Cutout Fuses, Red Links, Distribution and Building Network Operators
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 31 авг 2020
- Two examples of cutout fuse holders, a grey GRP one which is designed for fuses up to 100A, and a red one which has a solid link inside for isolation only.
► Support this channel:
Patreon: / jwflame
PayPal Donations: xo4.uk/?PPP
► Social Media:
Twitter: / jwflame
Facebook: / jwflame
Instagram: / jwflame
► Contact info, sending stuff in: etc.:
xo4.uk/?YTT
► Website - More on this video and many other subjects
Website: flameport.com 
Наука
JW: "Not something you should be pulling out"
Every electrician in the country: *chuckles* ;)
I reserve the right to isolate and make safe any electrical installation.
The answer is you get the client to contact their supplier and request an isolator be fitted.
@@iancooper418 Then wait 10 weeks for them to fit an isolator or arrange a date to pull the fuse, which they then change at last minute. Oh yeah and the new landlord EICR regulations require any C1 or C2's be fixed within 28 days... If they were that worried why would they not fit an isolator in the fuse holder or meter?
@@iancooper418 I did and they said they don't fit isolators, ask an electrician to do it! So in other words, an electrician can pull the main fuse to fit an isolator.
@@iancooper418 And meanwhile in the real world .......see comment by Steve
Thanks for keeping us informed. It's useful to know these things about the main cut-out fuse. Often overlooked.👍
JW: You touched on looped services . They used this on pairs of houses here on a '82 development and the only saving was on number of connections to the mains in the road, not on cable.
What surprises me is there doesn't seem to be any requirement for a warning label to be put on the final/downstream service head. I know of cases where a power shower has been installed in the final property which should be a no-no on a shared 25mm² cable. Fuses all appear to be 80A not the 60A specified in the UKPN documentation I have here.
I have a red fuse in my flat and coincidentally I had UKPN viist this afternoon. 02/09/2020 to check my earthing system and they said as JW has mentioned, that they are not responsible, it is the Building Maintenance Co. which in this case is us, the residents, we manage it ourselves. UKPN said they are responsible for the incoming supply on the ground floor and that is where the actual fuses are located and they are only allowed to be 60 AMPS. I think they said my earthing system is TNS, T Neutral Seperate I think they said, anyway very informative JW and thankyou.
Thanks John excellent video. Very informative and helpful.
Thanks for the video, I enjoyed the info.
Would be more convenient if they had a window to allow the fuse rating to be seen externally.
Agreed.
That actually might be worth suggesting to Henley or Lucy (if they're not the same company now!).. Brilliant suggestion Mike! Maybe in addition, a colour code could be established for BS 88-3 main fuses as for BS1362 plug fuses, say red/blue/green for 60/80/100 etc., meaning the fuse wouldn't have to be positioned just so..
Especially now EICR's are required for rentals on every change of tenancy and every 5 years, the issue is going to be ongoing. Pulling the fuse at every one, even if the DNO 'tolerates it' (as SSE do) is not good for long term reliability of the holder contacts.
Unfortunately the regulations stipulate the the fuse carrier must completely encase the fuse.
@@iancooper418 yes... But transparent plastics exist... Think that's what Mike was saying
@@TheChipmunk2008 I would have to pull the type approval but i am almost certain that it says one piece solid construction or something along those lines. Western Power Distribution now have label's to put on the carriers saying 80A or 100A
I work for a company that instals mains cut outs and msdbs in high risers.
the cut outs in the flats are all red links and the cut out is fused by a 100amp fuse in the msdb , I believe the installation gets sold on to a dno like esp and they own the whole lot including the red link
Sounds like a bno... Building network operator. The dno have control over it in as much as the sealing and so forth but somebody else is responsible for the actual maintenance.
Never knew that about the red fuse holders! Used to live in a high rise social housing blocks and never realised the red colour meant it was a solid link.
Very interesting. Here in Germany we use NH fuses for such purposes.
I have always liked the design of the NH fuse link. Good sturdy terminals to get a 'grip' onto. Like some of our older style bolted fuses. Not sure why the UK went for a 'simple scaled up miniature fuse' design for house service fuses. Even street lamps get a bolted style (6A) fuse here
@@rob3125 yes, most countries install electrical systems according to the EN standard, which is mainly written by the VDE guys. But the UK does also things like that and additionally other countries like France have there own types of fuses or other special stuff.
