Ancient supply feed & cutout

[Chunks]

I have just moved in to a victorian house and found a rather ancient supply & cutout. (see Pics) I need to change the CU as one of the two units is made of wood and both are old rewireable fuses, unlabled and some very old wiring too. My concern is that the cutout is vey old (but still has seals intact) and of an unknown ampage plus the earth is very small from the feed cable.
My thoughts are that the DNO need to upgrade supply cable/cutout/earth before I commence any other work but how do I approach them and will they charge ? if so how much

All thoughts appreciated on old upgrades like this.

 

[mogga]

only thing you can do is phone them and say you are concerened re the safety they will send someone out who will better advise than a lot of guys here Im sorry to say as far as I know none of the members are DNO advisors even if they were each DNO and indeed each DNO Are has differing rules regs and other stuff so the only people to advise you would be your DNO

 

[telectrix]

think a rewire might be advisable looking at that VIR cable. make sure you do thorough IR testing if just changing the CU. looks like it was once a 3 phase supply as well. as mogga says, contact your DNO for advice.

 

[cdavies33]

You fuse board looks like it was constructed by the installer, Fair play that is old! From those 3 pictures alone, I'd put money on it that house needs a rewire! Sorry for sounding so negative on your new purchase.

 

[AIM]

Don't bother trying to get indicative price from DNO over phone, they will not commit to anything.

Submit application form and get basic price in 10 days, detailed price in 15 days.

First call regarding safety of supply, you should get someone 'gloved up' appearing promptly!

 

[micknew]

Double pole fusing dates it back to the days of DC supplies, I think.

 

[micknew]

They can't charge for replacing their outdated dangerous wiring/equipment.
Pretty though isn't it.

 

[Octopus]

Are you a sparky? Can you do some IR tests?

I removed a board like that a few weeks back and the insulation on the cable was falling off!

 

[Engineer54]

think a rewire might be advisable looking at that VIR cable. make sure you do thorough IR testing if just changing the CU. looks like it was once a 3 phase supply as well. as mogga says, contact your DNO for advice.

Doesn't look much like VIR cable to me!! That looks like very early PVC twin to me. Maybe one of those cable could be a VIR, but never seen grey coloured VIR, only ever came in black sheathed cable as far as i remember. I'd say this house was rewired in the early 50's, so probably no CPC incorporated, certainly not in the lighting sized cables.

That cut-out is maybe well over 80 years old though!! The DNO has a duty to replace ALL rewireable type cut outs free of charge. They have even given a notice that the majority of these old service heads will be replaced by 2015 i think it was...

 

[telectrix]

cable looks black on my laptop, esp the ? 7/044 ?

 

[Engineer54]

No, the majority of them cables are coloured grey... The conductor insulation are also on the shiney side to be VIR insulated, VIR are normally very much on the dull side...

 

[UKMeterman]

Give the DNO a ring on the normal emergency number, state that it is very old and you think it might not be safe.. That should get someone round quick. NB Make the call at first light as they may put you off supply, whilst they do the improvement works..

 

[rick]

Looks like ceramic rewirable carriers. DNO should replace FOC. Not immediately unsafe but would be good to get it upgraded, I would imagine 60A per phase. DNO will probably want to isolate underground beforehand, so prepare for hole in your driveway!

 

[Knobhead]

WOW! That cut-out and board should be in a museum.
Whoever replaced the tails wants their ares kicking for letting the cut-out to be left in place. The meters an old dual tariff, so where’s the other board?
The incoming cable if it’s three phase must have cores like wet string it’s that thin.

I can’t get over someone putting PVC in to that board, try as I mite I can’t see any CPC’s. (I took the picture in to photoshop for a close look).

It looks like a rewire I’m afraid.

 

[UKMeterman]

There is something very odd about that meter installation, yes it is a dual tarriff radio controlled but the installation is not using the contactor (relay) in the radio switch. If you do want to use the dual tarriff your electricity supplier needs to fix it so the contactor can be used,

 

[stitch]

That meter and time switch setup is the same as a friend of mines farm, where the bulk tank refrigeration system builds ice up on cheap rate electricity in the early hours. All the radio time switch does is switch the meter over to drive the low tariff reading at either midnight or 1am and then switch the meter back to the normal tariff reading at 7am or 8am depending on GMT/BST.

 

[Des 56]

I notice a set of red +black tails out from the meter but no sign of them in that fuse board


Is this perhaps an obsolete unit that has been left in situ,where are the tails going,there's probably another board

 

[Mr.Ian]

I'd say it's a 3 phase supply and a vintage one at that as there are colour markings above each phase and seperate neutral, when you get it changed try n keep it n get it on ebay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chunks]

Thanks for the responses. For info there is another CU other than the wooden one. Its more traditional with rewireable fuses (see pics). I havent opened it up yet but there is an earth going in. My first thoughts are that the lighting is in the wooden unit with no CPC and the rest of the circuits are in the more modern unit and hopefully have a CPC utilised.

Were sockets ever run with just Line & Neutral? I know most of it will need replacing but I think the DNO should do their part first.

 

[Des 56]

I notice a set of red +black tails out from the meter but no sign of them in that fuse board


Is this perhaps an obsolete unit that has been left in situ,where are the tails going,there's probably another board

Looking at the new picture I am more convinced this is just an obsolete board
The new picture has at least what appears to be, minimum one lighting cable,also no evidence of main bonding
If the ancient board is live,its going to need a feed from here

Is there a cable from one to the other?

There were cables with a separate bare cpc, mainly VIR, but most pvc/pvc power cables in domestic use had stranded core cpc going back many years

 

[Chunks]

There is a cable from the main CU to the old wooden board so I believe it is still live. Guess its from the late 50's or early 60's ? Find it hard to think people thought wood was a suitable barrier/insulator just a few years ago.
Got to sort Isolation of the supply before tackling this project. Perhaps DNO will fit when they change cutout.

 

[Engineer54]

There was nothing wrong with the old Wylex wooden CU's with the open backs. So long as you fitted them on non-combustible material. The wood used was seasoned hard wood and is probably far better protection than any plastic CU. At least they won't melt down to a molten blob!!! The fronts on most of those older Wylex wooden CU's was bakelite, so they weren't going to burn too easy!!

The wooden CU in the OP's photo's is a different matter altogether. That is, ... made of cheap soft wood, and were often home made back in the 30s and 40s. Electricians were multi trade in those days, that often took in carpentry as a major component of an electricians work, singles were often run in a wooden grooved capping that ran around and in-between rooms, Some of the joints and mitres in that wood capping, were better than some of today's carpenters could achieve...lol!!!

 

[UKMeterman]

CAUTION,
Another issue has been spotted regarding the wooden CU, it seems to be using double pole fusing, so a fuse could blow in the neutral line and the appliance would still be live..