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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
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pauluk Offline OP
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Thanks to "ianh" for the following photos from the Isle of Man.

Quote
Our departmental Christmas lunch was held in a local pub/brewery and as I arrived the lights went out. It was a good time for a power cut as there were in excess of 10 electricians under the roof at the time. Myself and one of my electricians offered to help them track down their problem, and this is what we found. The contractor doing the job had left it like this while he went on holiday. The main neutral from the PoCo cut-out in the 3 phase consumer unit had fallen out and had caused numerous pieces of electronic equipment to die quite spectacularly, as well as a whole host of other problems.

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 200
H
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do my eyes decieve me, or is that an entire load center just dangling there in pic #2?


Cliff
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 558
R
Member
is this so you can get a " Free air" rating on the cables?? Just kidding!
those look almost like miniture "wide" Federal pioneer breakers!

Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,443
Likes: 3
Member
Boy,
Are there some issues here or what??.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of cable support in these pictures.
I take it that the red cables in the 1st picture are Fire Alarm cables?.
What exactly is holding that consumer unit up in the second picture?.
Person who left this work in this condition, needs to be de-registered, or at least shot.
This whole job is nothing short of a mess.
One thing I find strange is that enclosure above the meter, in pic #4, where that Steel Wire armoured cable enters and there are the meter tails and another cable leaving.
Is that a proper PoCo joint in that box?.

Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 141
C
Member
Unless my eyes deceive me, are those not a couple of arc-fault breakers in the bottom photo? If so, the equipment on the other end should be reasonably protected from any flashovers that are sure to occur somewhere else in the mess.:-)

Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69
W
Member
Whats up with the conduit in the first pic?


Thanks.
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,443
Likes: 3
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C/Pilot,
Quote
Unless my eyes deceive me, are those not a couple of arc-fault breakers in the bottom photo?.
I think they might actually be RCD's (Residual Current Device)(like a GFI).
One other small thing, I don't like the look of them bare pan unit landings, they should be shrouded if they aren't being utilised.
There's 400 or so volts between each of them bits of copper and they dont take too kindly to things like hands and tools touching them or bridging them out.

Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 54
I
Member
quote:
-------------
I take it that the red cables in the 1st picture are Fire Alarm cables?.
-------------

Correct.


quote:
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What exactly is holding that consumer unit up in the second picture?.
-------------

The consumer unit is being held up by two of the twin and earth cables which are clipped onto a joist.


quote:
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One thing I find strange is that enclosure above the meter, in pic #4, where that Steel Wire armoured cable enters and there are the meter tails and another cable leaving.
Is that a proper PoCo joint in that box?.
-------------

Hell no. The PoCo cut-out and meter are in the bottom of the third photo. The meter at the top of the box is a private meter and is fed from the MCB at the bottom left of the panel. The load side of the meter is then connected to the RCD and then out through that SWA to a consumer unit at the other end of the pub.

quote:
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Unless my eyes deceive me, are those not a couple of arc-fault breakers in the bottom photo?.
-------------

No they're not. The panel has a 100A disconnector at the bottom of the panel, two 63A three phase MEM MCBs, and two 63A single phase MCBs with RCBO attachments.

There is no RCD protection for the installation at the board, the only RCDs are the ones you see hanging which go off to other distribution boards.

Ian

Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 39
M
Member
They have a different standard for neat and workman like on the other side of the "pond", eh.

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
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pauluk Offline OP
Member
Ian,

Re the DP screwed to the underside of the joist in pic #4, is there really as much outer sheath stripped back from the SWA as appears in the photo?

The cables on the lower left 3ph breaker in the last pic have their insulation stripped back a long way too, so at least there might be a degree of consistency! [Linked Image]

Why the private meter? Is that feeding a separate accommodation block or something like that? I can't quite make it out, but the DP feeding the second SWA cable looks like it might be only single phase.

The hanging consumer unit in pic #2 looks like plug-in Wylex breakers, although I think GE makes compatibles for the Wylex Standard series as well -- The odd 30A (red) C/B might be a GE.

P.S. At least CENELEC would be happy -- He used the new color code! [Linked Image] Looks like he only bought 6181Y in brown though.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 01-05-2006).]

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