I've always found it interesting that other places in the world use plastic electrical panels for buildings. In North America it's pretty much always metal panels unless you're dealing with AC panels on vehicles like RVs or boats. Also NA AC panels tend to be much larger overall with 200A 2 Phase typically having 30 to 48 breaker slots, so everything pretty much every major appliance and room has its own dedicated breaker.
Oh god, I worried this would happen when you mix Electricians and RUclips. Fuseboard unboxing and review videos. Next you'll be getting the most blinged-out fuseboards from sketchy Chinese brands with Bluetooth, USB charger ports, and RGB lighting.
Another great vid Tom and Dave, although Tom and Tom makes you a TT system, down to earth! (I'm here all week). Would have liked to have seen the inside of the board when finished, there seemed to be a lot more MCBs installed than fuses in the original and just wondered what they were all for in the end or do you leave unused ones in as the boards sometimes come populated. Keep it up guys
Hi Thomas, my son works for MK here in North Wales, the MCB's and RCD's are imported from China, they are retested here, they find a large amount of failures i.e. wrong tripping currents etc. He tells me there is a skip full of failures to go to the crusher!!
Hi that's the problem, they are tested in China, but obliviously not up to MK standard. I would imagine China has been told about it, I will ask my son when I see him..
Product snobbery. What the hell is wrong with BG? If, like tom you use them and they work as they are supposed to, then why the hell not use them! Surprised no one has made a comment that tom should be using a megger MFT to do the testing rather than his metrel! DOES IT DO THE JOB?
Hi Tom, having been a sparkie for 30 years, i enjoy watching your vlogs just to see how other people work and the equipment they use, I must admit, you get some very stupid question/comments/queries, what worries me is, are the questions from Jack of all master of none diy specialists that are looking to take on an electrical job that their not qualified to do, anyway keep it up buddy 👍🏼
''Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one'', which refers to a person who is not the best at all skills, but is better than someone who is only a master of one. What may seem as a daft question to you, may be invaluable to those wishing to learn.
Great works from Thomas, Tom and Dave. :-) Lots of good stuff in this video. Bit worried about Tom/Dave falling off that ladder though. Good job it wasn't a long drop...
Would’ve favoured if “Dave Dave ,Tom ” secured the SWA to the concrete gravel boards, rather to the bottom of the fence panels!- replacing a damage fence panel will be fun!!!
Those boards aren't very thick though, haven't fixed to a gravel board before though so can't say for definite but wouldn't you blast straight through?
Tony Davison being an ex fencing contractor, changing a panel wouldn’t be a problem we’d of just ripped the cable off dropped a new panel in and job done.
I agree working in live boards happens every day, especially in the big orange commercial switchboards because if you isolate the whole board you will isolate parts of the building were people are using computers or servers. i'm an apprentice in Australia and my boss dose it all the time.
Thank you for talking sense re working on live boards, it’s isn’t always possible to kill a whole board especially in a commercial / industrial environment that’s the main reason that we use insulated tools
Worked on a massive hospital contract , and there site rules are all fuse boards are non compliant to ip2x so we weren’t allowed to remove any covers at all . So frustrating , all electricians are competent people (well most of us ) interesting to know how people do live testing on fuseboards ?
Had an MK fuseboard (looks like the same model) last year. Very impressed, and much better than the wood and bakelite board there was before. Had a chint sub-board added yesterday and its also good. I think they are much of a muchness.
Hi Tom, The reason i like the MK boards is because you can have circuits not RCD protected, then you can have it separate with an rcbo, the BG boards you can't. I fit the BG boards when I need right hand main switch config. I like the rigidity of BG & I like the cut outs because I often find i cut my own holes to get the cables in then fire sealant the hole up.
i use curve boards sold by denmans..never had a problem, loads of room even with RCBO's dont like MK accessories or consumer units, a good name years ago, but not now.
sparkey1958 strange for me because on commercial jobs I've been on we have mostly used mk accessories and most jobs always use mk products, for me I prefer them grid switches spurs sockets etc
I completely agree with you, sometimes live boards have to be worked on, and the fact that they are live can be most helpful. Lighting and relamping is often best done live. Yes you do have to have your wits about you and think clearly, but it is part of the job.
