Dodgy

[The Finch]

Brother had meter change on Friday engineer noticed cracked casing on the 100a incoming fuse so covered in tape and said would report, tonight smell of burning and smoke and well the photo shows the culprit

Should the main fuse have been changed straight away if damaged? He's called the supplier out and it's just crumbled away





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[Darkwood]

Complain about the meter engineer leaving the job 'although an existing issue' in a dangerous condition, if he changed the meter he would have realised the cutout required immediate attention it was probably cracked from the build up of heat and for him to reconnect it is a failure of his duty, he should have got a quick response team out to replace the cutout.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Complain about the meter engineer leaving the job 'although an existing issue' in a dangerous condition, if he changed the meter he would have realised the cutout required immediate attention it was probably cracked from the build up of heat and for him to reconnect it is a failure of his duty, he should have got a quick response team out to replace the cutout.

yeah...too rite Dark....
if we have to exersize `duty of care`.....then so can them.....

 

[GLENNSPARK]

its not about `having to`....exersize duty of care....most in here do it as part of the job...but.......

 

[snowhead]

The meter fixer, who won't have been working for the DNO, may have reported it immediately.
It could be the DNO slow to react.

I'd guess the terminals were loose in the cutout and moving the cables has made it worse.

 

[GStueyXR]

Report the scumbag.... Damn I hate meter fitters, always hogging every available bit of space in an elec cupboard... Bas***ds

 

[The Finch]

Cheers for the response I just wanted to check before I advise my brother to get on the phone tomorrow and complain I showed the photo to a friend and he said could have gone into fire if left in noticed much longer, he was told could take a couple of weeks to get the job through


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[Des 56]

Phone them and if they say a couple of weeks,tell them you will conduct future correspondence with the Health and safety executive using smoke signals generated by their equipment

 

[The Finch]

He has taken numerous photos and I have told him that if they mess him about mention the hse and maybe drop into conversation he's a police officer, he rang the number from the company that fit meter they told him its supplier he has eventually got npower out who said he can do a temporary make safe job as the box has now crumbled and someone will be out first thing to complete the job


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[Darkwood]

The meter fixer, who won't have been working for the DNO, may have reported it immediately.
It could be the DNO slow to react.

I'd guess the terminals were loose in the cutout and moving the cables has made it worse.

Your forgetting he also has a duty of safety and because the cutout was already cracked from excessive heat he should not have connected to the faulty cutout .... this is what im getting at no matter whether he informs DNO or not he should never have connected and instead got emergeny response out..... i had exactly same senerio, i was doing an alteration and saw the cutout with similar damage so i isolated supply and got them out...... as soon as engineer touch the cutout it came apart in his hands but luckely didnt short but he had his safety gear on.

 

[Rockingit]

Looking at the photo, it looks more like the tail wasn't fitted correctly rather than anything to do with the casing being cracked. Think about it - how is the (plastic / bakelite / whatever) COVER going to affect the internal connection sufficiently to cause a build up of heat? The cover is just there for insulation and touch protection, it doesn't do anything mechanical as such.

 

[Darkwood]

If it was genuinely cracked prior to his visit it could be due to excessive heat from a poor connection, im not saying the crack caused the issue but vice versa, we only have what the OP told us, the meter man would have withdrawn the fuse to swap meter then refitted he would have also seen the reason for the crack as i suspect it had already been cooking away, his act of disturbing it will have only premoted the problem hence it lasted a weekend, i cant believe he will have withdrawn the fuse and refitted and not noticed discoloured fuse pins and charred pin holes..... i believe he did and made the call as he did but his mistake was it should have been immediate response and not a scheduled visit and he shouldn't have refitted the fuse.
Hes trained to change meters nothing more they are not electricians usually to labourers with training to swap meters over, ive come across many who havent a clue about electric hence he probably didnt realise the severity of the situation

 

[The Finch]

I'm waiting on my brother letting me know the outcome of the phone call, he said the meter man noticed the crack said wasnt dangerous and had taped up as a temporary measure and would get a job raised to change the unit, the guy from npower came out last night late and as previous stated the casing crumbled away so he made safe by whatever means he did I don't know to restore supply then at 8am this morning someone has been and completed the job


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[Darkwood]

Thats my whole point finch if he knew it was dangerous then rather than do a bodgit tape job he should removed the load from the dangerous cutout and because the cutout was in such a bad condition he would have been wise to leave the load side tails out of the meter and call the fast response but its done now and luckily he hasn't burnt the house down from the mis-judgement he made but just look what the mouting board is made of and you'll understand this could have been alot worse.
This is why i disagree with meter men who are trained to change meters but have no electrical background because when it comes to making a judgement call it they are prone to making a poor one.

 

[The Finch]

Yes I know what you are saying and could have been a lot worse!! I have passed on all your points and comments to my brother to use as ammunition

Re your comment about these guys changing meters but no electrical knowledge yes I agree, it's been a few years since I did my training but even I do not touch nowadays all my stuff is 24 volts nowadays on fire systems


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[Darkwood]

Just take my comments as worse case though, at the end of the day chinese whispers and all can dilute the actual events as its your bro -to you- to us but the pic does say alot, it may have been the case as i mentioned earlier he may have unknowingly disturbed an already poor connection but as part of his job he should confirm all terminations are tight including the cutout as he will have been moving the tails about this is why im sus about his judgement, if the termination was left loose and thats what caused this he's at fault and if the connection showed excessive heat damage that had occured before his visit then i also believe he shouldn't have loaded it up and left the installation disconnected until an engineer came out.