Does the customer own the NH fuse in Germany? Here in North America, we just have a big circuit breaker (such as 200A) in the same panel that feeds the smaller ones below. The customer normally owns everything after the power meter.
A separate isolator should be fitted for the user as standard just in case work needs to be carried out ie:- new consumer unit
+John Ward
Given the BNO situation you speak of -- I question the situation with BNOs and DNOs and the ESQCR!.
If a DNO installed building cabling, if I'm not mistaken it will tend to have PEN conductors -- i.e. Single-Phase Coaxial cables (or, maybe, 3-phase with PEN conductor to distribution boxes on the floors, then going out to signle-phase coaxes again).
The ESQCR certainly says that a consumers' installation may not combine N-E, which then raises the question, what is a 'consumer' and what happens when DNOBNO been ''forgotten'' and so-on -- do you then have 'illegal' internal building wiring?.
❤well designed 👌
How often does the tails to the distribution box fail as the distribution box has a cut out to isolate incoming power to the fuses?
Also keep in mind that the second generation Smart Meters have a 3 minute "last gasp" function on them and if the power goes out, they send a report that is cross referenced with the DNO data base to check if there is a power cut in the area.
Another reason there should've been an isolator in the smart meter specs.
My friend : flips a coin and says heads or tails.
Me : the wiring from the incoming fuse to the meter.
What?
@@johanea ah, now I see why you left that previous comment. Unable to retain info?
Hi liked your video above, I’m looking at getting into electric metering course for my Revenue Protection job. What’s then best book to learn about cutouts/fuses/meters etc? Would be able to help recommend. Just wanna learn the working on layouts etc
In Australia they used to use similar on each phase before the meter. They also had tamper seals through each loop which had to be broken to remove them, I note yours also has them. The reason for the tamper seals being because they are before the meter and you could simply tap in to the load side of the fuse for free electricity.
you'd be amazed the amount of main fuses I found had a rusty old nail inside whilst working on Street furniture
ive seen a silver plated spoon bent and shaped to fit ensuring heavy contact
But the star of the show was missing - the fuse itself!
Still, very interesting. I have the same type in my house.
I feel JW will cover this very soon
@@Xclub40X If he does, JOHN, I have a blown 80 amp main fuse if you want me to mail it to you. (not our fault... someone thought a 32 amp rated RCD was an RCBO, and ... the wiring melted then shorted). DNO guy left the dud with me after i asked.
Also a burned out carrier, different job, same story... might be worth it for demonstrating the effects of loose connections....
It refused to appear in the making of this programme.
I have
already done
a video on these,
but the one I show is a.......
...... Series 5 type (in black and made by AEI) and I also 'touch' on the Series 7 types you show here by showing a fuse carrier. I even have a functioning 60A fuse (BS88) made by BRUSH.
Here we go:
ruclips.net/video/dmE79gYlfzI/видео.html
I don't have one of those 'red' links. I used to have one of those, but I don't know what happened to it. I was actually quite surprised when I opened it to find in there, what looked like a lump of scaffold pole!! :D
There we are. :D
Thanxx for showing,
-Wayne's Electrical.
_3rd September 2020, 21.05_
what metal was the contacts inside that you described as "just metal" thanks , and it is made of glass fiber , not asbestos is it ?
I've seen an installation where the incoming cut-out (60A, with TNC-S earthing) and meter were enclosed in a sealed transparent case, and there was a second unsealed (black) fuse holder on the load side of the meter. Presumably this is instead of an isolator, but massively more dangerous to actually use.
I have heard of that in the past typically that is where there has been problems with abstraction
......The problem would be
someone who doesn't know
what they are doing, yanking
that "after-meter" link while......
.....there is a reasonable load going through it. There would be quite a flash-bang!
Fuse carriers ARE NOT suitable for switching a load. As such, the supply must be stopped at the consumer unit before fuse links are pulled.
-Wayne's Electrical.