Hi there, I'm not an electrician myself but have worked with factory electrical installers and maintenance guys in the past so I do know my stuff, The MK CU looks a reasonable quality unit, although my moan is with the quality of The modern (Chinese made) MK wiring accessories, compared to the 'Logic' ranges (made in the UK) they were producing 15 or 20 years ago. These older ones were much more solid and had much larger and easier to wire terminals, my house still has most of the MK switches & sockets that were new when I moved here in the mid 80's, never had any problems with them!
I try and always do back entry into the consumer units I find a really handy idea is to fix white 16mm x 25mm trunking to the rear of the board round the edges makes a fantastic mount for the boards once finished a quick squirt of intumescent expanding foam seals the rear hole and also when photographed is good evidence that your work on the certificate is the what's in the board. Any work carried out by someone else is pretty evident as the foam is damaged
Luke Nicholson I've just bought a new house and it has a hager board looks good quality and from personal experience on commercial jobs they are decent boards, shame about the sockets and switches the cheapest I've ever seen.
Rob Weedall I like the knockouts they give you a red circle knockout plate and also sleeve to fit round hole if you dont want to use red plate. This means when you cut out how much space you need from red plate for cables still conforms to fire regs. All other boards I've used never include these so I really like them.
On new installations I choose a well branded Consumer Unit, then you should be O.K. to get additional breakers/replacements in the future. With board changes, I base the choice more on configuration, whereby one brand might have a layout similar to the existing cable arrangement, then there`s no issue with terminating or short cables. Always worth sticking to one or two manufacturers though, quicker installation when you are familiar with certain products.
Taking pictures of your work seems to be fairly common, The times i've seen people install things like gas meters and the like in person they always took multiple pictures (including a before one) to attach to their work order so they have a leg to stand on when there comes a dispute.
I’m a electrician in the United States, WOW! You guys do things entirely different. One thing I would add when you replace the panel you could write the circuit on the jacket to identify what the circuit is, instead of writing on the wire.
In your recent videos from Austria you showed a few boards, when I was in France working a few years back I fitted a board and I have to say I prefer the live and neutral busbars going into the MCB's and then two terminals in the MCB for the cables. Having 2 neutral bars with tails running to them from the RCD's just takes up room. Currently the only way to avoid this in the UK is to fit RCBO's
Have you looked at the new Crabtree boards? I have never agreed with one / two RCDs protecting a whole installation. Look at the new mini double pole RCBOs. They are very neat.
Internal link cabling that comes with the mk unit is probably tri rated (fine multi-stranded) helps explain the extra expense as its much pricier, but its super flexible and has a much higher current carrying capacity for its size (due to the 80/20 rule for cabling) check the crimps on it...
My fave boards to fit has to be Contactum. It's solid, has loads of room, and looks nicer than others I've fitted. But let's be fair, they're all pretty much one and the same lol
Back in high school my math teacher gave us a homework assignment to physically roll a dice a certain number of times and write down the results of each roll. When we handed in the results the next day, he performed a statistical analysis on the results to determine which students had actually rolled the dice and which students had just made up a bunch of numbers. I wonder if a similar analysis could expose electricians making up the numbers for the certificates.
Does Crabtree still exist? Back in 1999/2000 when I was on work experience for the whole of my last year at school, the electrician I worked with used Crabtree switches and sockets a lot.
Crabtree are still about. Their consumer units are by far the safest when youve got the cover off and the power is still on... (No big busbar with flimsy plastic cover protecting it and very little exposed live parts! ) they also have a mounting pattress which makes it easier for cable entry. Only Downside is they are twice the price of an Mk board! I use Crabtree day in and day out on a large social housing contract when I'm not supplying materials but MK when I have to buy my own lol!
I'm new to your channel, from the USA. Some subtle differences indeed! But yeah, I work in hot panels as well (If you don't, you're not an electrician!). On this side of the pond "Fuses" are a one time blow device. We refer to our reset switches as Breakers and "Service Panel, or Breaker box/panel). I'm often amused by the different terminology. Some I adopt, some I don't. I won't be adopting "fuse". HA! :)
They are breakers here in the UK too, or MCB's (miniature circuit breakers) and then the "box" is called a distribution board or consumer unit. We just still call them fuseboards alot of the time.
Many of us call them Consumer Units in the UK, and the fuses 'breakers' or 'MCBs' (miniature circuit breaker). Fuse board and fuses is pretty old school!
To be fair fuses here are a one time blow device. The breakers Tom fitted were RCDs (you call them GFIs) and MCBs (Miniature Circuit Breakers). The official names for the boards are Consumer Unit or Distribution Boad. But fuses and fusebox/fuseboard have stuck.
