Name this device

[Octopus]

Customer thinks it was installed in 1964 when the house was built!



Thanks

 

[grantr37]

Now thats an Early one, late 1970's early 1980's by the looks of it....

 

[malcolmsanford]

It's a redundant, no longer working Voltage operated Earth leakage breaker

 

[Stroppy]

Had of these in my Mum's house, and you could press the yellow button til the cows came home and nothing would happen!

 

[telectrix]

you're not supposed to get milk out of it anyway.

 

[Marvo]

Looks like it's in nice condition for its age but as a protective device VOELCB's never really cut the mustard.

 

[HandySparks]

It's a redundant, no longer working Voltage operated Earth leakage breaker

That's right. One clue is the instruction label for connecting the earthing conductor to run through the device. If you connect straight to the rod, bypassing the VOELCB, it won't detect an earth fault.

 

[ackbarthestar]

The last two I removed actually worked. Not sure how though since a Gas Fitter had come in and applied MPB from the Gas meter bypassing the earthing arrangement for the VOELB.

The other was where I had switched on a Brass Lamp in a property and the VOELB went out immediately, I subsequently found the wiring in the lamp had shorted down to the metal housing.

I love the electromechanical twang when they pop - nothing like it except the BS 4293 's. They make a nice clunk as well.....

 

[Marvo]

They were actually a big leap forward in protection in their day. They were just a bit on the slow side to be consistently effective and they were also notoriously skittish, and not entirely reliable.

 

[ackbarthestar]

Yep, A row of terraced houses all with VOELBs A fault in one takes the other out...

 

[Octopus]

Thanks to you all.

I really wasn't sure that it could have been installed in the early 60's but the chap insisted it was!

 

[trebor]

its a crabtree ELCB , these should be rplaced with suitable rcd protection as they are no longer acceptable, they have an earth connect to the frame from the ccu etc and another to the electrode, the main problem was that they had to have a very low electrode resitsnce to operate relying soley on fault current to earth, the other oddity was that they were bi directional so if a fault current from an adjacent house found its way up the electrode to earth the device would trip, thank the lord for rcd`s, i was fitting these in 1963

 

[Engineer54]

its a crabtree ELCB , these should be rplaced with suitable rcd protection as they are no longer acceptable, they have an earth connect to the frame from the ccu etc and another to the electrode, the main problem was that they had to have a very low electrode resitsnce to operate relying soley on fault current to earth, the other oddity was that they were bi directional so if a fault current from an adjacent house found its way up the electrode to earth the device would trip, thank the lord for rcd`s, i was fitting these in 1963

Errr, these are VOELB's, so i think you mean a fault votage!! RCD's rely on fault currents!!

 

[trebor]

sorry voltage leakage, its a long time since 1963

 

[Geordie Spark]

Looks like it's in nice condition for its age but as a protective device VOELCB's never really cut the mustard.

I used to work for a company that made concrete drilling & cutting machines in the early '70s and we used those to protect the operator of the machines against electric shock ..... they were useless. (the protective device AND the operator usually !)

 

[Knobhead]

It's a redundant, no longer working Voltage operated Earth leakage breaker

Still serviceable as an isolator Malc.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Still serviceable as an isolator Malc.

aye but try tellin em that on the other thread tony....lol......lol...

 

[dim_bulb]

i bet Tonys the kind of guy who doesnt throw anything away

 

[Octopus]

i bet Tonys the kind of guy who doesnt throw anything away

And if I get the job I will take this out and I'll add it to my "musuem"

 

[Knobhead]

And if I get the job I will take this out and I'll add it to my "musuem"

Honestly Murdoch don’t. Remove the earth connections and it becomes an isolator when you cut the test PB off. Far better than any crap you’ll get now a days.