Not always copper these days. Quite common to have copper coated steel or aluminium bus bars in the cheaper stuff.
A nightmare to figure out the effective mm2.
It is without cover because I needed a "temporary" 3-phase socket (like for past two years
)
Hope your fire insurance is up to date, that is rough...
Hmm. I was thinking there are some potential electrocution hazards here (surface mount box lid comes off too easily, not all of house is on RCDs) but I'm not sure about fire risks. Perhaps if a conductor gets loose in the box it has has a higher probability of the 2nd surface it touches being uninsulated? Or something else?
Exposed bus bars is a big no-no, they should have a plastic cover over them, which would have been supplied with the box.
Yeah I was surprised by this too, every one I've ever seen has come with at least some plastic. Maybe they bulk ordered it separately to the boxes. I don't think it would have become frail and decayed off neatly.
It is without cover because I needed a "temporary" 3-phase socket (like for past two years )
The contrast between the rough walls and the european styled breaker bodies is beautiful Miyuki
Hope the house is comfy. Reminds me of the wiring I saw in Greece last I was there, some places were mudbrick (apparently it survives earthquakes better than some alternatives).
I can't quite tell, but there seem to be a few different colour wires screwed into the single bar at the top. Neutral and earth bonded arbitrarily there? Not just from the loose wires going to your plugs out the front, from the wall buried conduit too.
It is without cover because I needed a "temporary" 3-phase socket (like for past two years )
The contrast between the rough walls and the european styled breaker bodies is beautiful Miyuki Hope the house is comfy. Reminds me of the wiring I saw in Greece last I was there, some places were mudbrick (apparently it survives earthquakes better than some alternatives).
I can't quite tell, but there seem to be a few different colour wires screwed into the single bar at the top. Neutral and earth bonded arbitrarily there? Not just from the loose wires going to your plugs out the front, from the wall buried conduit too.
Yea good old house, a combination of mudbricks and stones. It is from times when people have no idea what electricity is.
Only that one big cable, that hangs from it, it is for the socket, and in the socket is connected 4 wire cable to a huge air compressor for air tools, so it uses a neutral bar for both green and blue wires as they are also connected together at another end.
And here I was, thinking I needed to clean up my fusebox.
After seeing what it could have been, methinks I'm OK for now
I redid my fusebox earlier this year. When we build the house over 10 years ago I took the box from the scrap heap, together with a few of the breakers. It was actually "good enough" but earlier this year I had to add a bunch of stuff and decided to clean up while I was at it.
Before:
After:
I actually have secundary boxes in the attic and garden house.
Occasionally you see pics like the following. Will be interesting to see if someone from a country that doesn't appear to have standards and regulations posts what their fuse box looks like.
This is outdoor:
I'm not supposed to open that, except for emergency access. Anyway, there's nothing inside but three NH-Fuses.
Basically it looks inside similar to this:
This is indoor:
Two meters (one for the solar panels, the other one for import / export metering), a bunch of breakers and some other stuff. There's two more boxes like this (without the meters, just breakers) in the house, for local distribution purpose.
Note the three phase breaker bottom left, this is a special delayed one. All the breakers and the outside fuse box build a cascade of breakers/fuses that one the weakest will break in case of a fault. One can turn off all power to that panel using the bottom left breaker, handy if the meters need to be replaced or one wants to do some work at the breakers.
This is a rather modern one, one can find really ugly looking ones, especially with no breaker/fuse to de-energize the panel. One doesn't have to upgrade the panel to the latest standards as long as there aren't significant rebuilds done - so the old ones tend to exist for long time.
(excuse the rotated image, but I can't be bothered fighting EXIF)
Our minimalist KISS installation with RCBOs. Still a couple of ways free so we could theoretically add an EV charger, Solar PV, or heat pump (pick two!)...
Neat enough. I'll overlook the Niglon rebrands, but warn that the grounding for the box is likely less than sturdy.
Unfortunately I'm not back in my home in Portugal to show how the 3phase instalation of my Grandparent's house (from 1950s) that still today uses rewirable ceramic fuses, old breakers, Romex type Neutral/Hot wire outside of the wall (with wire nail holders nailed in the walls) with only earth plugs in the kitchen.
Ahh and analogue Meter (that unfortunately is going to be changed to a smart one next month).