_3rd September 2020, 21.24_
@@WaynesElectrical That's incorrect, the fuses are more that adequate to take the load without any problem. the idea behind switching off the DB is an old hang over from the even older style of re-wireble fuses which were a lot more liable to break and made of metal.
They are not meant to be used for switching in the sense of daily removal etc but they could be fitted then not touched again for over 10 years.
The loads are not high enough to cause a problem.
Which DNO’s allow please John? I’m with either Manweb (horrifically difficult to deal with) or WPD (Western Power)
Just a random but interesting note: I have three of the older black fuses.. all 100 amp apparently by what the fuses say.. but the interesting part is because they were actually from a siren control panel for an air raid siren
I find that kind of historical 'ephemera' fascinating. When our local police station closed, I thought of 'urbexing' the building for evidence of the old siren controls and WB900 equipment. (and then setting about obtaining it legally!).
Sod's law denotes it's one of the few police stations that's gonna be refurbished and re-opened lol
keeping an eye on the place, I have the relevent cards to let me on a construction site so... maybe the refurb guys will allow a geek to save something from a skip :)
@@TheChipmunk2008 indeed it is quite quite fascinating. and wow i see ?.. though i do suppose it makes sence with the old police stations.. many had WB1400 CCPs in them. WB900 ?? which one was that ? though good luck and i hope you find some siren controls and such and manage to get them :) (legally is best haha) and well.. i do hope you find something so best of luck and hope those cards work out for haha :) and well.. thats always great!!.. iv saved a few things myself already although a lot is bought
@@matthewwalker8197 Sorry I misspoke. I'm mainly a telecomms geek. 1400 was the one I meant.
WB900 is the famed (infamed?) 1+1 carrier system the GPO used instead of installing new wiring to an estate. (think early 70s DACS).
infamed as in every phone you liked in the 80s was NOT APPROVED FOR USE ON A 1+1 CARRIER SYSTEM lol
101% of them would have actually worked but nobody had bothered to test them for that scenario so the manufacturer had a choice of (a) pay for another entire set of tests at the huge price you already paid) or (b) exclude a few thousand potential customers nationwide
I just popped down to SSE at bourne valley . They Took my Niceic number and gave me some red seal s to put on the fuse when replaced . Is this the procedure you talking about John ?
Yes, that's the procedure for SSE - however other network operators have different procedures, and some don't allow fuse removals at all.
Now if only there was some way to safely isolate the supply after the meter so electricians can work safely and not have to touch the DNO fuse, maybe an isolator on the meter, possibly put in when they swap our dumb meters for these new fangled things...
Or is that too easy???
No dummy plugs to permit lockout? I was expecting the red one to be a lockout, with providing for a padlock had to block its removal.
There are shields available to cover the live exposed parts, such as www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/4392222-30mm-x-34mm-x-27mm-fuse-cut-out-universal-shroud
but those are only intended for short term use while someone is working there. Generally if the supply is to be isolated for any length of time, it's done by removing the outgoing wires from the cutout and inserting blanking plugs in the holes where the wires were, then replacing the fuse carrier.
@@jwflame In the US there would be one or more LOTO locks to prevent someone from re-energizing the circuit while someone is working on it. I suppose the electrician working on it could pocket the fuse block while working on the system.
It's interesting how the health & safety authorities focus on different things in different countries. Perhaps the US has a higher concentration of Bozo's than the UK. 🤡🤡🤡🤡
I had a new 3 phase service installed five years ago. The fuses are BS1361, and the cutouts have labels stating “100 amp fuse fitted”. When did they change to BS88? When I was in the trade a long time ago, the supply authorities stated the p.s.c. when a new service was installed. The figure given was almost always 16Ka. In practice the measured p.s.c. at the origin was always considerably less: the quoted figure would have been the value at the transformer terminals.
I have
already done
a video on these,
but the one I show is a.......
...... Series 5 type (in black and made by AEI) and I also 'touch' on the Series 7 types shown here by showing a fuse carrier. I even have a functioning 60A fuse (BS88) made by BRUSH.
