build I am just finishing, we had the supply moved into the house from it's temporary box outside.  I was told the linesmen would come in the morning and move the head, and the meter man would come in the afternoon and move the meter.

So I was surprised when the linesmen move the head AND the meter in the morning, which was great, I could connect up and we had power on again quickly, which kept the joiners happy.

Then at 4:30, just as it was getting dark the meter man turned up. He was equally surprised that the meter had already been moved. All he did was pull the fuse, check the connections as he was "last man in" and seal it all up again.
 

 

[Andy™]

its probably because the DNO dont touch the meter only the service head - maybe in your case they left the service head & meter still connected to each other on the board and moved it as one?