ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Violation Photo Forum Temporary service, general-contractor style (UK)

This is from a nearby house which has been almost completely demolished and is now being rebuilt. The builder demo'd around the existing service cable and just moved the existing board with PoCo fuse, meter, and distribution panel to this temporary location, where the board now appears to be wedged between a couple of posts and a pile of bricks:

Perhaps he will just put it back, and build the new house around it!

Hi Paul,
I don't like the look of this at all.
You would sort of hope that the supply to that equipment had been removed before the relocation took place, it's hard to say by looking at the pics, whether this in fact the case.
Is that the telecoms box sitting in amongst the grass there?.
One thing I have learned is that these tend to soak up moisture like a sponge.
I would hope that this set-up is merely temporary and relatively short-lived, because judging by the wall behind the alkathene sheeting, there seems to be a bit of a rising damp problem, not the sort of thing you want to mix with electrical equipment.

Dig that home made NEMA 3 cover

This looks like a self-build operation to me. The 'scaffolding' [ or is it an ancient tower ] looks like it ought to be in a museum, and that wooden ladder is an accident on hold. It's far too neat and tidy for a pro building site. Where are the Ypres-style trenches, the piles of discarded expensive materials, timber, broken wheelbarrows, empty cement bags and half-bricks?

Har! Har! Don't you just love the 'earth' rod- looks like an old 'pram axle hammered into the ground!

Mike, in England it's what we call 'falling damp', aka rain!

O.K., the full story.....

This is the local one-man builder outfit. The house in question is only about 100 yards from me, so I've seen the new building going up over the last few months. He asked me to "pop along" and have a look at this as he didn't know what to do next.

That old meter board was simply moved live to its present location as the old pre-fab was demolished, hence the service drop just hanging loose from the pole. It's not attached to the wooden fence (with rising or "falling" damp!) but seems to be just wedged between two posts on each side, with the consumer unit (white distribution panel at the bottom) holding it up on the bricks. Bearing in mind that the old pre-fab had been demolished and the new extended foundations laid last winter, I assume that this "temporary" service has been like this since at least the beginning of the year.

He's built one of our standard new recessed meter cabinets into the front side wall (just off to the side of the ladder), and run two PVC pipes up inside the cavity to the attic space. He wanted to know what to do next about getting the meter and switchgear into the new cabinet.

Well......

And yes, the white box just about hanging under the stretchy cord in the first pic is the telephone master jack/network interface from inside the old building.