Here we go:
ruclips.net/video/dmE79gYlfzI/видео.html
I don't have one of those 'red' links. I used to have one of those, but I don't know what happened to it. I was actually quite surprised when I opened it to find in there, what looked like a lump of scaffold pole!! :D
What I think about BS88 and BS 1361:
I have reason to believe that it might be the other way around to what John said, as the BRUSH fuse I have says BS88 on it and looks rather old and tatty and very well worn (like as if it's been rolling around in someone's toolbox for a few years or even in their van!!) and the thing here is, LAWSON are selling BS 1361 cartridges to this very day (not BS88)
Just to possibly verify this, the older Series 5 used to say BS88 on them, and the newer Series 7 (which is the ones shown in this vid) say BS 1361 on them.
There juuuuuuust might be a possibility that BS 1361 is the newer standard for these cartridges.
ALSO: Those cartridges are available in two different physical sizes. I believe they are the same length, but one is smaller in diameter and I believe that the maximum rating of the smaller-diameter ones is 60A.
Both diameters are made to BS 1361.
There we are. :D
-Wayne's Electrical.
_3rd September 2020, 21.38_
Substation fuses are BS88 standard. The 16kA PSC you would've been quoted is the maximum design limit for the LV network for single-phase, keeping in mind that the *prevailing* PSC (or fault level, if you prefer) can change without reference to the customer or their agent, simply due to network switching either at LV or HV. I can see the sense in this but it can't be very helpful to designers of installations that find the single-phase PSC is less than 10% of the network design limit.
You are quite right that the measured PSC is usually well below the maximum design limit. In the same way, the maximum design limit for the 3-phase symmetrical fault level at a substation LV busbar is 25MVA, the practical limit, even for a single 11/0.433kV 1000kVA transformer sitting right at the local primary substation is around 18MVA at the LV busbar. Some LV networks, such as those in parts of SP Manweb have multiple interconnections between secondary transformers as a consequence of the unit protection of the associated HV network. Interconnected transformers will, of course, increase the PSC.
Most LV networks, however, will supply customers from only one secondary transformer at a time with a relatively modest PSC at the point of supply - but I still wouldn't like to be nearby when a flash-over occurs :o)
Craig Watson Thanks for your very informative reply.
As an employee of a DNO the PPE required to remove a main fuse is full AFR clothing rubber gloves and a full face visor so I'd be surprised at many DNO's allowing electricians to pull the fuse themselves
Pulling a DNO fuse that isn't under load isn't exactly rocket surgery. A Loaded one however is a different matter...
SSE do allow fuse pulls. They even publish a procedure and provide seals.
Oxfordshire DNO allow register electrician to pull the fuse.
Actually if you do short out the incoming side you get a short pop, a burned masonry drill bit and a £250 bill for replacing the cable and blacking out half of Dereham in Norfolk....
Hi John
Can you make a video showing how the connection terminals and busbars inside a ryefield board and how it is wired up to various dwellings.
Yesterday I got reminded as to why a switch shouldn't be relied upon (fortunately nothing bad happened)
We have an extension lead which quite a few devices are plugged into, the sockets on the extension lead are individually switched, and have a red light at the top of the switch to indicate when it is on, and one or two of the switches on that extension lead are a bit dodgy, and yesterday when I went to turn off one of the devices plugged into that extension lead, the switch didn't click when flipped to off, and the red indicator remained lit, it took a few tries to get it to turn off
So you sound like someone who habitually uses shitty kit...........
Hi i need to run power from my house to my workshop winch is located at the bottom of my garden. Unfortunately there is no isolation switch between metre and consumer in the property. Would the DNO be the correct people to install the isolator? So my electrician can work on the consumer board. Or does the DNO just remove main supply fuse?
The DNO only cover items before the meter. Isolators are normally installed by your electricity supplier, as it's after the meter and connects to the meter.
@@jwflame thank you
Hi... love your vids like this - why wouldnt you just use a real fuse instead of the red thing? surely worst that can happen is extra protection against the main fuse not blowing when it should?
Cost and discrimination - the fuse is trusted to work, but put two identical in series and you've no idea which one will open, which makes for wasted time, which is yet more money.
DNO's have a legal responsibility in respect of protecting the incoming supply from interference hence why the Red tape
What size fuses do they typically offer on 3 phase supplies?
80A upwards.
