Irish distribution boards all have a main switch and main fuse on the board itself. This has been standard practice going right back to the early days.

This was originally a diazed fuse, now more commonly a minized switch-fuse unit that looks like this:

[Linked Image from detech-shop.de]

[Linked Image from automation.siemens.com]

They carry a standard neozed fuse [Linked Image from automation.siemens.com]

There's also a sealed double-pole switch after the meter on more modern installations. (Sealed by the contractor after certification of the system)

The logic being, that on a 230/400V distribution system the end users couldn't realistically expect fault protection from the network side. It would take a pretty serious distribution system fault for the over current protection on a pad mounted transformer to kick in.



Last edited by pauluk; 07/06/07 04:45 AM. Reason: Fixed image link