Hi Thomas, great videos, enjoyable watching you both work. Do you use hole saws a lot in your work? Any recommended brands for a nice clean cut? Kind regards, Steve
I have fitted BG boards a few times and had faulty components every time. RCDs not meeting trip times and breakers with non functioning switches and terminals that won't tighten. Would never use them again because of this personal experience, but I'm aware that many people have used them for years with no problems.
They were just before the change to metal CUs. Over the course of about 18 months. I have talked to other installers that have used BG for years and they admit that the cage clamp tightening issue is one that has existed for years. I'm not aware of any recalls at the time I used them. I have used them in the last couple of years too and not been impressed.
I've fitted a few BG boards and had the RCD's fail the RCD test. I prefer the MK boards as I have lots of spare breakers in the van & there not much more expensive than the BG.
As an HVAC tech, I have to work on systems with the power on. No way around it. You just have to be careful. You can't find the problem if the power is off.
Noticed the garage consumer unit has a main RCD switch, and all the circuits from the new MK were also RCD protected, how are you determining tripping times? And is there a time delay between them? This will clear up a few doubts I have with already protected CSU in garage
I'd thought you needed to test and inspect the installation before fitting a new board? How can you certify the installation if there's broken rings or insulation failures? If you're introducing RCDs to the installation how do you know these won't just trip out due to faults you've not yet found and fixed? How can you know which type of breakers to get without knowing the PFC? I've always done a full inspect and testing (except live testing of final circuits, that gets done after the board change) first and then done the board change once any major problems have been sorted (often including getting a PME or TNS connection provided by UKPN).
Tom with the 18th it says in a domestic ALL circuits require RCD so can you still run a circuit to a shed for example in SWA, MCB at the origin then RCD in shed or has it got to be RCD at the origin?
Hi Thomas & Tom great video, as a (mature) trainee slow working toward my level 3 this is a good help as looking more and mor at fuse box changes. Is it ok to pick your brains for some help. On the shed garage, where you have put the supply in, would you be able to do a follow up video on putting in the TT rod in to the earthing, would be great to see this done in the real world as this is a project am looking to do myself later in the year but always great to see how someone with more experience would do it (but forgive me if I am wrong and this is not required, just can remember at college something about separate earths and having to do something with it to make sure it don't trip the house RCD, thinks it's something to do with discrimination)
They flip towards you downwards so it's not in the way when you're trying to look for the breaker that has tripped (you can typically see witch one has tripped before you open the cover as they are normally clear ) with this one it's not a clear flap and it drops so makes it hardier to see and you need 2 hands one to hold it and one to flip the breaker (almost all installs I have seen are rear cable install as well)
You could work with L-AUS Tools (1000 volt insulated tools) and thick rubber gloves, rubbermat and a facemask in a live panel. I don't usually do it my self. But if I deem the job to hazardous I put extra effort into safety 👍
Hi Tom In your latest video you had a lot of flexibility and length with the cables going into the new cu. what would you do if you had hardly any flexibility or give in the cable ?
I used to install Crabtree Starbreaker fuseboards on a little over a 2 year contract which started when 17th edition 3rd amendment was released, so I installed over 900. Since then I've installed a variety of brands (different companies have a different spec etc) Only Hagar comes close in quality to the Crabtree Starbreaker boards, from what I've seen.
Great video as always keep them coming. Its nice to see a sparky say it how it is and about real life situations not all the electrical police talking shit about regs all the time.
I’ve gone back to wylex, mk dbs are shite,only the knockouts are good. Mcbs lean when you tighten them up,main switch moves around and doesn’t take any pressure from tails making getting the lid on a challenge, and all the zs readings are high,and they can’t even be bothered to install the earth neutral lable strip.
I fitted a mk board recently and found it Ok to work with definitely not the best if you take your time and strip the cables fully back you'll be Ok my experience for quality is hager all day long, and I find their commercial boards good to work with to plenty of space
Is there a need for an ip rating when mounting off the wall and coming back entry? I normally fit some trunking across the top so you can’t get your hand down the back even though you can’t get your hand in the holes at the back.
Hager boards are much better quality. You can change the mcbs with out having to dismantle the busbar unlike some make. Mk main switch terminals used to be poor quality. Wylex I also have a problem with labels staying on the board due to paint finish. Good video as usual. Thanks Tom and Dave.
