To resolve having 4 conductors in the MCB where you have doubled up the ring you could have connected one leg of ring 1 to one leg of ring 2 with wagos and then you've got one bigger ring 👍
You got me going there with your Earth leakage tester, I think I know why when you measured leakage on the pair of meter tails, it registered 11 odd mA leakage, and yet when you measured on that earth wire it measured zero mA, so what that means is the earth leakage current is not going through that yellow green conductor, but is getting earthed somewhere else , directly into ground either through pipe work etc, so that should stop you scratching your head. And of course, you need to enclose both live and neutral in the tester jaws, and any common mode load currents would cancel each other giving you any differential mode current read out, so even if you had a load of 5 amps you would be seeing 5.011A in the live conductor and returning exactly 5.000 amps, whereby 0.011A going into the ground through another earth point and not that yellow green earth conductor.
Some points for future. When using earth leakage meter beware you may not be able to read a value if clamping around the CPC as there are possible other multiple pathways to earth - the gas and water bond, you would have to remove them to see it. Looking at the imbalance on LN was the best approach. On RCD tripping you have to remember the cooker/oven has probably a capacitor built into the electronics which with the long run you had could be causing the tripping. If it was a type AC I would replace with a type A. For EV charging when you have to TT my advice is to carry a soil test kit. This has several benefits in that you put the right type of earth rod in. With soil ph around 8 or more you can get corrosion of a pure copper rod reducing the protection over time in using the charger. Two ways around this either get a copper rod which is anodized with a noncorrosive metal on the surface or get a larger steel rod. I would also surround the copper rod. In concrete as well providing more reliable earthing and reducing the possibility the earth rod resistance would go up in summer. Anyway nice work as always.
Fundamental mistake there in trusting a supplier... with such a critical part I avoid booking in a job until I have the part in my grubby little hands because if a supplier or courier can mess up there's a high likelihood that it will happen!
If your 11mA of leakage isn’t returning via the consumer unit earth block, check the bonds and also clamp the water and gas pipes before and after the bonds, as it might be going out via services. You might have a screw somewhere through a live leaking it to the fabric of the building. Clamp the circuits and see if you can track it down.
@@artisanelectrics Seriously, what's the best way to find an electrician who's going to do a good job? bout to get my place rewired in Derby but these horror videos scare the life out of me 😅
When I lived in the UK in Luton worked as a washing machine tech 1966 to 1970 went out to Cambridge , Stevenage , North London all villages around Luton and Bedford even at times Canvey Island most I could do any day was 4-5 jobs 70 thousand miles a year 8- 12 hours Monday to Friday over half the time in traffic lasted before I had a minor heart attack so Jordan I know about stress and frustration with parts not delivered
Might have been worth linking out the two ring final circuits to form one ring, to avoid putting four cables away in one terminal. Always enjoy your videos! Hope the job ended well 👍
not a good place to go for him being a business, indemnity insurance might cover a subsequent deformation court case but not worth it. it is only one opinion versus another
@@thesocialhandgrenade8474 yes that exactly. It's not a good idea to be poking the bear. if there's a real problem, i'd contact their CPS (have done it before)
You may not have measured anything on the earth cable as that might not be the route the leakage was taking. A conductor leaking due to damp may not show anything on the main earth cable.
Earth leakage clamp is always best to put round the tails for an accurate reading as the main earth will probably have abit of diverted neutral current going through it . That’s why it was overloading on the mil amp range.
Is that (unmeasured, but apparently more 20mA) earth current inductively coupled then? It would seem to be much larger than the live-to-neutral imbalance.
Regarding the ring circuit, instead of connecting all 4 legs into the breaker, could you just Wago one leg of each ring together to form one big ring? Also do you have any tips for sizing (visually) meter tails? I struggle so much with this. P.S. You can actually get VDE "Dentist mirrors" lol
Instead of adding two rings into the CB - could you of linked the rings in the board? Making one ring? Obviously considering the total length. Love the videos ;)
As a foreigner I have worked on quite a number of electrical installations in the UK. Most of them looked exactly like this one, so it doesn’t surprise me.
The BG garage consumer unit IP65 is the best product they make. The remainder of the consumer unit range is bloody awful! Any attempt to do RCBO’s causes the din rail mountings to fracture 😡 Contactum on the other hand, I do like. I’m glad you said the DNO were going to upgrade the old cable head. I’ve an ace relationship with SP Energy Networks sub contractors IQA. 70% of all EV Chargepoint I fit need the cable head upgraded. Also, came across a new build recently with a series 7 head. Thought it would have an 80Amp fuse, which is standard....Nope! 60Amp! Thankfully, I carry 80Amp Lawson’s in the van.
@@artisanelectrics The previous installer should have just fitted another mantel unit, they're not that hard to come by. The whole stuffing glands on top of the consumer unit is complete gabage. On a side note, I probably would have waited till the EV charger to have been delivered before travelling all the way down to London, did you estimate for 2 days labour?
This has been a real joy for me to watch. Definitely liking and subscribing. I love the humility and honesty of your commentary. (Electrician in Iceland)
Those red and black tails rising into the consumer unit might turn out to be compliant. I've seen similar ones where there are two layers of PVC, with the sheath using the same colour as the insulation. It can be tricky to be sure without stripping a small section and seeing if it comes off in separate layers. I wonder if the cable can be confirmed as sheathed if it has the usual markings on it like BS6004 6181Y?
I watch quite a few channels like this, and there seems a trend where when poor workmanship is found that doesn't meet code those who discover it don't want to name and shame or report them to the authorities that govern the installation standards. Maybe if there was some form of reporting, and some for of registration like in the gas industry there would be less cowboys around and installations would be a lot safer as anyone cutting corners would be "struck off" or have to pass some form of exam
The metal box is original to the house, the consumer box is where the main switch and fuses were. This would have been the rubber cables usually in the wall cavity dating from the 1950s.
Metering cupboards are just that...for metering equipment, cut out, meter and DPI when fitted. Now getting more and more crammed with PV isolator and associated wiring but never (yet) found a CU in one! Surprised how the DNO fitted a 100A fuse in an 80A at best cut out.
Why didnt you connect one of the lives from the downstairs ring with one of the upstairs, same for neutral and earth then you would have one big house ring. solves the problem of having 4 cables in a breaker.
For the ring, why not connect one original leg to the other ring leg and vise versa so you only have two cables entering the mcb, but the 2 rings have been extended to 1?
