Hey George,
Which part of Utopia are you living in? Can we all join you?!
Went back today to fix the problems and couldn't resist taking another snap as I stripped the panel for rewiring:
Aren't all those red wires neatly looped through the holes?!
By the way, the original reason for the callout was a faulty main GFI which would not reset.
Peter,
Yes, on this particular range of C/Bs the handles are color-coded to the current rating: White=6A, gray=10A, blue=16A, yellow=20A, red=32A, orange=40A.
These colors are based on those used on cartridge fuses and rewireable fuse carriers for many years: White=5A, blue=15A, yellow=20A, red=30A. (Note how 5, 15, and 30 have changed to 6, 16, and 32A to line up with common European standards.)
A main GFI can be substituted for the main switch on this panel (in fact this is what I did rather than just replace the separate GFI -- It requires a different busbar assembly though, hence my having to strip the panel right back).
The "consumer unit" above is about 9.5 by 8.5 inches, and as you can see from the busbar it has room for up to 7 branch circuits.
There isn't a lot of room to work in many of these panels. This is one of my major criticisms of many British devices, certainly compared to their much more spacious American equivalents.
Most of our older cable was stranded, but the newer metric sizes are solid in the smaller sizes (and harder to work). I'll post a separate thread on this when I get time.
P.S. Re a thread in the general area about what order breakers are installed, many people here fit the highest rated C/B(s) next to the main and then go in descending order. As you can see from the handle colors, this is not such an installation. (Not that in this case it made much difference, of course!)
[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 07-23-2002).]