Stephen Power mostly I work with commercial boards and hager are a good quality, most domestic boards are absolutely rubbish apart from hager the only fuse board i would recommend, strangely my new build house is fitted with a hager board but the rest of the house is fitted with the cheapest crap I've ever seen, normally you can tell the brand by looking at it but I don't even know what they are
So power to the shed was ran along a fence exposed? The 100A disconnect just screwed on to the wall no enclosure no conduit of any kind for feeder wires going to the breaker box? Damb not even in México lol
Not bad of a fuse board :P Try installing a flush mount one.. :D Digging 15 20 cm in to a brick or concrete wall then pulling all the wires at its back .. I end up always cutting the lower plastic part with a angle grinder. You get alot more space to store the remaining length of cables.The fuse board is leveled then fixed in place with gypsum any larger holes in the wall can be filled in with the remaining debris of bricks or concrete :D The rest is the same..you got a din rail,mcbs and a bus bar :) Then the plaster guy and the painter finish what you have left .. :D
As a lorry driver, I'm not entirely sure why I follow this channel. Other than it's actually quite interesting
Sometimes it is interesting to learn about what others have to deal with in their daily life. Gives perspective.
I'm the same, work in a completely different field & have no idea about half the stuff he is doing but it's interesting 😂
your not alone; i feel a little as though we have taken a step backwards with the recent introduction of metal clad fuseboards.
I've always found it interesting that other places in the world use plastic electrical panels for buildings. In North America it's pretty much always metal panels unless you're dealing with AC panels on vehicles like RVs or boats.
Also NA AC panels tend to be much larger overall with 200A 2 Phase typically having 30 to 48 breaker slots, so everything pretty much every major appliance and room has its own dedicated breaker.
When you compare it, then last a metal box way longer than a plastic housing, somehow...
NAAARRRGEEEEE you're back with this week's fix. SWEEEET! 🍻
Nice job Tom and Dave. A bit picky I know but it would have been nice to see the inside of the finished CCU. Now go and get another coat.
Oh god, I worried this would happen when you mix Electricians and RUclips. Fuseboard unboxing and review videos. Next you'll be getting the most blinged-out fuseboards from sketchy Chinese brands with Bluetooth, USB charger ports, and RGB lighting.
He might turn into Big Clive!
I want to see a board kitted out with those transparent breakers Big Clive got from china
Yeah, there's a cool one called 'electro kute' on Ali express bro..
Another great vid Tom and Dave, although Tom and Tom makes you a TT system, down to earth! (I'm here all week). Would have liked to have seen the inside of the board when finished, there seemed to be a lot more MCBs installed than fuses in the original and just wondered what they were all for in the end or do you leave unused ones in as the boards sometimes come populated. Keep it up guys
Im studying to become an electrician and I am so glad I found your channel. Gives great insight to the actual job!
Time for my Sunday bath time video viewing! The highlight of my weekend! Yay
Hi Thomas, my son works for MK here in North Wales, the MCB's and RCD's are imported from China, they are retested here, they find a large amount of failures i.e. wrong tripping currents etc. He tells me there is a skip full of failures to go to the crusher!!
Why not, I wonder, test them in China before shipping them? Surely that would be cheaper.
Hi that's the problem, they are tested in China, but obliviously not up to MK standard. I would imagine China has been told about it, I will ask my son when I see him..
Honeywell cutting costs. some of the accesories are shocking quaility these days,
Product snobbery. What the hell is wrong with BG? If, like tom you use them and they work as they are supposed to, then why the hell not use them! Surprised no one has made a comment that tom should be using a megger MFT to do the testing rather than his metrel!
DOES IT DO THE JOB?
I was about to say, it’s fucking shite now, the 2g socket terminals are shit
Your videos are themotivation for me to progress with my electrical course, keep up the good work bud!
I think you should take a photo of you taking a photo of the readings, just in case it was not you!
www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cmwov/hey_reddit_what_tattoos_do_you_have/c0tpyls/
Yes, do it like this: imgur.com/gallery/JThDN
Been sitting here binge watching all your vids loving your channel
Can’t wait to watch this, just doing some NVQ write ups have found your videos really helpful!!! Hope you had a good holiday
My Mrs hates rear entry.
hahaha
My Miss is in to it!
@Jamie Not with me she doesn't.
Please show more vids of you wiring, I’m an industrial electrical apprentice and never see any domestic work and how it’s done, lighting for example
Can you show us how you prepare and terminate that kind of armored cable you ran to the shed, maybe in a one off video. Thanks x
yay!!! welcome back from your hols, been waiting to watch another of your vids.