That was an interesting thing I didn't know when you mentioned USB sockets creating a relatively high earth leakage current. Personally I hate the things as I think most of them are cheap and nasty chinesium curtain burners but it's a useful bit of knowledge to have.
any modern device will have some earth leakage. Switching power supplies in modern devices have a class Y capacitor across the transformer to suppress EMI. The secondary side is earthed (class I) or double insulated (class II). The primary is live and neutral rectified. capacitor from live/neutral to earth creates earth leakage. Personally I don't like USB sockets because they're like having the cheapest £5 charger permanently plugged in. They won't have modern fast charging features, so they'll be obsolete almost immediately, they probably don't have great isolation from primary to secondary, and they're probably very noisy and wasteful with their standby power.
I'm on a looped supply and we managed to get 80amp fuse put in but that's the max (UKPN said as next door had 60 we were clear for the 80). Good news is the main supply comes into our house so any future work will be on her side and drive. Still think that's going to be a big big problem for the power networks in the coming years.
It will only be a problem if people continue to upgrade to 100A "just because". A charger that's limited to e.g. 10A still can charge 12km/h or 120km overnight (10h). For most people who can park in their driveway every night that's more than enough. (Meaning they can charge to the full range of their car on normal days and only run into issues if they need the full range on two consecutive days.) Yes, a nice 32A charger will give you 380+ km/night each and every night, but how many people (aside from taxis and other business vehicles) actually need that? Many people seem to think they need to be able to charge their 600+km battery from completely empty to full in half a night at home. And if they drive 150,000km a year (600km*5days*52weeks) that's even true. But otherwise it's just not needed.
Another issue having this armoured cable wired directly from the mains means there is no discrimination from the other circuits. In other words, you can't isolate it, even if the mains switch is open/off. I really don't like installing load centres (consumers units) under kitchen bench tops, as main switches are meant to be readily available. (Australian prospective)
Great vid, love your testing and fault finding content. You need to to be sending an invoice to Anderson's Electrical for your lost time due to their incompetence. Glad you called them out though, might make them up their game 👍
The DNO fuse was still in right? But you had the main tails isolated via that low level isolation switch?. But there was no lock off on the switch as far as i could see. Ive had main switches that switch almost with the touch of a feather. I was getting twitchy bum hole syndrome when i saw you working on the tails 💩 I also love the mirror for breaker/bus bar inspection. Absolutely great tip Jordan. You are a real inspiration and a bit above the rest when it comes to sharing your business on social media. Well done, hope i can be as good as you one day
I would have joined the lighting circuits on this one to free up a spare way with it being a single rcd board. Does the ev charger have a type s rcd as I was wondering about the high earth leakage already
Why is swa cable being used internally for the car charging circuit when you could run twin and earth to the isolation box and swa connected to it for the outside cable run? Then you could separate the earth at the box.
It doesn't work around the earth because the leaked current is escaping the property by another path. By putting it over the tails and not the earth you measure what the RCD is actually seeing, which is the total leakage from the property not just what comes back down the circuit cpcs.
I really hate these premiers, you click to watch and then realise there’s no content. Pointless and frustrating for subscribers especially as we’re always being asked the subscribe and turn on notifications.
That’s not a pop at you either Jordan it’s just RUclips is infesting my subscriber playlist with these rather than actual content and it’s a disease they need to nip in the bud. I don’t know anyone who actually thinks it’s a good idea
@Ellis The DJ No, it's not a live stream, it's a video he uploaded yesterday and then he told us "hey, I just uploaded a new video, but you won't be able to watch it for another day" And here's why he did that: (Rest of comment will be added at some point in the future. Make sure to check back regularly so you don't miss it before it delete it again.)
Why would you expect the meter to work around the earth cable? I understood that you have a leak if current is leaking to earth anywhere from the circuit. So e.g. in the garden where it directly leaks into the wet ground. It wont take the long way round trough the earth cable right? A leak is detected because not all current leaving the RCD actually returns on neutral.
Hi I am considering a home charger for Toyota Rav 4, in the near future, the supply to the garage has a 32amp cable of which supply my woodworking machinery, the cable is approx 10 meters long from the consumer meter, would I need a say 40amp cable to supply the home charger. Thank you welshman 2081
15:13 - You have the lovely VDE allen keys there for show and then use the bicycle kit to do the job. Are you always missing the 2.5mm like me? I have three sets in the toolbag and no 2.5mm.
for some reason, I can't stop thinking about the light switch cable at our house that has a soldered connection (literally) in the wall, where it is impossible to get to without tearing the wall open, and so the two light switches only have a single 3 core and earth cable going to them (the reason for this bodge was that the light switch needed to be moved from one side of the door to the other, as the door was being re-hinged)
Just a question, surely the charging point requires... DC rcd as well as the AC rcd protection - as you note CD charging failure blind the AC rcd . TT earthing - as this supply restricts to the customer to a special charging units with special protection for PME supplies. Also - your earth leakage problem is not measurable in the earth cable as the leakage is not via the earth cable, but likely through porous single insulated wires in walls causing loss to ground - ie damp walls. You already showed the dreadful wiring through the box.
What: he is in London and couldn’t go pick up the charger from the supplier and complained throughout the whole video about his day . If you spent less time bullshitting and more time working, and actually did a full days work, it would be better viewing for subscribers.. donut
@@artisanelectrics good little charger so👍👍 What’s the problem with Deadlius dough head?? Never heard the likes of it!! Criticised for your opinion and then waffles on about something entirely irrelevant!! Plank!!
@@artisanelectrics Just a warning, the person who calls himself Deadlius is a really loose cannon!! He thinks I have it in for you which I don’t. I enjoy your vids and I think you do good work. This lads not right in the head, loves insulting and putting people down!! Unreal!
Hi again Just a thought why didn't you change all mcbs to rcbo plenty of space and contactum are cheaper than most and it could be left as is that would of been my suggestion Thanks
Great Job!! Good idea to use a circle mirror to see inspection. I am concerned about 100A of the main black box where brown 16ml wire. I noticed Brown 16ml wire on top touched on Natural (yellow) wire. I think you should take out the Natural (yellow) wire from brown 16ml wire then move above near the Main black box. Can you try this? Need a good safety. Thumb up!! Cheer!
