UK Advice on this old CU?.

[markayre]

Guys

Came across this Old CU, can anyone explain or shed some light on what the hell is going on with this. Cant figure out whats the deal with the 2 24 way connection blocks above the CU and how they have managed to get all the circuits coming into the 2 connection blocks down to 5 old style fuses?.

thanks for any advice.

 

[sparks1234]

That is a big can of worms

 

[freddo]

Are the joints just for all the lighting?

Have fun with that!

 

[markayre]

That is a big can of worms

Your telling me, I am sure it has been tinkered with in the past but from the circuit diagram on the door of the cabinet thats how it was originally installed.
[automerge]1570735897[/automerge]

Are the joints just for all the lighting?

Have fun with that!

No from what I can make out the top rail is for so called ring final circuits? And the bottom rail partly is for the lighting circuits. Its almost as if rather than creating a complete circuit ie start and finish at the cu with 2 cables every single leg of the circuits are fed back somehow to the 2 connection rails. Definitely a head scratcher lol.

 

[telectrix]

could be worse....could be a proteus.

 

[Jurassic Sparks]

It has the look of the home made about it
you used to be able to buy skeleton boards, used in social housing and commercial developments, but like the Tram they are history
I think a rewire and new Consumer units are in order

 

[lozarus]

The "rails" holding the horizontals look suspiciously like dexion racking

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Interesting. Marshalling all the lighting junctions etc. in one place, in this case the CU, is a derivative of the Octopus concept. But why the S/O circuits would keep bouncing in and out of the cabinet is difficult to justify. Have you got a pic of the diagram / termination schedule? Is the cabinet located centrally within the dwelling so that every S/O cable pull is a short, simple one?

 

[Deleted member 105166]

Is this domestic or commercial?
Would be an interesting job to simplify and modernise, certainly not run of the mill.

 

[markayre]

Guys got some pics of the circuit diagram attached to the door of the cabinet. If I am reading it correctly have they ran a circuit to every room and somehow created a ring at the terminal block?.

.

yes domestic install.

 

[ipf]

They've spent more time designing and completing that diagram than wiring the place.

Smells of a so called engineer, to me.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

"Wolsingham A-type" sounds like system-built housing... is it made of cast concrete panels or similar? Sections of the structure may have been delivered to site with all services installed, including electrical fittings pre-wired. The on-site work was simply to pull all the rolled up cables to this box along ready-made routes and connect at these terminals.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

E2A: Yes, it's a prefab wiring system by the looks of it, possibly Octopus although that was made by Hartley Automotives while this panel is by Falk, Stadelmann & Co. Note the cable description, 'Twin & B.E.' which will be braid earth (that's why there are no CPCs inside the panel). Also the building component numbers are given on the dwg, there's one socket in WU6, two in WU1 etc.

 

[markayre]

Thanks for the input guys, so it looks like maybe the accessories and associated cabling were preinstalled in the factory. Maybe left coiled up ready to feed back to the 2 24 way connection blocks once the house was fully assembled. Sounds like a very modern and efficient way to work ?

The board lists there are 2 ring mains for the sockets, not sure how they create a ring main when it appears to have every room circuit coming back directly to the cabinet/24 way connection block.

 

[snowhead]

The board lists there are 2 ring mains for the sockets, not sure how they create a ring main when it appears to have every room circuit coming back directly to the cabinet/24 way connection block.

Looking at the drawings on the left side of the schedules it shows cable out, loop between 2 or 3 sockets and cable back.
Then they link through sockets shown on the right of the schedule

1+2 out (from 1st ring main 30amp )
3+4 back
5+6 out
7+8 back
9+10 back (from 1st ring main)

11+12 out (from 2nd ring main 30amp )
13+14 back
15+16 out
17+18 back (from 2nd ring main)

 

[DPG]

What have you been asked to do? New CU?

 

[markayre]

Yes will require a new CU, going to be my first CU of this type. When I first saw it I must admit I thought “what the f***”. Was thinking of replacing the top connection blocks with a din rail system and bringing the appropriate feeds down into possibly a new skeleton type CU. Due to the nature of the walls etc full rewire is not possible so I was thinking as long as I follow the wiring diagram on the door it is not as daunting as it first looked.

 

[Jurassic Sparks]

Thanks for the input guys, so it looks like maybe the accessories and associated cabling were preinstalled in the factory. Maybe left coiled up ready to feed back to the 2 24 way connection blocks once the house was fully assembled. Sounds like a very modern and efficient way to work ?

The board lists there are 2 ring mains for the sockets, not sure how they create a ring main when it appears to have every room circuit coming back directly to the cabinet/24 way connection block.

watch out for asbestos then
its rife in those properties and in some old consumer units
[automerge]1570828015[/automerge]

Yes will require a new CU, going to be my first CU of this type. When I first saw it I must admit I thought “what the f***”. Was thinking of replacing the top connection blocks with a din rail system and bringing the appropriate feeds down into possibly a new skeleton type CU. Due to the nature of the walls etc full rewire is not possible so I was thinking as long as I follow the wiring diagram on the door it is not as daunting as it first looked.

it will be
using any old wiring like that will give you problems, best bet is to rewire using trunking, dado and skirting trunking, and again check for asbestos before you drill anywhere