CU Connected with breakers taken out first

[uksparks]

Hi,

Just thought id share my photos of a CU I finished, well almost finished today, just needs another 6A breaker and a couple of the circuits connecting in, but otherwise, its pretty much there! I am so please that I have discovered this new better way of connecting everything, it feels like the board is so much more spacious!

Please feel free to comment, I have hidden my name and details from the CU label as to not reveal my true identity, I don't want the world knowing who performs such shoddy work. And the date, I have dated it start of next month, various reasons...

Next week ill put a new contactor on for the top board above, and cut the paxolin in for the tails, tomorrow I am going to finish off putting the garage sockets in and garage lights so still have some more conduit to fit etc.




Any feedback much appreciated, oh you may notice I put a fire alarm isolator below, the light circuit with the smokes on ends there, then starts again to the smokes, just thought it was a cool touch, that ay you can see that the power is there for the smoke alarms etc, and you can isolate them all should you want to without killing the lights, over the top i know.

Oh i need to fit the emergency light above too, bugger it, forgot that!

 

[uksparks]

The only thing thats niggled me with this board, the main neutral bar is too long and should be shorter to allow for more connections in the neutral bars for RCD 1 and RCD2, because I have got more MCB's on the second RCD due to this as I couldnt see any logical way of changing it without cutting it about and then the stickers would not look so nice and pretty.

 

[Brightspark2]

Good effort...You can see you take pride in your work...

But its sockets not plugs :sick:

 

[Deleted member 72666]

I was pleased for you until you wrote 'plugs' on the board.

 

[Richo77]

Think I'm going to try this method on a board I got to replace on Tuesday. Got to admit it looks neat and tidy.

 

[uksparks]

Hmm I wonder if they will peel off so I can change it, you jib I didn't even think when I was doing it. It's probably because it fits better than sockets. I'll change it when I go back.

yeah I'm rather pleased with my efforts on this. A rewire I did the other month, I'm using it for my nic assessment next month, think ill whip it all out and redo it like this.

 

[jaypp]

Very neat sir. If you wanted to use L.H N bar with adjacent one, could you not remove the N from main switch and connect direct to rcd?

I think that's what you meant?

the main neutral bar is too long and should be shorter to allow for more connections in the neutral bars for RCD 1 and RCD2, because I have got more MCB's on the second RCD due to this

 

[davesparks]

Why aren't the smokes on their own dedicated circuit?

What's going to go through the stuffing glands at the bottom of the TPN board above? Not tails I hope? unless of course the holes are joined by slots or it's a non-ferrous glandplate

 

[NDG Elecs]

Nice to see a neat board fella, I rarely get a chance to do one so neat, usually because the cables are coming in from all angles which makes it that bit harder. Got a nice one coming up soon though.

Outta curiosity what labeller are you using that has the earth symbol on it? I have a basic brother one I think (p-touch I recall) and it's ok but could be better.

What are they gonna be growing in that conservatory is my only question....32A's......sounds like the old c.sativa to me!

 

[Richard Burns]

The only thing thats niggled me with this board, the main neutral bar is too long and should be shorter to allow for more connections in the neutral bars for RCD 1 and RCD2, because I have got more MCB's on the second RCD due to this as I couldnt see any logical way of changing it without cutting it about and then the stickers would not look so nice and pretty.

If you wanted more circuits on RCD1 instead of on RCD2 then you would move the Neutral link bar to link the second and third neutral bars rather than the third and fourth.
You would have to cut the labels and have a flexible busbar.

Nice board though (except for the fact it is MK)

 

[uksparks]

The TPN boats above, I am going to be chopping the middle section out snd replacing with paxolin so that they are through that instead.

the labeller,it's a brother p touch PT7600, does everything.

thanks for the feedback about the neutrals, i think ill leave it as it is as it is kind of complete now.

the conservatory, there's a 2.5kW aircob unit so as it's a ring I thought I might as well stick it on a 32A. The conservatory is the only bit I didn't rewire, this was done 6 months ago by the builders, it was knocked down and rebuilt on the insurance, I just took new legs to it.

strangely I can only get 50M ohms IR on the conservatory so not sure what they have done to the wiring.

 

[Resu]

Why aren't the smokes on their own dedicated circuit?

Reduces he likelihood of the client turning them off for whatever reason (obviously there is the argument of fault on lighting circuit causing breaker to trip and taking out the smokes but then you have battery backup (not ideal) but at least the client would be more inclined to get the lights fixed).

 

[Hawkmoon]

Hmm I wonder if they will peel off so I can change it, you jib I didn't even think when I was doing it. It's probably because it fits better than sockets. I'll change it when I go back.

yeah I'm rather pleased with my efforts on this. A rewire I did the other month, I'm using it for my nic assessment next month, think ill whip it all out and redo it like this.

The customer/user will know exactly what 'plugs' means so I wouldn't sweat over it - it definitely won't impact on your assessment.

Nice job

 

[uksparks]

Most general public refer to them as plugs anyway I would imagine.

Just a a thought going back to the TP&N board above, it used to have the tails going into a 32A switch fuse then to the contractor which was a 45A I think with heaters straight off it. I guess I could do away with the 32A switch fuse now as the tails can go straight into the new contractor then to the board...as it's all rated at 100A 415v etc. the service head fuses are 100A by the way.

 

[davesparks]

Why so many big earths in the TPN board? It looks like one runs from the earth bar to the earth bar and then one from the earth bar to the earth stud? Neither are necessary.

To me its things like that which ring alarm bells on inspections and make me think the installer didn't know what they were doing. A bit like boards decorated with unnecessary voltage stickers etc.

 

[uksparks]

You say that, but I would rather make sure both earth bars have a good connection and that the case has a good earth too. I know fully what I'm doing just making sure it's well connected. I appreciate your comment but don't see what I've done there to be over the top particularly.

 

[Fast&Rough]

I think it's really neat , well done

 

[davesparks]

The earth bars are fixed in to the steel case, how much more of a secure connection do they need? The manufacturers would fit links if they were necessary.

Schneider even went to the trouble of issuing a press release to explain that it was unnecessary to do this in their boards which are set up in exactly the same manner.

What you've done to be over the top is wasted a couple of feet of good copper, add that up over the number of boards installed in a year and you are throwing money away.

There is obviously no safety issue with doing it, but it just makes me wonder about the installers knowledge when doing an inspection. The same as those damned 230volt stickers that keep turning up on CU's, obvious sign of someone who failed to understand the regulations.

 

[uksparks]

I have never put a 230v sticker on an enclosure, I do put them on things that are not so obvious to people though just so people are aware that there's mains voltage present.

I totally agree about the earth bars being connected to the chassis, it's over kill what I've done.