So in Brittain you have 32A breakers? as seen @ 08:01 here in the Netherlands (230v) we have 16A and in some rare cases go up to 20A . And most normal houses have like 8 (groups?)
This is because in the UK sockets are usually wired on what's called a ring final circuit, in effect a loop leaving and returning to the 32amp MCB. After living in mainland Europe I noticed most socket outlets are on 16amp radial circuits. I'm not a certified electrician but that's my informed guess.
@@elsdonsparks Double insulation does not apply to cables. It's an appliance class defined in IEC 61140. The armoured cable/meter tails should be "insulated and sheathed", which might turn out to be the case here. The three cores of the cable are insulated in XLPE, then the grey stuff is a PVC 'bedding'. Would that be ok as a sheath?
I am not an electrician so forgive me if this is a stupid question but please can someone answer my question? From what I can see in the video it appears that the rest of the MCB’s are not connected to the main isolation switch via the busbar, so my question is where do the other circuits take their power from if the main tails are terminated in to the main switch? Again this may be a stupid question but I am in the process of enrolling in an electrical installation course and would be grateful for any pointers. Many thanks.
from the secondary side of the main switch there is a samll (3 way) busbar feeding the 50a MCB for the SWA and the RCBO for the cooker, but underneath that busbar there is also a brown cable feed ing the top side of the main RCD which in turn feeds the other circuits.... you will struggle to see it but it's there
Once EVs become the norm electricians fitting charging points are going to be finding all sorts of horrors that will make this existing installation look good, rewires all round I suspect, bonanza time for electricians.
EvVs will never be the norm as there will be thousands of people who cannot afford to buy them or run them. They do not prevent polution as they just leave the polution in another country where the minerals for the batteries are mined. Watch this space lol.....
@@artisanelectrics thanks, yes, a socket with its own individual circuit - theoretically, can its wires be replaced so we don't have to wire it above the tiles?
Yep, lower left 4 looks a little loose..... Awesome tip on that mirror. Lovely job Jordan. You have probably mentioned this before but where did you get the cable stripper? Is there a link to it on your tools page?
Nice work mate not too sure about the 2 rings off one mcb I would of preferred to of replaced the devices with contactum rcbos which would of left 2 spare ways to use. Obviously a cost but a much better install along side the shiny new charger :)
The box is original, not an outside box. It was fitted to council houses, I managed to get a consumer unit that was made for those boxes no longer made!!
At 27.25 - Ref measuring eth leakage current in main earth conductor - but NOT seeing any ? ( although the instrument appeared to show "OL" ie overload - it did show a current dying away to a small value when you manually switched ranges - so -was there in fact any current there? - - a bit vague here since you didnt stop "long enough" on this part to reach a steady reading) And - you said "you were not sure why this was so" when you had actually established there was indeed leakage current - so why is this ? Just prior to 27.25 you measured earth leakage current by clamping the test meter around BOTH line and neutral tails - which showed just over 11mA of earth leakage. This test device essentially works as a "current transformer " in the clamp probe which is "seeing" the "residual" magnetic field of the two line and neutral conductors This is because the magnetic fields surrounding the two conductors (tails) are in opposite phase since the current in the conductors are flowing in opposite directions - and hence the magnetic field will cancel ONLY IF the currents are EXACTLY equal - AND in PRECISE OPPOSITE PHASE ( point worth noting if some of that leakage current is "capacitive" (or inductive) in a final circuit) Because in this case these currents are NOT equal ( or also not in precise antiphase) - there is thus a small residual magnetic field that the probe "sees". NOW the IMPORTANT point here is the probe does NOT "know" whether that field it is "seeing" is from ONE conductor - OR - the sum of many - or - other words - the probe MUST and WILL work just the same on a single conductor carrying a current that produces the "same" magnitude of field So ... The Main earth - why no current ?? - we have established that the measuring device WILL measure current on a single conductor - thus- Since therefore - you saw NO current in the Main earth conductor - it MUST THEREFORE mean that the leakage current of 11mA or so MUST be going elsewhere - and - the only way you could "track" this down is to repeat the "two wire" clamp test for EACH final circuit -and see which one(s) are contributing to the 11mA. My guess is you will find that the current is going via circuits that have "other" external paths to ground of low impedance - so the main earth lead carries little of this leakage current "AT THE POINT" where "you measured" it. Having said all that - I'd like to know how accurate this TIS 560 is - when measuring very small currents of a few mA - This could be a good equipment "test " video for you to do !
What is the correct or required order of work to upgrade to 25mm meter tails? You're potentially requiring three companies: the DNO, the meter operator, and an electrician like yourself Jordan?
Very interesting video. Can you clear something up for me please? If my house is fed on a loop from next door, does that mean I can't have a home charger fitted? Would the electricity board be able to fit a separate supply for me?, the power comes from connections on a pole directly in front of my house at the top of the driveway, and would they charge me for this new feed?
if you are on a loop then your neighbour also needs to upgrade to the same fuse. you can still have a charger,but your neighbour won't thank you at all for cranking up 80A on a cold winter morning charging up the car when they are in the shower!
I'd definitely have chosen to have a new hole and carefully fill the old one... Hopefully with some sanding of a brick somewhere, some like coloured dust could be used to patch
Hi Jordan, love following your channel I have a question for you, why don't you like BG? I've fitted loads of BG boards and never had an issue my wholesaler stocks BG and Fusebox, twice I've used fusebox both times I've broken the lid clips, I've also noticed I have to cut the conductors quite short to fit them into the main switch and rcbo's, however I really like the blank mcb's they supply, keep doing the videos they're very entertaining and make me feel justified in taking pride in my work, there are lots of dodgy sparks in swansea.