Hi Tom, having been a sparkie for 30 years, i enjoy watching your vlogs just to see how other people work and the equipment they use, I must admit, you get some very stupid question/comments/queries, what worries me is, are the questions from Jack of all master of none diy specialists that are looking to take on an electrical job that their not qualified to do, anyway keep it up buddy 👍🏼
''Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one'', which refers to a person who is not the best at all skills, but is better than someone who is only a master of one. What may seem as a daft question to you, may be invaluable to those wishing to learn.
Great works from Thomas, Tom and Dave. :-) Lots of good stuff in this video. Bit worried about Tom/Dave falling off that ladder though. Good job it wasn't a long drop...
Would’ve favoured if “Dave Dave ,Tom ” secured the SWA to the concrete gravel boards, rather to the bottom of the fence panels!- replacing a damage fence panel will be fun!!!
Tony Davison Tom hasnt bought him an SDS yet 😉
Can't see it being that much of a problem, having to undo a few screws
Dave Dave may get an SDS for Christmas :-)
Those boards aren't very thick though, haven't fixed to a gravel board before though so can't say for definite but wouldn't you blast straight through?
Tony Davison being an ex fencing contractor, changing a panel wouldn’t be a problem we’d of just ripped the cable off dropped a new panel in and job done.
I agree working in live boards happens every day, especially in the big orange commercial switchboards because if you isolate the whole board you will isolate parts of the building were people are using computers or servers. i'm an apprentice in Australia and my boss dose it all the time.
Thank you for talking sense re working on live boards, it’s isn’t always possible to kill a whole board especially in a commercial / industrial environment that’s the main reason that we use insulated tools
Crabtree starbreaker boards stood out for me. I like the push in mcb’s, no messing around cutting bus bars to size.
Worked on a massive hospital contract , and there site rules are all fuse boards are non compliant to ip2x so we weren’t allowed to remove any covers at all . So frustrating , all electricians are competent people (well most of us ) interesting to know how people do live testing on fuseboards ?
The cjrshop rcd test can only be done live
I'd like to see how you do a loop impedance test without being live either.
Had an MK fuseboard (looks like the same model) last year. Very impressed, and much better than the wood and bakelite board there was before. Had a chint sub-board added yesterday and its also good.
I think they are much of a muchness.
The reason for both my observations was an electrician did similar work for my dad and the NIC inspector made him change it some months later. Thanks
Hi Tom, The reason i like the MK boards is because you can have circuits not RCD protected, then you can have it separate with an rcbo, the BG boards you can't. I fit the BG boards when I need right hand main switch config. I like the rigidity of BG & I like the cut outs because I often find i cut my own holes to get the cables in then fire sealant the hole up.
The MK RCD can move away from the main switch allowing non RCD positions.
i use curve boards sold by denmans..never had a problem, loads of room even with RCBO's dont like MK accessories or consumer units, a good name years ago, but not now.
sparkey1958 strange for me because on commercial jobs I've been on we have mostly used mk accessories and most jobs always use mk products, for me I prefer them grid switches spurs sockets etc
I completely agree with you, sometimes live boards have to be worked on, and the fact that they are live can be most helpful. Lighting and relamping is often best done live. Yes you do have to have your wits about you and think clearly, but it is part of the job.
Looks like Tom/Dave is putting his new impact driver to good use!
"rear entry is easier".....matron!!!
Hi there, I'm not an electrician myself but have worked with factory electrical installers and maintenance guys in the past so I do know my stuff, The MK CU looks a reasonable quality unit, although my moan is with the quality of The modern (Chinese made) MK wiring accessories, compared to the 'Logic' ranges (made in the UK) they were producing 15 or 20 years ago.
These older ones were much more solid and had much larger and easier to wire terminals, my house still has most of the MK switches & sockets that were new when I moved here in the mid 80's, never had any problems with them!
For rear entry boards... a good tip is offcuts of 20mm steel conduit as spacers instead of huge piles of washers :)
Welcome back, hope you had a good holiday :-D
Thank you for another helpful video. Much appreciated! :)
Good to see you both back. Great video. Was the job over in Morden Surrey by any chance?
“Good bit o’ health and safety there”. Lol classic
I try and always do back entry into the consumer units I find a really handy idea is to fix white 16mm x 25mm trunking to the rear of the board round the edges makes a fantastic mount for the boards once finished a quick squirt of intumescent expanding foam seals the rear hole and also when photographed is good evidence that your work on the certificate is the what's in the board. Any work carried out by someone else is pretty evident as the foam is damaged
Love your videos. Keep them coming.
