And I thought electrical fires were caused by plastic CUs

[Pete999]

 

[dmxtothemax]

" WHY DON'T WE HEAR MORE ABOUT THIS"
We do,
regularly in the media
truth is most people don't care.
That's what electricians are for
And all them rules.

Besides panic never helps anything
The authorities are doing there best to improve things
with stuff like ELCB OR AFCI.

IT TAKES TIME !

 

[Deleted member 26818]

If you will use connectors that just twist together the wires, what do you expect?

 

[Barry White]

We are hearing about this and the huge smart meter roll out is creating most of it. The meter changer changes the meter (maybe he has to pull the tails or reposition them to fit into a different meter) twisting or moving the tails going to a consumer unit can loosen the conection. Hence the sudden rise in fires connected with consumer units.

The only test they do is a polarity check (they cannot check the customer conections)

 

[unconditional]

If you will use connectors that just twist together the wires, what do you expect?

TBF I'd rather screwits installed by a skilled person than a lot of supposedly fool proof kit bludgeoned in by dimwits.

We are hearing about this and the huge smart meter roll out is creating most of it. The meter changer changes the meter (maybe he has to pull the tails or reposition them to fit into a different meter) twisting or moving the tails going to a consumer unit can loosen the conection. Hence the sudden rise in fires connected with consumer units.

The only test they do is a polarity check (they cannot check the customer conections)

It's my opinion that if you disturb/move meter tails as leccy board or sparks you should check them for tightness regardless, but generally all meters share the same L-N-N-L connection order so can be swapped with relatively little disturbance, the rise in fires is due to the quantity of poor work being carried out by unskilled people with no respect to the rules and regulations, (making the introduction of fire resistant CU's somewhat misguided as it addresses symptons not causes, and is adhered to by those not causing the issues)

I'd love to see the stats on how much of this vast upswing in burnt out CU's have recent VALID certification and how many are in properties with recent refurbishment done by everyones favourite cheap labour. It's not likely that sparks have collectively just forgotten how to tighten up terminals properly is it?

On that note, meter replacement whether conventional or smart has always been carried out regularly, as meters need calibration every ~20 years.

Sorry to go slightly O/T but it's not actually that O/T in reality - loose connections cause problems.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I am probably one of the few people who has witnessed a plastic CU on fire, other than in controlled circumstances.
The industrial unit it was in very quickly filled up with acrid poisonous smoke.
Always bugged me how the NICEIC would routinely condemn wooden backed boards then replace them with highly flammable plastic ones.
Of course the fact that a number of house fires have started in the old cast iron heads, should reassure us that the steel boards we are now required to install will greatly improve safety.

 

[unconditional]

BTW I like how his "controlled environment" appears to be a wooden workbench?

 

[Deleted member 26818]

It's ok, he made that bench out of old fire doors.

 

[Barry White]

TBF I'd rather screwits installed by a skilled person than a lot of supposedly fool proof kit bludgeoned in by dimwits.



It's my opinion that if you disturb/move meter tails as leccy board or sparks you should check them for tightness regardless, but generally all meters share the same L-N-N-L connection order so can be swapped with relatively little disturbance, the rise in fires is due to the quantity of poor work being carried out by unskilled people with no respect to the rules and regulations, (making the introduction of fire resistant CU's somewhat misguided as it addresses symptons not causes, and is adhered to by those not causing the issues)

I'd love to see the stats on how much of this vast upswing in burnt out CU's have recent VALID certification and how many are in properties with recent refurbishment done by everyones favourite cheap labour. It's not likely that sparks have collectively just forgotten how to tighten up terminals properly is it?

On that note, meter replacement whether conventional or smart has always been carried out regularly, as meters need calibration every ~20 years.

Sorry to go slightly O/T but it's not actually that O/T in reality - loose connections cause problems.

In my case they fitted the meter in a different place to the original analoge meter they fitted a wifi box unit too that conects with the gas meter so things were jigged about a bit and yes the neutral was loose!
My wife said to me leccy is not right they have put us a smart meter in today and lights go dull when I put the oven on,So I turned the oven off. (as a result she saved a fire as my tea was not burned as usual)

Quote from ofgem "Since April 2011, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has been directly responsible for managing the implementation of the smart meter programme. " so timing fit in too.

I concur the fires are caused by loose or poor installs but disturbing the tails can exasperate this problem .

My old analoge meter had been in the property for in exess of 20 years it still had the clock face type numbers when removed.

The old meters were bomb proof lasting well past there designed work life I wonder what the designed lifespan of a smart meter is ?