This might be a silly question if it is never mind because I'm not too familiar with anything outside the United States with regards to electrical installations other than mainly out of curiosity and other things. But I notice at least on that consumer unit that there are multiple colors MCB handles does that correspond to the rating of the breaker I do know any old fuse boxes AKA consumer units with fuses they were color coded for amperage I take it that would be a a holdover for miniature circuit breakers as well but was not sure. Never thought about it before. Is there a story behind the color coding of fuses originally in the UK and other parts of Europe and elsewhere? But I do agree that the way they do things in the United Kingdom in terms of electrical to make more sense of the stuff in the United States in a way this that the other but why friend is weird is the way that things are wired at least in some cases. For example individual cables and the main service entrance Aiken a between fuse board or what have you consumer unit what you whatever you want to call it. I've heard various things over the years obviously. Also I think Indian rail would be a great way for anyting not just control panels and stuff and consumer units if we have something like that here in the United States with all this home automation and other things going on now they'll be so convenient. I don't think there's any component in some way that could be done with DIN rail at all nowadays. Also I do agree. 220 volts or above or so wherever it's it's at where you are in the country would be a good idea for a common voltage yes efficiency goes of Lowe's current required and if you had one voltage it would be easier to design everything instead of doing split phase 120 240 but there's I don't think there's ever going to be a harmless standard for the entire world but it would be nice. What would be even better would be one plug the entire world would bring up van one standard for the entire world but yeah you never know. I remember reading years ago about winner home automation was wanting to become a thing say about 1 Outlet that could be used for basically any purpose litter to be communication and everything else to one plug that guy fell apart you know. So essentially your computer could get both the ethernet and power through the same plug the smart coffee maker could tell that you were home and was morning and turn on live the same plug that the computer could have used. But one thing they did mention was having natural gas or propane Outlets with similar functionality which would be nice to be able to have a gas port for portable appliances or Heating I understand there is a thing like that but you don't hear about it much? It also very strange indoor meters as well although here in the United States the old days sometimes you would have that but in bigger buildings once in awhile you'll have an indoor meter. Also used to be here indoor gas meters used to be a thing I remember my uncle's place they had an indoor meter in the garage later on that was changed out I think some of that happened I don't remember. But in some places the meters are inside or a utility area or somewhere and I'll be just a gas shut off valve out of doors sometimes poking up out of the sidewalk.
Didn't untwist the meter tails cores to avoid the immediate settling of the cables causing a loose connection very soon after tightening them to the required torque setting.
That look like the same original wall box as in our 1960s property... don't think it was ever an outside meter box. Maybe it wasn't "rewired" maybe it was just a new consumer unit put in? That would account for the scruffy wiring.
The sad thing is there was no reason to gland the top of that consumer unit given it's already in an enclosure which you need a "tool" to get into. . Also why didn't you crimp one ring to the other ring then use the 2 remaining legs into the breaker. Edit: instead of using a dentist mirror you could just mount the bus bar into all the breakers outside the unit then clip them all in together and re-terminate the circuit conductors.
Paid by hour ftw. I'll sit in the van waiting if i have to. Prep all work, kill power, connect three or four leads, power back on, sign here, have a nice day.
It's quite rare to have the isolator. It's now best practice to fit one at it allows the consumer side of the meter to be issolated. Otherwise the DNO's fuse needs to be pulled. You've suposed to get the DNO to do the pulling.
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To resolve having 4 conductors in the MCB where you have doubled up the ring you could have connected one leg of ring 1 to one leg of ring 2 with wagos and then you've got one bigger ring 👍
Lovely idea!
True but you may make the circuit to long and then not comply with volt drop 👍
@@TeamSimpsonRacing Rings can cover 100m2 area and those circuits combined only total the upstairs floor of the house
@@carterglover3539 you would think so. Makes you wonder why they did two rings for upstairs 🤔
@@TeamSimpsonRacingGood point, maybe an old extention?
You got me going there with your Earth leakage tester, I think I know why when you measured leakage on the pair of meter tails, it registered 11 odd mA leakage, and yet when you measured on that earth wire it measured zero mA, so what that means is the earth leakage current is not going through that yellow green conductor, but is getting earthed somewhere else , directly into ground either through pipe work etc, so that should stop you scratching your head.
And of course, you need to enclose both live and neutral in the tester jaws, and any common mode load currents would cancel each other giving you any differential mode current read out, so even if you had a load of 5 amps you would be seeing 5.011A in the live conductor and returning exactly 5.000 amps, whereby 0.011A going into the ground through another earth point and not that yellow green earth conductor.
Some points for future.
When using earth leakage meter beware you may not be able to read a value if clamping around the CPC as there are possible other multiple pathways to earth - the gas and water bond, you would have to remove them to see it. Looking at the imbalance on LN was the best approach.
On RCD tripping you have to remember the cooker/oven has probably a capacitor built into the electronics which with the long run you had could be causing the tripping. If it was a type AC I would replace with a type A.
For EV charging when you have to TT my advice is to carry a soil test kit. This has several benefits in that you put the right type of earth rod in. With soil ph around 8 or more you can get corrosion of a pure copper rod reducing the protection over time in using the charger. Two ways around this either get a copper rod which is anodized with a noncorrosive metal on the surface or get a larger steel rod. I would also surround the copper rod. In concrete as well providing more reliable earthing and reducing the possibility the earth rod resistance would go up in summer. Anyway nice work as always.
I was about to say the same thing, earth leakage can be any path to earth and back to the star point on the transformer.
Fundamental mistake there in trusting a supplier... with such a critical part I avoid booking in a job until I have the part in my grubby little hands because if a supplier or courier can mess up there's a high likelihood that it will happen!
@@r.h.8754 Service engineer as well and that happens far too often.
And once it is booked don't bother trying to divert it because it ain't going to happen.
Been let down so many times by deliveries I now only book work when I have the ordered parts in my pocession!
funeral procession? or another kind?
@@alistair1978utube *Possession, illiterate tradie.
If your 11mA of leakage isn’t returning via the consumer unit earth block, check the bonds and also clamp the water and gas pipes before and after the bonds, as it might be going out via services. You might have a screw somewhere through a live leaking it to the fabric of the building. Clamp the circuits and see if you can track it down.
My pal says most sparkys are frustrated plumbers. Great video again, really enjoyed
LOL
lmao
Plumbers are failed electrician's. Just saying haha.
Im a sparky and I hate plumbing...
Videos like this are really helpful for trainee electricians :)
Could you not have joined one leg of each ring to make one big ring, if the earth loop wasn't to high.
Thats what i was thinking. I would have probably done that. I suppose there's not much difference.
I use a dentists mirror on the busbar when connecting up, very handy👍
Me too
Do love the dentist mirror for checking. A great idea. A phone can sometimes be too big to get in there properly.
Oddly, his dentist uses a continuity tester to check his fillings ;-)
Oh dear I can read the details on the WEL Electrical Services sticker at 2:39
I googled the number, same, French yahoo email too.