A few days ago my microwave started heating very slowly, around 5 times. When I measured voltage in the socket it showed 185 to 210 V max. I then measured the voltage on the cables between this main fuse box and the meter, and found that the voltage there was the same (185, 190, 200 V). I don't want to temper with the cables leading to this fuse and cannot measure the voltage before this fuse. My question is: Can this fuse b in any way responsible for such a low voltage? Or is it just some fault on the line or substation somewhere? The tester I used is good and at my work shows 238-240 volts. Thank you.
Fault with the supply, a fuse cannot change voltage.
@@jwflame That is what I thought. I phoned ukpn and reported. They said that someone else had also reported low voltage in the area. Thank you very much.
Every electrician pulls the main fuse out to safely replace the consumer unit. If the tails need replacing if they have loosened up at the meter that seal gets cut aswell. I'm not about to leave a property with loose or dangerous supply just because a DNO wants to see their arse. I've never had a problem with our local DNO infact I've always found them to be very quick acting to either replace seals or fix faults. One occasion they dug the road up till 3am and on the other I got them out over voltage drop and instability. A fuse was found to be blown in the main substation feeding the ring to the estate putting my client on the end. Saying that I've found the neighbouring DNO to be incompetent arseholes.
When did you become Big Clive? Also, did you do the voice over for any RAF training videos?
Red ones can be burgundy in some cases.
Especially if they're Pinot Noir.
I have heard stories of the older black (bakelite?) housings developing tracking issues and getting hot. Anyone have any experience of this?
Maybe a damp / condensation problem ? Only time we've had a damp issue under the stairs was when some home made wine decided to leave the bottle in a bit of a hurry.
Also liable to disintegrate in your hand while trying to remove them
How does a qualified electrician change the consumer unit during a rewire. Can he remove the fuse or does he have to contact the electric supplier ? Thanks
Some network operators allow certain people to remove the fuse. Others do not, in which case having them install a separate isolator is one option.
@@jwflame thanks
@@fredhunter3950 To elaborate, it's a legally grey area these days. It used to be 'the Board's stuff was theirs, you do not touch. Call them and they'll come out and disconnect for you', usually quite soon.
Now you may have to wait weeks, nobody knows quite who's jurisdiction it is anymore. For example, had a call 'arcing noises coming from main cable area' a few weeks ago. I confirmed there was definitely a loud crackling fizzing coming from the service head. Being and old PILC cable I slammed the door shut and said 'call SSE please' to my colleague. They were there in minutes, but couldn't LEGALLY rectify the entirety of the problem, which was that the 'smart meter' fitter had apparently forgotten his screwdriver,. The SSE chap (they're our DNO) removed the fuse for us, thus powering it all down, but he wasn't ALLOWED (?!) to touch the meter terminals, he and we had to hang around for another 45 minutes for british gas to send someone round to do the screws up. Yes, gas doing electricity... the world's gone MAD
My own personal experience of this was when I asked for the fusebox to be replaced with an RCB/MCD in the house I live in. At the time I didn’t own the house but had come back for a second viewing and the electrician was there on behalf of the vendor. He had pulled the main fuse, and the supply to the house next door, (two meters sharing the same main fuse). It might cause a bit of stir if someone did that in England but a more blasé attitude to such things is normal in South Wales.
More recently the tenant of the house next door agreed to have a smart (farce) meter installed. The installer knocked on my door and asked to turn off my fuse box before pulling the fuse again. Somehow the landlord of the property had made an arrangement so that an electrician arrived at exactly the same time to upgrade her fusebox with a new RCB/MCB unit, presumably so that his electrician did not need to ask to disconnect the shared supply.
@@andrewschannel3635 im an engineer for E.on energy company and the rules are...the DNO bring in the supply and then energy company engineers install the cables and meters and isloators etc up to the consumer unit. then its private electricians who come along and install fuseboards and appliances etc. Only myself (engineers) and the DNO are aloud to work on/remove the main fuse. £5000 fine if caught tampering with the seals. the cut out seals also have to be sealed with personal numbered pliers, that only we are aloud to have. but of course electricians just crack on otherwise nothing would ever get changed haha
Oxfordshire, DNO is happy for register electrician to remove the fuse.
