How many on here have ever actually been prosecuted for pulling the DNO fuse?

[Rockingit]

Allrightee...... thread after thread after thread we get peoples 'angst' about breaking DNO seals and removing fuses (for good reason and safety in mind).

So, if it's such a massive no-no and the DNO's will cart us all off to court under armed guard, how many, exactly, of the 44,000 members of this goodly forum have felt the heat of the spotlight and the gaze of the furious judge???

Anyone???



NB: Removal and tampering of DNO equipment is both illegal and can be dangerous. I do NOT recommend the doing so of under any circumstances.

 

[growler]

i just get my horse to chew through the seal when i pull up to a job..

 

[Marvo]

My horse has enough on his plate doing the invoicing.

 

[Rockingit]

I've had DNO engineers / meter fitters give me sets of seals before now, normally if they could see that the rest of the job was going to need isolating again.

 

[ipf]

I've had DNO engineers / meter fitters give me sets of seals before now, normally if they could see that the rest of the job was going to need isolating again.

Same here. Last time, on a friday afternoon, after they fitted a 10mm main earth. I mentioned it and he said he didn't have any 16mm!!!! I gave him a bit.

 

[JD6400]

I've had DNO engineers / meter fitters give me sets of seals before now, normally if they could see that the rest of the job was going to need isolating again.

Same here , on more than one occasion .

 

[Darkwood]

Ive snipped the seal, pulled the fuse before then rung the DNO to say so, without asking why i did it they proceeded to read me the riot act in that i had committed an offense.... i calmly listened and agreed that i was aware etc etc to which they said they will be contacting me regarding the illegal withdrawal off the DNO fuse,,,, Twas at this point i said now can i explain; I been listening to you accuse me of a crime for the last 10mins and not once did you ask what the circumstances that i considered neccessary to withdraw the fuse! ... With a less than sheepish voice i was asked why i removed it thus explaining that the fuseboard had water running through it and was smoking and crackling and the only way i deemed to make the situation safe was to withdraw the fuse!!!! 'OH! i see' was the reply.... 'now if you dont want me to speak to your superiors to the fact you made some very blatant accusations of my guilt then i suggest you get your engineer down here ASAP'

I stopped the leak, dried and checked everything out DNO turned up within the hour and resealed my new tails - (replacement for the damaged old ones) and jobs a good un'

Its amazing how quick things get done when they realise they were in the wrong and in the preverbial doo doo and it was out of hours too.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Very interesting. Here we are 36 posts into a thread entitled "How many on here have ever actually been prosecuted for pulling the DNO fuse?" and not one ... not a single one ... has been !!!

 

[Rockingit]

Very interesting. Here we are 36 posts into a thread entitled "How many on here have ever actually been prosecuted for pulling the DNO fuse?" and not one ... not a single one ... has been !!!

which is my point exactly and the very reason for the thread!! So do we, from now, as the intelligent professionals that we are, simply ignore the 'threat' as being irrelevant and without consequence?

 

[Octopus]

Some customers want board changes done at short notice, the only way to safely change a CU is to isolate the property by removing the main fuse.

Do the DNO's want sparkies to start changing boards with live tails?? I think not.

 

[Darkwood]

Very interesting. Here we are 36 posts into a thread entitled "How many on here have ever actually been prosecuted for pulling the DNO fuse?" and not one ... not a single one ... has been !!!

The reason you are unlikely to find anyone on here is that its extremely difficult for them to prove who actually withdrew the fuse/cut seals ..... anyone will just deny all knowledge which for the DNO is a closed case as in a court of law they havent got a leg to stand on.. only a witness statement or cctv footage could bring a prosecution but having said this it may change soon with smart meters as they could use the houseowner as a witness to the time a job was done and the meters power loss records as a strong case point in court. Were the house owner to side with said sparky they could then themselves receive a penalty as the homeowner when said power was cut to meter.
Technology is about to put the ball back in the DNO's court.

 

[a1guvner]

The reason you are unlikely to find anyone on here is that its extremely difficult for them to prove who actually withdrew the fuse/cut seals ..... anyone will just deny all knowledge which for the DNO is a closed case as in a court of law they havent got a leg to stand on.. only a witness statement or cctv footage could bring a prosecution but having said this it may change soon with smart meters as they could use the houseowner as a witness to the time a job was done and the meters power loss records as a strong case point in court. Were the house owner to side with said sparky they could then themselves receive a penalty as the homeowner when said power was cut to meter.
Technology is about to put the ball back in the DNO's court.