Shocking work does not shock me it’s an everyday occurrence. 👍
I know right! 😂
Shocking 😂 bad pun.... (probably not intentional though 😂)
bbzzzzzttt ⚡️⚡️
@@artisanelectrics Seriously, what's the best way to find an electrician who's going to do a good job?
bout to get my place rewired in Derby but these horror videos scare the life out of me 😅
@@JamesSherlouk from learnt experience, get a feel and look at their current work. These RUclips videos were what sold Artisan to me!
That’s the first time I’ve seen a pvc gland installed upside down 😂😂😂
Yeh how on earth can you get that wrong.
I spotted that and wondered "WTF" and why do it like that?
When I lived in the UK in Luton worked as a washing machine tech 1966 to 1970 went out to Cambridge , Stevenage , North London all villages around Luton and Bedford even at times Canvey Island most I could do any day was 4-5 jobs 70 thousand miles a year 8- 12 hours Monday to Friday over half the time in traffic lasted before I had a minor heart attack so Jordan I know about stress and frustration with parts not delivered
Might have been worth linking out the two ring final circuits to form one ring, to avoid putting four cables away in one terminal. Always enjoy your videos! Hope the job ended well 👍
Don't be afraid to name and shame, it's good for consumers. Wel Electrical Services (London).
WEL.... That escalated quickly.
not a good place to go for him being a business, indemnity insurance might cover a subsequent deformation court case but not worth it. it is only one opinion versus another
@@thesocialhandgrenade8474 yes that exactly. It's not a good idea to be poking the bear. if there's a real problem, i'd contact their CPS (have done it before)
Customer has reported them
You may not have measured anything on the earth cable as that might not be the route the leakage was taking. A conductor leaking due to damp may not show anything on the main earth cable.
Earth leakage clamp is always best to put round the tails for an accurate reading as the main earth will probably have abit of diverted neutral current going through it . That’s why it was overloading on the mil amp range.
Thanks
Is that (unmeasured, but apparently more 20mA) earth current inductively coupled then? It would seem to be much larger than the live-to-neutral imbalance.
Regarding the ring circuit, instead of connecting all 4 legs into the breaker, could you just Wago one leg of each ring together to form one big ring?
Also do you have any tips for sizing (visually) meter tails? I struggle so much with this.
P.S. You can actually get VDE "Dentist mirrors" lol
Yeah that could have worked
@GarethG, I hear ya man I have same issue! Everyone else seems to have better eyes 🤣, and know instantly haha
I love how you big things up what are wrong but it is actually easy fix
Instead of adding two rings into the CB - could you of linked the rings in the board? Making one ring? Obviously considering the total length. Love the videos ;)
No spares? I see 2 spares---if you replace the all breakers with rcbos. ;)
And extra time involved to segregate the neutrals from the neutral bar.
unfortunately work like that seems to becomng the norm, and until someone gets a grip on the industry it wont change
yep fast track courses and no on job experience its only going to get worse.that work is piss poor
As a foreigner I have worked on quite a number of electrical installations in the UK. Most of them looked exactly like this one, so it doesn’t surprise me.
😂
The BG garage consumer unit IP65 is the best product they make. The remainder of the consumer unit range is bloody awful! Any attempt to do RCBO’s causes the din rail mountings to fracture 😡 Contactum on the other hand, I do like. I’m glad you said the DNO were going to upgrade the old cable head. I’ve an ace relationship with SP Energy Networks sub contractors IQA. 70% of all EV Chargepoint I fit need the cable head upgraded. Also, came across a new build recently with a series 7 head. Thought it would have an 80Amp fuse, which is standard....Nope! 60Amp! Thankfully, I carry 80Amp Lawson’s in the van.
It's not an outdoor meter cupboard Jordan, it's a mantel unit and cupboad, very common in flats and tower blocks in London.
Thanks, you can tell i'm not from London!
@@artisanelectrics The previous installer should have just fitted another mantel unit, they're not that hard to come by. The whole stuffing glands on top of the consumer unit is complete gabage. On a side note, I probably would have waited till the EV charger to have been delivered before travelling all the way down to London, did you estimate for 2 days labour?
This has been a real joy for me to watch. Definitely liking and subscribing. I love the humility and honesty of your commentary. (Electrician in Iceland)
Thanks David! Welcome to the channel!
You make interesting video's... Shame your prices are so high for installing EV chargers.
The dentist mirror you can get plastic ones. I use a plastic one its really handy
Nice
Just wondering why the charger wasn’t obtained before installation date? Relying on on-the-day deliveries seems a bit risky.
Those red and black tails rising into the consumer unit might turn out to be compliant. I've seen similar ones where there are two layers of PVC, with the sheath using the same colour as the insulation. It can be tricky to be sure without stripping a small section and seeing if it comes off in separate layers. I wonder if the cable can be confirmed as sheathed if it has the usual markings on it like BS6004 6181Y?
nice work as always - fyi electricians insulated dentist mirrors are available - Boddingtons UK
I watch quite a few channels like this, and there seems a trend where when poor workmanship is found that doesn't meet code those who discover it don't want to name and shame or report them to the authorities that govern the installation standards. Maybe if there was some form of reporting, and some for of registration like in the gas industry there would be less cowboys around and installations would be a lot safer as anyone cutting corners would be "struck off" or have to pass some form of exam
Random question... Why was amoured cable used since most of the install was inside of the property. Would standard 10mm be ok?
The metal box is original to the house, the consumer box is where the main switch and fuses were. This would have been the rubber cables usually in the wall cavity dating from the 1950s.
Thanks
Metering cupboards are just that...for metering equipment, cut out, meter and DPI when fitted. Now getting more and more crammed with PV isolator and associated wiring but never (yet) found a CU in one! Surprised how the DNO fitted a 100A fuse in an 80A at best cut out.
Consumer unit within 150mm of a live gas supply.......oooops!
Why didnt you connect one of the lives from the downstairs ring with one of the upstairs, same for neutral and earth then you would have one big house ring. solves the problem of having 4 cables in a breaker.
Good vid Like your positive attitude am sure your customer will be grateful 👍
For the ring, why not connect one original leg to the other ring leg and vise versa so you only have two cables entering the mcb, but the 2 rings have been extended to 1?
the length of the making it one ring may have been to long for the max Zs ?
@@elsdonsparks it’s on an rcd so Zs will not be an issue, not great relying on the rcd for fault protection but there you go.