We were stuck with installing MK boards for months.
Tried a Hager board and haven't fitted anything else since!
I highly recommend you trying them.
Luke Nicholson I've just bought a new house and it has a hager board looks good quality and from personal experience on commercial jobs they are decent boards, shame about the sockets and switches the cheapest I've ever seen.
I think Hager make the best boards
Hager well known for being consistently 'decent manufacturer' ...
Definitely
Great circuit breakers and RCBO but their boards are average. Neutral and earth bars way too small.
Schneider make the best gear
Rob Weedall I like the knockouts they give you a red circle knockout plate and also sleeve to fit round hole if you dont want to use red plate. This means when you cut out how much space you need from red plate for cables still conforms to fire regs. All other boards I've used never include these so I really like them.
Nice to see you back. :)
I like the schneider products the most. MK seem to be the cheapest cu in cef at the moment as well 🤔
Jack Doyle mk accessories are decent and definitely not the cheapest, but domestic fuse boards are the worst I've seen cheap and crap
Is anything cheap in cef 🤔
On new installations I choose a well branded Consumer Unit, then you should be O.K. to get additional breakers/replacements in the future. With board changes, I base the choice more on configuration, whereby one brand might have a layout similar to the existing cable arrangement, then there`s no issue with terminating or short cables. Always worth sticking to one or two manufacturers though, quicker installation when you are familiar with certain products.
Taking pictures of your work seems to be fairly common, The times i've seen people install things like gas meters and the like in person they always took multiple pictures (including a before one) to attach to their work order so they have a leg to stand on when there comes a dispute.
I’m a electrician in the United States, WOW! You guys do things entirely different. One thing I would add when you replace the panel you could write the circuit on the jacket to identify what the circuit is, instead of writing on the wire.
In your recent videos from Austria you showed a few boards, when I was in France working a few years back I fitted a board and I have to say I prefer the live and neutral busbars going into the MCB's and then two terminals in the MCB for the cables. Having 2 neutral bars with tails running to them from the RCD's just takes up room. Currently the only way to avoid this in the UK is to fit RCBO's
Have you looked at the new Crabtree boards? I have never agreed with one / two RCDs protecting a whole installation. Look at the new mini double pole RCBOs. They are very neat.
Internal link cabling that comes with the mk unit is probably tri rated (fine multi-stranded) helps explain the extra expense as its much pricier, but its super flexible and has a much higher current carrying capacity for its size (due to the 80/20 rule for cabling) check the crimps on it...
My fave boards to fit has to be Contactum. It's solid, has loads of room, and looks nicer than others I've fitted. But let's be fair, they're all pretty much one and the same lol
This one remains me of only fools and horses with trigger calling Rodney Dave. And the episode where trigger asks who's Rodney :)
Back in high school my math teacher gave us a homework assignment to physically roll a dice a certain number of times and write down the results of each roll. When we handed in the results the next day, he performed a statistical analysis on the results to determine which students had actually rolled the dice and which students had just made up a bunch of numbers. I wonder if a similar analysis could expose electricians making up the numbers for the certificates.
Tom your the Man, loving your shit. Bit confused by the Dave and Tom guys but glad to see you making lots of money 💴
Does Crabtree still exist? Back in 1999/2000 when I was on work experience for the whole of my last year at school, the electrician I worked with used Crabtree switches and sockets a lot.
LifeOfAnEnglishman crabtree are very much still about.
They do. Back in the day it was usually M.K. or Crabtree that was the norm. Other brands gained a foothold when cost became king.
Yep ive got crabtree switches in my shed
Crabtree are still about. Their consumer units are by far the safest when youve got the cover off and the power is still on... (No big busbar with flimsy plastic cover protecting it and very little exposed live parts! ) they also have a mounting pattress which makes it easier for cable entry. Only Downside is they are twice the price of an Mk board! I use Crabtree day in and day out on a large social housing contract when I'm not supplying materials but MK when I have to buy my own lol!
Crabtree still exists. My house was rewired last year and they used Crabtree sockets.
looks like he has set his own pound shop up in that shed lol
Love the LED fixtures in the shed, can you get similar fixtures that run on low voltage like 12v?
Sort of, if thats' what you want you just use 12v LED-tape, low profile... Not necesasrially very long-lasting if left-on a lot, however...
