British Farm Wiring - ECN Electrical Forums

Electrical systems on farms often seem to be in a poor, neglected condition. Thanks to SimonUK for submitting the following:

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I've a couple of pics of a 3 phase panel thats now open to the elements after a storm took the roof of a shed.

Heres the pics of the three phase socket and isolator that are in everyday use at the farm. The switch at the top is for the ancient diesel pump which is in shillings and pence so you can guess how old it is. The 3-phase plug is for the mig welder which is used nearly every day. The 3-pin plug is for the pressure washer and yes all the electrics get soaked every time its used. The juice comes in from the top and the cable exiting at the bottom goes under three feet of concrete for 50 feet to the slatted house.

I'm starting to work my way round the farm sorting out all the problems. I'm doing it for free as the farmer doesn't take anything off me for storage.

The list of defects is too large to type out here but just to give you an idea of what I'm up against I'll take pics of the main distribution panel tomorrow. You will see fuses that have been pulled for years because they "keep blowing" as soon as you fit them.

Notes for the benefit of non-UK readers:

An item priced in shillings and pence will be pre-1971.

The 3-phase supply here will be our standard 4-wire wye system, 240/415V.

The switch-fuse unit pictured here is a very common type from a company called MEM (Midland Electrical Manufacturing). There are many still in service, although not usually quite so rusty as this one! -Paul.

[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 11-13-2004).]

More pics from Simon:

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In the first cupboard you can see where the power comes in. not a place to be keeping flammable liquids and yes it is kero that was used to clean something in the milk carton.

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In the second cupboard you can see the "missing" fuses that keep blowing.

There's a lot of detail to see in that last photo:
Click here for a larger version

What can be said except "What a mess!" ? [Linked Image]

Unfortunately, this sort of spaghetti and multiple boxes is all too common in old places which have never been fully rewired.

You can see three of the old-style side-handle boxes, the remainder being the typical 1950s/60s type. The tell-tale green/yellow cable indicates that something has been changed in more recent years though.

Whoever worked on this place really seemed to like MEM switchgear, although I'm not quite sure how that GEC box snuck in! [Linked Image]

Paul — That's a very nice 'hi-res' linked picture. I think everyone here will likely agree that messy/added-to/piggy-backed wiring is an international {if not intergalactic} problem.

Is that a spool of (in)famous fuse wire at 6 o’clock? [Linked Image from 6l6.net]

Just wait till you see the rest of the photo's. The hairs on the back of your neck will stand up.

I took 72 today before the batteries in the camera gave up the ghost.

The camera I have is a 5 megapixel and I have no idea how to down scale the photo's yet so poor paul is getting tied up with large emails due to my ignorance.

Simon.

Simon,
If you'd like you can send all or part of them to me, and I'll be happy to stick them up. (Well, maybe not all 72)..S
Thanks Paul

Electure, thank you very much for the offer. i'll start sending tomorrow.

I've sent you an email with one of the scariest photo's I've already sent Paul.

There's another pic featuring a blowtorch!!!!. so stay tuned.

Simon.

Oooooopppps, forgot. It's a roll of 60/40 solder at six oclock, which is probably something to do with the blowtorch which will be posted tomorrow.

Anyone know the Amp rating of a piece of 60/40 solder wire? [Linked Image]

Seriously, considering that stuff is mostly lead....it would probably make for excellent fuse wire. Don't try this at home. [Linked Image]

I'm not so sure someone hasn't tried it . I haven't actually climbed up yet to look in the bottom of the cupboard.

Part of the reason for the missing fuses. According to Simon's photo naming, this is in the "byre." (That's a cow-shed to the rest of us outside of Scotland! [Linked Image]

Should have mentioned before that this is north of the border.)

[Linked Image]

Here's the inside of the isolator shown in the first photo (note the non-standard color coding in places):
[Linked Image]

Back to Simon's own description:

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These are all in the porch where the first 3 pics of the "consumer unit cupboards" are.

On top of the genny/mains changeover is a charged gas blowtorch

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Yes that is a plastic bottle full of two stroke next to the battery charger and yes the leads are in a bad way and yes the charger is very regularly used.

HMMMMM!!!! Hydrogen gas from batteries plus petrol fumes plus sparks from dodgy charger.

Simon has literally dozens of pictures from this place, and from the ones I've seen so far it's the typical rambling old farm. I've seen plenty of similar installations on the English side of the border.

Here are just a few more pics for now.

More rusty old MEM switchgear in the milking parlor:
[Linked Image]

A washing line being used as a support for a lighting cable:
[Linked Image]

One of the old diesel pumps, with the price indicator still in shillings and pence:
[Linked Image]

Hey Simon, do the Weights & Measures people know he's still got a pump calibrated in gallons? [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 11-15-2004).]

Great pics!.
I'd agree in saying that this installation is a real mess, from start to finish.
Regarding the Metal-Clad Switch gear being used outside, I was always under the impression that, this gear was not meant to be used without some sort of weather protection over it?, as there are no seals around the inside of the cover.
Hmmm,
It's been a while since I've seen one of them single circuit Switch-Fuse units still in use, like the one supplying the Boiler in pic No.5.
Sven,

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Anyone know the Amp rating of a piece of 60/40 solder wire?

You could probably just about rate Solder as "Close-Protection", it melts a lot quicker than Tinned Copper Wire. [Linked Image]

In the 3rd pic from the bottom, I see a Reyrolle socket, is this still being used?.
We banned the use of these here in 2000.

just had to go up and give it a quick check.

Everything is dead except the byre, the 3 phase panel and of course the house and garage and generator house.

I will check every last circuit just to be on the safe side as I've found more circuits that nobody knew about.

It will be a long slow process updating everything as I'm only doing it in my free time and the farmer himself is in no hurry to modernise.

Simon.

Simon: So after you're done, are you going to add all those relics to your collection? [Linked Image]

What's a Reyrolle socket?