No advantage
That was an interesting thing I didn't know when you mentioned USB sockets creating a relatively high earth leakage current. Personally I hate the things as I think most of them are cheap and nasty chinesium curtain burners but it's a useful bit of knowledge to have.
any modern device will have some earth leakage. Switching power supplies in modern devices have a class Y capacitor across the transformer to suppress EMI. The secondary side is earthed (class I) or double insulated (class II). The primary is live and neutral rectified. capacitor from live/neutral to earth creates earth leakage.
Personally I don't like USB sockets because they're like having the cheapest £5 charger permanently plugged in. They won't have modern fast charging features, so they'll be obsolete almost immediately, they probably don't have great isolation from primary to secondary, and they're probably very noisy and wasteful with their standby power.
I'm on a looped supply and we managed to get 80amp fuse put in but that's the max (UKPN said as next door had 60 we were clear for the 80). Good news is the main supply comes into our house so any future work will be on her side and drive. Still think that's going to be a big big problem for the power networks in the coming years.
It will only be a problem if people continue to upgrade to 100A "just because". A charger that's limited to e.g. 10A still can charge 12km/h or 120km overnight (10h). For most people who can park in their driveway every night that's more than enough. (Meaning they can charge to the full range of their car on normal days and only run into issues if they need the full range on two consecutive days.)
Yes, a nice 32A charger will give you 380+ km/night each and every night, but how many people (aside from taxis and other business vehicles) actually need that?
Many people seem to think they need to be able to charge their 600+km battery from completely empty to full in half a night at home. And if they drive 150,000km a year (600km*5days*52weeks) that's even true. But otherwise it's just not needed.
@@HenryLoenwind overnight cheap rates from special "EV tariff" would suggest wanting the faster charge rates as possible
Hello from US (please send help). Thanks for the video; always cool to see interesting differences between US and UK.
👍😁
Same from me here in Germany.
Even though UK wiring is similar, we have 3 phase most of the time over here.
Another issue having this armoured cable wired directly from the mains means there is no discrimination from the other circuits. In other words, you can't isolate it, even if the mains switch is open/off.
I really don't like installing load centres (consumers units) under kitchen bench tops, as main switches are meant to be readily available. (Australian prospective)
Great video, keep them coming. Like your way of presenting bad situations and remedial work you have to perform (if you can) to rectify the problems.
The weird leakage might be via gas or water pipe. On one of my jobs i found 2Amps running in a water pipe . Even when main circuit breaker was off.
Aside from the rising inflection at the end of every sentence - a good video!
Great vid, love your testing and fault finding content. You need to to be sending an invoice to Anderson's Electrical for your lost time due to their incompetence. Glad you called them out though, might make them up their game 👍
👍
The DNO fuse was still in right? But you had the main tails isolated via that low level isolation switch?. But there was no lock off on the switch as far as i could see. Ive had main switches that switch almost with the touch of a feather. I was getting twitchy bum hole syndrome when i saw you working on the tails 💩
I also love the mirror for breaker/bus bar inspection. Absolutely great tip Jordan. You are a real inspiration and a bit above the rest when it comes to sharing your business on social media. Well done, hope i can be as good as you one day
Boddington do a really good insulated mirror
Good video Jordan
Cool thanks
I really like your videos but the motion sickness is real!
I would of doubled up on the lighting circuit mate
Problem with that is that you lose the whole house with one trip
Can I ask, why no earth rod for this EV charge point? Thanks
I would have joined the lighting circuits on this one to free up a spare way with it being a single rcd board. Does the ev charger have a type s rcd as I was wondering about the high earth leakage already
That is a mantel cupboard, these are used in a lot of council properties or on conduit systems👍
Thanks
Why is swa cable being used internally for the car charging circuit when you could run twin and earth to the isolation box and swa connected to it for the outside cable run? Then you could separate the earth at the box.
It doesn't work around the earth because the leaked current is escaping the property by another path. By putting it over the tails and not the earth you measure what the RCD is actually seeing, which is the total leakage from the property not just what comes back down the circuit cpcs.
I really hate these premiers, you click to watch and then realise there’s no content. Pointless and frustrating for subscribers especially as we’re always being asked the subscribe and turn on notifications.
That’s not a pop at you either Jordan it’s just RUclips is infesting my subscriber playlist with these rather than actual content and it’s a disease they need to nip in the bud. I don’t know anyone who actually thinks it’s a good idea
@Ellis The DJ No, it's not a live stream, it's a video he uploaded yesterday and then he told us "hey, I just uploaded a new video, but you won't be able to watch it for another day"
And here's why he did that:
(Rest of comment will be added at some point in the future. Make sure to check back regularly so you don't miss it before it delete it again.)
Why would you expect the meter to work around the earth cable? I understood that you have a leak if current is leaking to earth anywhere from the circuit. So e.g. in the garden where it directly leaks into the wet ground. It wont take the long way round trough the earth cable right? A leak is detected because not all current leaving the RCD actually returns on neutral.
Exactly what I thought when watching this last night. And I'm not a sparky...
Hi I am considering a home charger for Toyota Rav 4, in the near future, the supply to the garage has a 32amp cable of which supply my woodworking machinery, the cable is approx 10 meters long from the consumer meter, would I need a say 40amp cable to supply the home charger. Thank you welshman 2081
Looked like you cut off the enlarged stub on the busbar which should be installed into the rcd as the connection its taking all the load?!? 20:36
15:13 - You have the lovely VDE allen keys there for show and then use the bicycle kit to do the job. Are you always missing the 2.5mm like me? I have three sets in the toolbag and no 2.5mm.
for some reason, I can't stop thinking about the light switch cable at our house that has a soldered connection (literally) in the wall, where it is impossible to get to without tearing the wall open, and so the two light switches only have a single 3 core and earth cable going to them (the reason for this bodge was that the light switch needed to be moved from one side of the door to the other, as the door was being re-hinged)
am I wrong or is the supply providers isolator two seperate switches as apposed to one double pole isolator ?
In Holland we have to use a splitter on the rcb when we have more then 1 incoming cable
Just a question, surely the charging point requires...
DC rcd as well as the AC rcd protection - as you note CD charging failure blind the AC rcd .
TT earthing - as this supply restricts to the customer to a special charging units with special protection for PME supplies.
Also - your earth leakage problem is not measurable in the earth cable as the leakage is not via the earth cable, but likely through porous single insulated wires in walls causing loss to ground - ie damp walls. You already showed the dreadful wiring through the box.