When u call them they are always ok.
How many cutouts have their seals missing when you get to a job?
I don't keep exact records of that, Your Honour.
I've not yet seen an older-syle black service head that has both sets of tabs for the seals intact.
@@Graham_Langley Wanna photo of ours then ? By both sets, what do you mean - both ends of the fuse ?
@@millomweb Yes - the ones on the fuse carrier. The tabs/ears on the service head are much beefier.
@@Graham_Langley There is a position at both ends of the carrier but only one needs to be sealed as that will have to be broken to remove the fuse. So I think it's your misinterpretation - one seal is enough to prove it is sealed - and that's all that's required.
Interesting question: you mention not to just trust the rating on the external label as thats the max. But you can't check actual fuse without breaking seal and opening, but by and large, you aren't allowed to break the seal...... how does that work?!?! I wouldn't think an EICR is a valid reason to break the seal even for DNOs that allow specific people to do so?
There's a thing on the form that says 'by enquiry'. You're meant to phone the DNO, and ask. And they magically have the records available.
In reality, a lot of times the seal is missing anyway (in which case we pull it, have a look, re-seal, and note that it was missing), or if it's not there... we do a LIM
Edit: in certain areas of the town we work in, SSE have kindly been putting printed labels on saying '60A fuse fitted' or '80A fuse fitted' ... this helps IMMENSELY on an EICR, but its very rare except in certain streets for some reason? (maybe overloaded local substation?)
The answer is the DNO should either label them accurately or provide (easy!) access to a database containing the information. Getting them to take any responsibility for that is likely to be difficult, however.
@@Monkeh616 Is it the DTI we're supposed to report to when a DNO fails to meet ESQCR requirements? Western Power have told me they don't generally have records of their earthing arrangements for dwellings in my area of the West Midlands.
Why don't they use a switch instead of the red one? Is it purely cost?
I think the idea is that once removed, you keep it with you to be sure of isolation. A switch could be turned on again by someone.
@@stuartajc8141 Not if it can be locked out like mcbs. Also, if someone there could flip the switch, they could also stick their finger into the live contact.
dalriada842 some electricians remove the fuse from the carrier, close the carrier up again then put that back in the slot for it - still isolates the supply and stops people sticking fingers in places that shouldn’t
Yes its purely down to costs.
@@David-js4wd What's expensive about a 60A MCB? You can get them for as little as £1.50.
The red and white carriers are physically interchangeable. So, the red carrier is actually a very high capacity fuse.
Evil grin.
Putting the red carrier downstream of a 60A fuse is surely a deviation from regulation 536.4.
@Blazin Redeye Black was old style.
@Blazin Redeye Yes, what @bdf2718 said. The old style was a bakelite STYLE material, good insulator when new, but prone to stress fractures if mistreated. Often you find the sealing 'eye' broken and a 'tampering is illegal' tamper evident seal fitted instead. The grey ones are glass fibre reinforced resin of some kind, and MUCH less prone to cracking. Although as I've discovered, when used in outdoor meter cabinets with broken doors (they're everywhere) UV and moisture can do a number on them.
I really do appreciate my old house's wiring. It's blown 'woodworm' holes in the metal caps on light bulbs and recently the dishwasher went bang - enough to be heard upstairs plus make the lights dim - yet the house wiring copes with all of this - and even the dishwasher was fine afterwards. It was only a bit of liquid linking L to E that got vaporised - no copper was harmed in the process.
@Blazin Redeye I have
already done
a video on these,
but the one I show is a.......
...... Series 5 type (in black and made by AEI) and I also 'touch' on the Series 7 types you show here by showing a fuse carrier. I even have a functioning 60A fuse (BS88) made by BRUSH.
Here we go:
ruclips.net/video/dmE79gYlfzI/видео.html
I don't have one of those 'red' links. I used to have one of those, but I don't know what happened to it. I was actually quite surprised when I opened it to find in there, what looked like a lump of scaffold pole!! :D
There we are. :D
-Wayne's Electrical.
_3rd September 2020, 21.12_
Why not using mccb instead of cut out
inside the fuses is just sand and a thin silver plated copper odd shaped looking wire like lots of triangles in a line >>>>>
I've been on a short fuse lately.
