FIRST HOME - Help with new Consumer Unit

[MerlinGremlin]

No worries mate, it can get confusing who says what!

Can't stand those cheap boards, CPN, BG etc i think they are the reason Amendment three was introduced! Is CPN Citys own brand?

Very confusing sometimes the client supplied the board from yesss electrical I wasn't impressed to say the least, I don't know how some boards can be sold.

 

[suffolkspark]

Very confusing sometimes the client supplied the board from yesss electrical I wasn't impressed to say the least, I don't know how some boards can be sold.

I don't understand it its like putting cheap tyres on your car though, people do it despite them being the main thing holding you on the road!

What's more daft is MK boards are so so cheap even at screwfix etc yet people still buy these BG boards etc

 

[buzzlightyear]

Will boggy & scarbuger from polizicker. Do a job for 250.00 pounds they can run back to their
Own country no concerned about
Electfiing some one !

 

[Billsays]

I don't understand it its like putting cheap tyres on your car though, people do it despite them being the main thing holding you on the road!

What's more daft is MK boards are so so cheap even at screwfix etc yet people still buy these BG boards etc

Agree, MK and Wylex both very cheap at our wholesaler at the moment.

 

[Dave OCD]

Will boggy & scarbuger from polizicker. Do a job for 250.00 pounds they can run back to their
Own country no concerned about
Electfiing some one !

Only you could put it like that Buzz.

 

[Dave OCD]

Can I just say I've fitted numerous BG boards with no issues at all, but this thread is putting me right off them.

 

[telectrix]

Can I just say I've fitted numerous BG boards with no issues at all, but this thread is putting me right off them.

so have I.

 

[Dave OCD]

Ah could be that you,Richard and me are the only ones who fit them properly then Tel ?

 

[SJD]

And so have I.
If I want a LH main switch then I tend to install MK, but if I want a RH main switch then I used to install Wylex but nowadays they are a bit more expensive, whereas BG are about the same price as MK.

 

[Octopus]

Most of the AMD3 boards are just flimsy carp, wrapped in metal .......

 

[Richard Burns]

Ah could be that you,Richard and me are the only ones who fit them properly then Tel ?

Sounds a reasonable hypothesis!

 

[Dave OCD]

I do recall early ones I fitted a few years ago had tight neutral and earth bar screws, maybe caused by threadlock applied to excess but these days they're fine.

 

[telectrix]

I do recall early ones I fitted a few years ago had tight neutral and earth bar screws, maybe caused by threadlock applied to excess but these days they're fine.

i remember that. theyy still can be a bit tight so you think you've got the cable secured, then it drops out. just makes you a bit more on the ball. at least with BG, the MCBs sit straight, not like MK.

 

[Des 56]

MK was once a name that went hand in hand with the word quality

I find it incredible (given the absolute crap that MK now manufacture) they are being considered as somehow superior to BG or other low cost consumer units

The days of MK and quality are long gone,numerous quantities of their consumer units (with main switches that were found to be burned out embers after little use) are without doubt still in use
Along with the abysmal standard of Crabtree sockets both are no better than most of the other junk on the market
edit
I will give Crabtree their due,the Crabtree consumer units are a standard above the usual junk that gets fitted

 

[SJD]

With MK and their LH switch, as you are tightening the MCBs onto the busbar the MCB tops tend to move to the right with the screw turning. I kind of assumed this was a flaw with LH switch units, whereas with a RH switch unit, it is the opposite.

 

[telectrix]

With MK and their LH switch, as you are tightening the MCBs onto the busbar the MCB tops tend to move to the right with the screw turning. I kind of assumed this was a flaw with LH switch units, whereas with a RH switch unit, it is the opposite.

easily solved. we get MK to mod all their gear ( main switch,RCD, MCBs) to left-hand thread. not only would that cure the problem of crooked MCBs, it would also fry the brains of NICEIC Electrical Trainee's. sssssimplessss.

 

[suffolkspark]

MK MCB's probably out of all brands do have the sloppiest grip on the din rail to be fair but just hold them square as you tighten them with your torque driver and they will stay square!
On a side note I fitted an Eaton AM 3 board a bit ago and you know what it was very well built with both square and round knockouts, and the MCB's held that DIN rail like nothing I've ever come across, defo recommend.

 

[Midwest]

With MK and their LH switch, as you are tightening the MCBs onto the busbar the MCB tops tend to move to the right with the screw turning. I kind of assumed this was a flaw with LH switch units, whereas with a RH switch unit, it is the opposite.

See'ins though we've gone off the rails, agree with SJD, and the twisting effect of the MK modules, which allegedly the new A3 din rail was designed to prevent.

And another thing. The MK blanks which fit on the din rail, can only be obtained in the colour (cream) of the old plastic CU's. The blanks which fit in the lid, can be obtained in the new colour of the A3 CU's (off white), but they are not the same width as mcb (e.g.) and so you end up with a gap (which increase with each blank).

So you end up with a shiny new off white coloured CU, with cream coloured blanks or colour matching blanks with a hole someone can poke a fist through.

Four paragraphs again, telextrical