The Andersen has a type A RCD with 6mA DC protection built in to it
@@artisanelectrics Apologies missing that.
I just bought a 110 v transformer so I can power American items but it trips my rcbo is that normal
"I'm working in London today"......... get this man a doctor he isn't well.
😂
Customers must love his work !! ££££
so thats london, cambridge?! 😂😂😂
What: he is in London and couldn’t go pick up the charger from the supplier and complained throughout the whole video about his day . If you spent less time bullshitting and more time working, and actually did a full days work, it would be better viewing for subscribers.. donut
Does the Anderson not have DC leakage protection?
Yes it does
@@artisanelectrics good little charger so👍👍
What’s the problem with Deadlius dough head?? Never heard the likes of it!! Criticised for your opinion and then waffles on about something entirely irrelevant!! Plank!!
@@artisanelectrics Just a warning, the person who calls himself Deadlius is a really loose cannon!! He thinks I have it in for you which I don’t. I enjoy your vids and I think you do good work. This lads not right in the head, loves insulting and putting people down!! Unreal!
Hi again
Just a thought why didn't you change all mcbs to rcbo plenty of space and contactum are cheaper than most and it could be left as is that would of been my suggestion
Thanks
Great Job!! Good idea to use a circle mirror to see inspection. I am concerned about 100A of the main black box where brown 16ml wire. I noticed Brown 16ml wire on top touched on Natural (yellow) wire. I think you should take out the Natural (yellow) wire from brown 16ml wire then move above near the Main black box. Can you try this? Need a good safety. Thumb up!! Cheer!
So in Brittain you have 32A breakers? as seen @ 08:01 here in the Netherlands (230v) we have 16A and in some rare cases go up to 20A . And most normal houses have like 8 (groups?)
This is because in the UK sockets are usually wired on what's called a ring final circuit, in effect a loop leaving and returning to the 32amp MCB. After living in mainland Europe I noticed most socket outlets are on 16amp radial circuits. I'm not a certified electrician but that's my informed guess.
Couldn’t you join the legs from each ring together making a bigger ring with only 2 cables in the mcb? Return leg of front to outward leg of back?
You could argue that the armoured cable from the Henley block to the BG CU were effectively meter tails...
But not double insulated.
@@elsdonsparks Double insulation does not apply to cables. It's an appliance class defined in IEC 61140. The armoured cable/meter tails should be "insulated and sheathed", which might turn out to be the case here. The three cores of the cable are insulated in XLPE, then the grey stuff is a PVC 'bedding'. Would that be ok as a sheath?
Longer than 2 or 3m (depending on who the DNO is) and the cable would need fusing down.
Undersized "meter tails" when the 100A fuse went in, but that's ok because they were put in when it only had a 63A fuse (eyes rolling)
I use a dentist mirror as well I covered the handle in heat shrink to give me a bit of protection
I am not an electrician so forgive me if this is a stupid question but please can someone answer my question? From what I can see in the video it appears that the rest of the MCB’s are not connected to the main isolation switch via the busbar, so my question is where do the other circuits take their power from if the main tails are terminated in to the main switch? Again this may be a stupid question but I am in the process of enrolling in an electrical installation course and would be grateful for any pointers. Many thanks.
from the secondary side of the main switch there is a samll (3 way) busbar feeding the 50a MCB for the SWA and the RCBO for the cooker, but underneath that busbar there is also a brown cable feed ing the top side of the main RCD which in turn feeds the other circuits.... you will struggle to see it but it's there
Thanks for the reply Geoff. Having gone back and looked at it again I can see now where they connect via the smaller brown cable. Thanks again 👍
The modern consumer unit is a thing of beauty.
Once EVs become the norm electricians fitting charging points are going to be finding all sorts of horrors that will make this existing installation look good, rewires all round I suspect, bonanza time for electricians.
EvVs will never be the norm as there will be thousands of people who cannot afford to buy them or run them. They do not prevent polution as they just leave the polution in another country where the minerals for the batteries are mined. Watch this space lol.....
thanks for the insightful videos. quick question, is it never possible to just use an existing, nearby socket and pull new wires through it?
No. An electric vehicle charging point has to be on its own individual circuit.
@@artisanelectrics thanks, yes, a socket with its own individual circuit - theoretically, can its wires be replaced so we don't have to wire it above the tiles?
Potentially yes if the wires are big enough to cope with the heavy load of an EV charging
Yep, lower left 4 looks a little loose..... Awesome tip on that mirror. Lovely job Jordan. You have probably mentioned this before but where did you get the cable stripper? Is there a link to it on your tools page?
Nice work mate not too sure about the 2 rings off one mcb I would of preferred to of replaced the devices with contactum rcbos which would of left 2 spare ways to use. Obviously a cost but a much better install along side the shiny new charger :)
Same weather here in Singidunum as well
The box is original, not an outside box. It was fitted to council houses, I managed to get a consumer unit that was made for those boxes no longer made!!
At 27.25 - Ref measuring eth leakage current in main earth conductor - but NOT seeing any ?
( although the instrument appeared to show "OL" ie overload - it did show a current dying away to a small value when you manually switched ranges - so -was there in fact any current there? - - a bit vague here since you didnt stop "long enough" on this part to reach a steady reading)
And - you said "you were not sure why this was so" when you had actually established there was indeed leakage current - so why is this ?
Just prior to 27.25 you measured earth leakage current by clamping the test meter around BOTH line and neutral tails - which showed just over 11mA of earth leakage.
This test device essentially works as a "current transformer " in the clamp probe which is "seeing" the "residual" magnetic field of the two line and neutral conductors
This is because the magnetic fields surrounding the two conductors (tails) are in opposite phase since the current in the conductors are flowing in opposite directions - and hence the magnetic field will cancel ONLY IF the currents are EXACTLY equal - AND in PRECISE OPPOSITE PHASE
( point worth noting if some of that leakage current is "capacitive" (or inductive) in a final circuit)
Because in this case these currents are NOT equal ( or also not in precise antiphase) - there is thus a small residual magnetic field that the probe "sees".
NOW the IMPORTANT point here is the probe does NOT "know" whether that field it is "seeing" is from ONE conductor - OR - the sum of many - or - other words - the probe MUST and WILL work just the same on a single conductor carrying a current that produces the "same" magnitude of field
So ...