And no, no steel wire or coat hanger wire was used in the ceramic fuse. I still have 2 reels of calibrated copper wire (don't ask for the Amps, can't remember) for rewiring those fuses in case of then burning.
Occasionally you see pics like the following. Will be interesting to see if someone from a country that doesn't appear to have standards and regulations posts what their fuse box looks like.
Is that India?
I'd like to hear Photonicinduction's choice of fuse box.
I'd think he'd be one of the best to ask.
Our minimalist KISS installation with RCBOs. Still a couple of ways free so we could theoretically add an EV charger, Solar PV, or heat pump (pick two!)...
Neat enough. I'll overlook the Niglon rebrands, but warn that the grounding for the box is likely less than sturdy.
Yes, the box is grounded by a tapped screw that is then clamped into one of the ways of the PE bar. There is no separate ground wire to the front panel though, just the mechaical fixing screws. Not ideal.
Our minimalist KISS installation with RCBOs. Still a couple of ways free so we could theoretically add an EV charger, Solar PV, or heat pump (pick two!)...
Neat enough. I'll overlook the Niglon rebrands, but warn that the grounding for the box is likely less than sturdy.
Yes, the box is grounded by a tapped screw that is then clamped into one of the ways of the PE bar. There is no separate ground wire to the front panel though, just the mechaical fixing screws.
That screw makes a rather poor contact, speaking from experience.
Probably grounds (err) for a seperate lock nut and toothed washer.
EDIT: Axiom are part of CED. Are Axiom a rebadge of Niglon or are Niglon rebadging Axiom (they look more like a distibutor, maybe they both are)
Exposed bus bars is a big no-no, they should have a plastic cover over them, which would have been supplied with the box
Thats a fairly new idea,can show you plenty of older boards were once the front covers off all the shiney bits are on view,although some manufacturers tried to make it so the cover wouldn't come off unless the main switch was off.
the fire risk comes from the increased oxidation causing bad contacts, which is more likely from having no backplate and no bus bar covers
Large 3 phase busbar chambers seem to work fine without covered bus bars,as do the bars found in large switch panels,the biggest cause of a bad connection is a miss aligns device or someone cant be arsed to get there torque screwdriver/spanner out the van
Probably grounds (err) for a seperate lock nut and toothed washer.
EDIT: Axiom are part of CED. Are Axiom a rebadge of Niglon or are Niglon rebadging Axiom (they look more like a distibutor, maybe they both are)
Niglon's the OEM, or at least the intermediary. Been around for years, fairly recognisable - there's probably 20 names they get sold under in the UK.
Just recently installed a second CU (consumer unit) to support the EVSE, outbuilding power and eventually an upgraded workshop and solar.
(This was done mostly by a qualified electrician friend of mine, as is required in the UK. I did the drilling though; 1930's brick tried its best to beat my 1500W SDS into submission.)
Those must be really old installations.
nope,thers even a piccy of such a beast by wylex earlier in this thread, they were still being installed upto the 90's and still plenty of them in use
I rarely use a torque screwdriver,
In the uk " electrical equipment shall be installed in accordance with the instructions provided by the manufacturer of the equipment" so if they give a torque spec your expected to follow it.
This is mine, which is fairly typical of a modern UK setup, which is usually either dual RCDs, with circuits divided between them, or RCBOs.
The actual box is a 25+ year old dual RCD board, but I recently updated it to RCBOs ( the MCB on the left feeds a secondary board in the workshop, so no RCD as it has RCBOs at the far end)
If it was a brand new install, it would need to be an all-metal box ( this is metal with a plastic front), and have a surge protector, which latest regs have made mandatory in most cases.
... the MCB on the left feeds a secondary board in the workshop, so no RCD as it has RCBOs at the far end...
As long as the output cable has suplimentary protection, ie. armoured cable, with grounded armouring - as you have done.
... the MCB on the left feeds a secondary board in the workshop, so no RCD as it has RCBOs at the far end...
As long as the output cable has suplimentary protection, ie. armoured cable, with grounded armouring - as you have done.
Yes, it's armoured.
If it did have an RCD at the feed end, it should be one with a higher trip current than at the far end to ensure selectivity, i.e. the RCD closest to the load should trip first. Not sure if this is a requirement or a recommendation, as it's mostly an inconvenience thing rather than safety
EDIT: Sadly no it's copper
not steel