I'm assuming I should cutout whatever is causing that.
Maybe is just a phase you're going through?
@@tomroland2315 it all started from not being able to find the meter.
Actually now I'm telling -tales- tails.
I hate it when people say "because it's dangerous" and leave it at that. People are going to remove these whether you tell them to or not, so as a content creator you should explain why is it dangerous? I've removed multiple of these and never had a problem. Wear rated protective electrical gloves and there's no chance of flashover shock. The danger is flashover, the electric will jump an air gap to your fingers or anything conductive. Also wear boots that are rated for electricians (they look like yellow wellingtons), and an electricians mat (thick rubber mat). Remove the fuse gently, and quickly, keeping the fuse level. Don't bend or twist it. Use a fuse shield to protect the socket, that's 250V live and you don't want anything accidentally touching those fuse pins. When putting the fuse back it, hold it level, gently place it into the holder and push with a little force. Job done. If the fuse is damaged, don't touch it! If the holder is damaged don't touch it! I only ever remove a fuse when I work on the electrics. I've had instances where shutting the fuse box off wasn't enough so I never trust switching off at the fuse. With that said I've never had a flashover occur.
An installation like this i.postimg.cc/vDZLdYtN/F92-B1120-589-B-48-D0-9806-B735-E2-A527-B7.jpg seems a better idea. A fused cut-out for protection and isolation by the DNO (or for the person changing the meter) and an isolation switch for the electrician working on the building owners wiring/consumer unit.
i bet the politician involved in the deal for this infrastructure to be installed in the interest of safety had a nice pension boosting cut in the ol brown envelope!
I find myself curious what they make the solid link from. It looks like aluminium.
Tinned copper
@@mankybub That would make sense, it's just hard to tell from a picture.
Clearly something is not working in the UK if you constantly have to call out the DNO. This is why there is a need for isolation switches more generally. You would not need to break seals as an electrician or need to contact the DNO when working on the board. This is quite ridiculous of course. In USA now the latest NEC2020 recommends isolation switches to be placed outside of the property. This would allow emergency services (fire) to shutdown power before entering a burning building.
This would allow malicious shitebags to shutdown power, too.
Happy Halloween.
bdf2718 true but they can be locked to avoid that problem - the fire dept will have bolt cutters to cut the lock. Of course that does not preclude someone coming to do that anyway but in that situation they are criminally trespassing and damaging property and you can hardly stop anyone damaging your home regardless. Suffice to say I have had the shutoff switches for over 6 months no problem of that so far - it helps that they are not visible to the street. I believe Many gas meters and Henley blocks exist outside in the UK so same problem there as well. Presumably they were built outside in many new developments for just those emergency responder reasons? I think ultimately it’s just not that interesting to many people other than those that need to know.
@@mathman0101 One of my neighbors has had her gas supply shut off a couple of times. No lock.
bdf2718 oh dear not great.
You got to remember, Domestic electrical in the UK is the equivalent to turning up to a F1 race in Robin reliant. Our electrical standards albeit Domestic is to a very high standard. Rule of thumb don’t judge UK standards on Domestic. Best to ignore it.
100A the bastards replaced mine with 60A because the smart meter is shit!
he mostly knows some things - but what is the purpose of this video anyway?
Fiddling with the property of others does not necessarily or even probably constitute a criminal offence.
I've wondered if there was a specific offence associated with unauthorised work on the DNO fuse. Are they just saying it could be standard Criminal Damage? Is there an offence committed when just interfering with someone else's property?
westinthewest - but in theory, if you have to cut or break any seals, that would be damage. Deliberately damaging property could get you into trouble.
It is a "criminal" offence to remove a main cut out fuse, and tap into the supply whilst bypassing the meter. "Abstraction" of electricity is what they are really trying to eliminate, plus it's god damned dangerous if your an unqualified numpty.
@@muzikman2008 Thanks for your incoherent ramble.
@@westinthewest Thanks for listening ha ha :-D
I thought I’m in hell for a moment.
Then I realised it is a John Ward video.
Most boring videos on this planet.
Moving on.
Then why leave a comment at all?
Well roll on by, no one misses you...