advice on changing my consumer unit please

[Octopus]

Yup. And even with one it's not easy. Trying to resolve one right now!

 

[telectrix]

Yup. And even with one it's not easy. Trying to resolve one right now!

get the snips out, man. :bucktooth:

 

[7029 dave]

Good advice given.

 

[rolyberkin]

I was hoping on this forum to get some good informed advice rather than a reminder of the red tape we are currently under. If nobody dares to give me any advice then I will have to work it out for myself.

Your 'well informed' advice was do not meddle with stuff you clearly know nothing about, like it or not it's not red tape it is the law. Is risking your own or your families life the cost of getting someone out who knows what they are doing, has the correct test equipment to find the fault, fix it and can put things right? You will probably spend more money doing work that doesn't actually need doing by having a go yourself. As and when you come to sell your house you will need a certificate for the new consumer unit and associated notifiable work.

 

[davesparks]

Thanks for the feedback people. I know what I need to do its just that I haven't found a piece of kit that will do it. Handysparks, the boards I have seen so far are typically split with RCD protection but don't have a spare slot for a single RCBO outside the control of the RCDs monitoring the split groups, so if you could point me to such a thing I would be grateful.
Also my point about the garden fault is surely that there is much more incidence of RCD trips in a garden environment (mowers, outdoor lights pond pumps etc.) that regardless of whether I have a fault now or not I would like any fault outside not to trip the house

What you need to do is have the wiring altered so that the external supply does not come from the kitchen circuit, but rather has its own circuit.
Nothing else will achieve a situation whereby faults on the external circuit do not cause a loss of power internally.

Having the CU replaced will possibly reduce the impact, but not necessarily eliminate it.

What is the reason for the RCD protecting the whole CU currently? Is it providing fault protection?


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[johnnyboy1950]

I inherited the existing CU when I moved in. The main isolator is an RCD which is safe but inconvenient. I agree that supplying the outside directly from the CU is the best way but at the moment the garage and garden has an armoured cable underground from the inside kitchen wall behind the fitted cupboards. I would have to isolate that and run a new cable from the CU to the garage. Changing the main RCD to an MCB would involve pulling the sealed fuse anyway so I'm now thinking I'll just find the fault in the garden and leave everything else as it is.

 

[Spoon]

Can you not run a cable from the house CU to a metal junction box and wire the garage armoured cable to that? Use MF connectors if necessary.

 

[telectrix]

wot he just said. ^^^^^. but you'll still have the problem of a fault outside tripping the main RCD until and if you get a hi-integrity board fitted.

 

[Octopus]

I inherited the existing CU when I moved in. The main isolator is an RCD which is safe but inconvenient. I agree that supplying the outside directly from the CU is the best way but at the moment the garage and garden has an armoured cable underground from the inside kitchen wall behind the fitted cupboards. I would have to isolate that and run a new cable from the CU to the garage. Changing the main RCD to an MCB would involve pulling the sealed fuse anyway so I'm now thinking I'll just find the fault in the garden and leave everything else as it is.

How do you plan to fault find? Do you have an mft? And competence?

 

[Deleted member 9648]

How do you plan to fault find? Do you have an mft? And competence?

He's an electrical engineer.....considerably more competent than those advising him it would seem.

 

[Spoon]

I don't think competence is an issue here. It's just lack of knowledge on the domestic side. He is asking for info, that is all.
I am an Electrical Design Engineer but as I have said, before I joined this forum I knew hardly anything about domestic electrics. The only test equipment I have is a £10 digital mutimeter.....

 

[johnnyboy1950]

Thank you Wirepuller and Spoon
OK I was trying but it seems like I have to convince more than one or two people. My background since the late 70's has been CNC Machine Tools and in the last 10 years Gate Automation which is very much to do with electrical and electronics in the outside environment. I can easily diagnose the garden problem by a process of elimination. I think it is a garden light that is now smothered by a large shrub. It's quite straight forward to eliminate the supply from the infra red distribution box I have inside an IP66 box in the garden. All I wanted was a way of solving the inconvenience of the house going off when something happens in the garden/garage.
BTW this is the best site I've seen for a long time where people respond quickly even if its not the advice I want to hear.
Don't you guys have work to do during the day? LOL!

 

[Spoon]

See my post 27 mate. Wire the circuit to a RCBO (if the circuit requires it and if you can fit on in your house CU) . Then sort out the fault.