The Main earth - why no current ?? - we have established that the measuring device WILL measure current on a single conductor - thus-
Since therefore - you saw NO current in the Main earth conductor - it MUST THEREFORE mean that the leakage current of 11mA or so MUST be going elsewhere - and - the only way you could "track" this down is to repeat the "two wire" clamp test for EACH final circuit -and see which one(s) are contributing to the 11mA. My guess is you will find that the current is going via circuits that have "other" external paths to ground of low impedance - so the main earth lead carries little of this leakage current "AT THE POINT" where "you measured" it.
Having said all that - I'd like to know how accurate this TIS 560 is - when measuring very small currents of a few mA - This could be a good equipment "test " video for you to do !
What is the correct or required order of work to upgrade to 25mm meter tails? You're potentially requiring three companies: the DNO, the meter operator, and an electrician like yourself Jordan?
Very interesting video.
Can you clear something up for me please?
If my house is fed on a loop from next door, does that mean I can't have a home charger fitted?
Would the electricity board be able to fit a separate supply for me?,
the power comes from connections on a pole directly in front of my house at the top of the driveway, and would they charge me for this new feed?
if you are on a loop then your neighbour also needs to upgrade to the same fuse.
you can still have a charger,but your neighbour won't thank you at all for cranking up 80A on a cold winter morning charging up the car when they are in the shower!
@@bigmacntings7451 Thanks for the reply, all done now, separate supplies to both houses fitted and fuses upgraded
I'd definitely have chosen to have a new hole and carefully fill the old one... Hopefully with some sanding of a brick somewhere, some like coloured dust could be used to patch
A beautiful part of London? Are you sure you were in Peckham?
Hi Jordan, love following your channel I have a question for you, why don't you like BG? I've fitted loads of BG boards and never had an issue my wholesaler stocks BG and Fusebox, twice I've used fusebox both times I've broken the lid clips, I've also noticed I have to cut the conductors quite short to fit them into the main switch and rcbo's, however I really like the blank mcb's they supply, keep doing the videos they're very entertaining and make me feel justified in taking pride in my work, there are lots of dodgy sparks in swansea.
This might be a silly question if it is never mind because I'm not too familiar with anything outside the United States with regards to electrical installations other than mainly out of curiosity and other things.
But I notice at least on that consumer unit that there are multiple colors MCB handles does that correspond to the rating of the breaker I do know any old fuse boxes AKA consumer units with fuses they were color coded for amperage I take it that would be a a holdover for miniature circuit breakers as well but was not sure.
Never thought about it before.
Is there a story behind the color coding of fuses originally in the UK and other parts of Europe and elsewhere?
But I do agree that the way they do things in the United Kingdom in terms of electrical to make more sense of the stuff in the United States in a way this that the other but why friend is weird is the way that things are wired at least in some cases.
For example individual cables and the main service entrance Aiken a between fuse board or what have you consumer unit what you whatever you want to call it.
I've heard various things over the years obviously.
Also I think Indian rail would be a great way for anyting not just control panels and stuff and consumer units if we have something like that here in the United States with all this home automation and other things going on now they'll be so convenient.
I don't think there's any component in some way that could be done with DIN rail at all nowadays.
Also I do agree. 220 volts or above or so wherever it's it's at where you are in the country would be a good idea for a common voltage yes efficiency goes of Lowe's current required and if you had one voltage it would be easier to design everything instead of doing split phase 120 240 but there's I don't think there's ever going to be a harmless standard for the entire world but it would be nice.
What would be even better would be one plug the entire world would bring up van one standard for the entire world but yeah you never know.
I remember reading years ago about winner home automation was wanting to become a thing say about 1 Outlet that could be used for basically any purpose litter to be communication and everything else to one plug that guy fell apart you know.
So essentially your computer could get both the ethernet and power through the same plug the smart coffee maker could tell that you were home and was morning and turn on live the same plug that the computer could have used.
But one thing they did mention was having natural gas or propane Outlets with similar functionality which would be nice to be able to have a gas port for portable appliances or Heating I understand there is a thing like that but you don't hear about it much?
It also very strange indoor meters as well although here in the United States the old days sometimes you would have that but in bigger buildings once in awhile you'll have an indoor meter.
Also used to be here indoor gas meters used to be a thing I remember my uncle's place they had an indoor meter in the garage later on that was changed out I think some of that happened I don't remember.
But in some places the meters are inside or a utility area or somewhere and I'll be just a gas shut off valve out of doors sometimes poking up out of the sidewalk.
Did uk power network charge for there attendance for fuse upgrade and isolator mate ??
My experience with them is it all depends on who answers the phone/email
Didn't untwist the meter tails cores to avoid the immediate settling of the cables causing a loose connection very soon after tightening them to the required torque setting.
That look like the same original wall box as in our 1960s property... don't think it was ever an outside meter box. Maybe it wasn't "rewired" maybe it was just a new consumer unit put in? That would account for the scruffy wiring.
Hello=) Did u ever install EO charging units? Is it worth?
Yeah I have installed a few they are OK but not amazing
The sad thing is there was no reason to gland the top of that consumer unit given it's already in an enclosure which you need a "tool" to get into. . Also why didn't you crimp one ring to the other ring then use the 2 remaining legs into the breaker. Edit: instead of using a dentist mirror you could just mount the bus bar into all the breakers outside the unit then clip them all in together and re-terminate the circuit conductors.
When ever I want to turn the power off the customer tells me they've got a zoom call in 10minutes 🙄
2020 problems... but yes, every damn time
So true
@@artisanelectrics and thats why i carry a small UPS. runs their broadband router and phone charger while i work
Its ok im paid by the hour🤣
Paid by hour ftw.
I'll sit in the van waiting if i have to. Prep all work, kill power, connect three or four leads, power back on, sign here, have a nice day.
why do you need a cable with that big of a section? 25mm2, that's huge! also, for the sockets, isn't it a bit too much having a C32 breaker?
The joys of the UK ring final circuit that is the reason for the 32amp breaker.
Love the dentist mirror, just ordered one 👍
Cool
Hi Jordan. How much do you charge for this job? Do you always need an isolator between the meter and consumer unit?
It's quite rare to have the isolator. It's now best practice to fit one at it allows the consumer side of the meter to be issolated. Otherwise the DNO's fuse needs to be pulled. You've suposed to get the DNO to do the pulling.
What tool do you use for stripping the tails?