[If you want 12v fittings, go look for stuff for caravans/motorhomes..., they will likely be smaller bulkhead fittings and the like!.]
Great job boys 👍👍
I'm new to your channel, from the USA. Some subtle differences indeed! But yeah, I work in hot panels as well (If you don't, you're not an electrician!). On this side of the pond "Fuses" are a one time blow device. We refer to our reset switches as Breakers and "Service Panel, or Breaker box/panel). I'm often amused by the different terminology. Some I adopt, some I don't. I won't be adopting "fuse". HA! :)
They are breakers here in the UK too, or MCB's (miniature circuit breakers) and then the "box" is called a distribution board or consumer unit. We just still call them fuseboards alot of the time.
Many of us call them Consumer Units in the UK, and the fuses 'breakers' or 'MCBs' (miniature circuit breaker). Fuse board and fuses is pretty old school!
David House Sr.
It's just a historic habit. It's the same in Germany.
To be fair fuses here are a one time blow device. The breakers Tom fitted were RCDs (you call them GFIs) and MCBs (Miniature Circuit Breakers). The official names for the boards are Consumer Unit or Distribution Boad. But fuses and fusebox/fuseboard have stuck.
Technically your correct. I think calling breakers 'fuses' is just a shorcut term as fuses like you said are one time blow out.
Hi Thomas, great videos, enjoyable watching you both work.
Do you use hole saws a lot in your work? Any recommended brands for a nice clean cut?
Kind regards, Steve
Interesting.
It seems like those "flat" 3 core cables are very common in the UK?
I never saw them here in germany. Only when i rewired VERY old flats.
I have fitted BG boards a few times and had faulty components every time. RCDs not meeting trip times and breakers with non functioning switches and terminals that won't tighten. Would never use them again because of this personal experience, but I'm aware that many people have used them for years with no problems.
+Andy Kitchen
Key thing here: *what* manufacture-date(s) were your iffy BG-board parts?
They were just before the change to metal CUs. Over the course of about 18 months. I have talked to other installers that have used BG for years and they admit that the cage clamp tightening issue is one that has existed for years. I'm not aware of any recalls at the time I used them.
I have used them in the last couple of years too and not been impressed.
I've fitted a few BG boards and had the RCD's fail the RCD test. I prefer the MK boards as I have lots of spare breakers in the van & there not much more expensive than the BG.
Why are UK fuse boards so small? Where you put outside lightning timer, twlight switch, contactors etc? or antenna and network stuff?
Just watched this fully. You'd hate the Crabtree: I needed a hole cutter to remove the "knockouts"!
As an HVAC tech, I have to work on systems with the power on. No way around it. You just have to be careful. You can't find the problem if the power is off.
Another interesting video ...what does the armoured cable connect to in the house?
Is there a link for the fluorescent led light which was fitted in the loft for £30 sounds like a steal!
Noticed the garage consumer unit has a main RCD switch, and all the circuits from the new MK were also RCD protected, how are you determining tripping times? And is there a time delay between them? This will clear up a few doubts I have with already protected CSU in garage
Garage is fed via the non rcd side of the fuseboard in the house.
I'd thought you needed to test and inspect the installation before fitting a new board? How can you certify the installation if there's broken rings or insulation failures? If you're introducing RCDs to the installation how do you know these won't just trip out due to faults you've not yet found and fixed? How can you know which type of breakers to get without knowing the PFC? I've always done a full inspect and testing (except live testing of final circuits, that gets done after the board change) first and then done the board change once any major problems have been sorted (often including getting a PME or TNS connection provided by UKPN).
Tom with the 18th it says in a domestic ALL circuits require RCD so can you still run a circuit to a shed for example in SWA, MCB at the origin then RCD in shed or has it got to be RCD at the origin?
Do you install Smart System boxes Every new property in N Cyorus has them 🤔
12 years as American electrician I find this fascinating I like it. I use all knipex hand tools far superior quality than American.
Hi Tom, how did you space the consumer unit off the wall ? What size washers did you use ?
are you using a cb to isolate shed supply? mem make roomy db's also pretty solid construction not to keen on mk db , cb tend to slant .
Great stuff
nice work, would like to have seen your neat wiring in the board though!
Hi Thomas & Tom great video, as a (mature) trainee slow working toward my level 3 this is a good help as looking more and mor at fuse box changes. Is it ok to pick your brains for some help.