I had someone turn up at my house at the weekend offering to install a Smart Meter, kindly declined there nice offer of ramping up the bills in the winter to my fixed DD,

Does anyone know what our rights are to refuse having it fitted or is the inevitable going to happen and big brother is in and forced upon us?

 

[Geordie Spark]

I had someone turn up at my house at the weekend offering to install a Smart Meter, kindly declined there nice offer of ramping up the bills in the winter to my fixed DD,

Does anyone know what our rights are to refuse having it fitted or is the inevitable going to happen and big brother is in and forced upon us?

In my view, and in a word ...... YES !!!!

 

[Rockingit]

I think it's even more serious than that!! A few copies ago, in the ESC journal thingy there was an article about how the ESC is championing the government to 'not lose the opportunity of a lifetime' to conduct safety inspections ON EVERY PROPERTY as and when they get their smart meter fitted. Now, what I can see happening is that we'll get a complete monopoly by the energy companies to make a fortune by doing CU changes, to the lowest common factor possible, and whether it's a good solution or not. In other words, they'll go ripping out 10 million identikit Wylex 3036's and replace them with 10 million identikit MK60898's (or whatever). Us independant lads won't get a look in and we'll loose £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££'s of work as an industry in one swipe.

 

[Guest111]

re service fuses,got called to the local minimart last year,the owner knows me anyway opened up in morning to an odd smell and no electric,i went to the cutout which was all burned and removed seal and fuse,tails fell out and when enginer arrived i discovered screws had not been tightened at all,when i pointed this out he said they must have backed themselves off and it wasnt their fault,question if they can get screws which are clever enough to slacken themselves completely why can,t they get screws to tighten themselves up? what a chuckle.

 

[Mr.Si]

re service fuses,got called to the local minimart last year,the owner knows me anyway opened up in morning to an odd smell and no electric,i went to the cutout which was all burned and removed seal and fuse,tails fell out and when enginer arrived i discovered screws had not been tightened at all,when i pointed this out he said they must have backed themselves off and it wasnt their fault,question if they can get screws which are clever enough to slacken themselves completely why can,t they get screws to tighten themselves up? what a chuckle.

I wonder if they have ever heard of Threadlock?! mg_smile:

 

[needasparks]

Must say it is sometimes worth asking when they had the meter read last !
Its not funny when you have the whole meter laying on the hall floor when they turned up to read it.
Although he did not have to get his torch out to read it, i just past it to him. Must have had a good reader, he just smiled.
Won't forget that one for a while.

 

[Darkwood]

re service fuses,got called to the local minimart last year,the owner knows me anyway opened up in morning to an odd smell and no electric,i went to the cutout which was all burned and removed seal and fuse,tails fell out and when enginer arrived i discovered screws had not been tightened at all,when i pointed this out he said they must have backed themselves off and it wasnt their fault,question if they can get screws which are clever enough to slacken themselves completely why can,t they get screws to tighten themselves up? what a chuckle.

Its not as far fetched as it sounds, some meters can have a buzzing or high frequency vibration and its this that can unscrew what were originally tight terminations - it not that common to find this with meters as the grub screws will only react to certain frequencies, also a known issue is copper creep which is especially prone on stranded cables - this is where the termination is done tight but over time the constant pressure on the copper can move the copper strands into a different array and can occupy less space in doing so, this will effectively give a looser connection without the termination ever unscrewing.

Some brands of control gear like contactors have taken this into account and designed terminations that dont fall foul to either the above mentioned.

 

[Paul.M]

Darkwood that is the geekiest thing I've read on here for a while lol . It's correct but very geeky.

 

[gibbyisking]

you've got to cut seals and pull fuses lol how are you ment to change a fuseboard.

 

[Darkwood]

Darkwood that is the geekiest thing I've read on here for a while lol . It's correct but very geeky.

I know lol and not the first person to say, its a mixture of fault finding and design correction all my working life and a hobby reading quantum physics helps too, im often in contact with manufacturers and have been known to have meetings with tech on how to improve products.... its nice to see changes implemented on stuff you use that you asked for and all you out there probably enjoy, occasionally i get free sample of product as thx