On the shed garage, where you have put the supply in, would you be able to do a follow up video on putting in the TT rod in to the earthing, would be great to see this done in the real world as this is a project am looking to do myself later in the year but always great to see how someone with more experience would do it (but forgive me if I am wrong and this is not required, just can remember at college something about separate earths and having to do something with it to make sure it don't trip the house RCD, thinks it's something to do with discrimination)
Isolated without unloading any of the breakers & dismantled without confirming isolation. Does your assessor watch your videos mucca?
Two RCDs on the same circuit? Which one will trip first if there's a fault in the garage?
Another great video, thanks.
What do you think about the Havels board
They flip towards you downwards so it's not in the way when you're trying to look for the breaker that has tripped (you can typically see witch one has tripped before you open the cover as they are normally clear )
with this one it's not a clear flap and it drops so makes it hardier to see and you need 2 hands one to hold it and one to flip the breaker (almost all installs I have seen are rear cable install as well)
You could work with L-AUS Tools (1000 volt insulated tools) and thick rubber gloves, rubbermat and a facemask in a live panel. I don't usually do it my self. But if I deem the job to hazardous I put extra effort into safety 👍
Crabtree starbreakers are my favourite boards. Bulletproof.
How many RCD's do you use each circuit, we use 1 for every circuit eliminating false tripping
He’s back 👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Tom In your latest video you had a lot of flexibility and length with the cables going into the new cu. what would you do if you had hardly any flexibility or give in the cable ?
I find Eaton fuseboards and accessories to be of really good quality and easy to fit.
I heard that all boards are going with a lift up lid now due to the reason you mentioned (it'll always be closed)?
I used to install Crabtree Starbreaker fuseboards on a little over a 2 year contract which started when 17th edition 3rd amendment was released, so I installed over 900. Since then I've installed a variety of brands (different companies have a different spec etc) Only Hagar comes close in quality to the Crabtree Starbreaker boards, from what I've seen.
pete warden I'd agree hager boards are good domestic and commercial in my experience
Would you use stuffing glands with twin and earth cable ? Seems a bit strange to me
Nice job trigger ( alright Dave)
Great video as always keep them coming. Its nice to see a sparky say it how it is and about real life situations not all the electrical police talking shit about regs all the time.
Common Sense-1...H&S Brigade- 0
I’ve gone back to wylex, mk dbs are shite,only the knockouts are good. Mcbs lean when you tighten them up,main switch moves around and doesn’t take any pressure from tails making getting the lid on a challenge, and all the zs readings are high,and they can’t even be bothered to install the earth neutral lable strip.
I agree i was surprised not to see all the mcbs leaning over when he was done
I fitted a mk board recently and found it Ok to work with definitely not the best if you take your time and strip the cables fully back you'll be Ok my experience for quality is hager all day long, and I find their commercial boards good to work with to plenty of space
Is there a need for an ip rating when mounting off the wall and coming back entry? I normally fit some trunking across the top so you can’t get your hand down the back even though you can’t get your hand in the holes at the back.
Hager boards are much better quality. You can change the mcbs with out having to dismantle the busbar unlike some make.
Mk main switch terminals used to be poor quality.
Wylex I also have a problem with labels staying on the board due to paint finish.
Good video as usual. Thanks Tom and Dave.
Stephen Power mostly I work with commercial boards and hager are a good quality, most domestic boards are absolutely rubbish apart from hager the only fuse board i would recommend, strangely my new build house is fitted with a hager board but the rest of the house is fitted with the cheapest crap I've ever seen, normally you can tell the brand by looking at it but I don't even know what they are
Looking good mate
Dave, Dave, Dave. The life of a mate :D
Great video, was starting to think you wasn’t doing anymore haha
Will you be using arc fault devices? And do you really take photos of readings personally I don’t but good job
So power to the shed was ran along a fence exposed? The 100A disconnect just screwed on to the wall no enclosure no conduit of any kind for feeder wires going to the breaker box? Damb not even in México lol
Not bad of a fuse board :P Try installing a flush mount one.. :D Digging 15 20 cm in to a brick or concrete wall then pulling all the wires at its back .. I end up always cutting the lower plastic part with a angle grinder. You get alot more space to store the remaining length of cables.The fuse board is leveled then fixed in place with gypsum any larger holes in the wall can be filled in with the remaining debris of bricks or concrete :D The rest is the same..you got a din rail,mcbs and a bus bar :) Then the plaster guy and the painter finish what you have left .. :D