Quick confirmation needed of whether meter wiring is dodgy or not.

[Kwaka 1]

Hi. Have searched the net and the forums first for an answer but had no joy so here goes..

Quick background.
My son just bought his first house which is an ex rental repo and the neighbours told us the last tennants got arrested for using the house to grow weed.
I'm round here on my days off helping fix the place up, hang doors etc etc.
I see evidence of the previous tennants activities now that i've been alerted to it , vents cut in to chimney stack in the loft, water stained floors etc and something has caught my eye in the meter cupboard while switching off the mains so i could replace some light fittings etc and i'm unsure whether it's normal or some sort of meter bypass..
What i see is the L and N tails from the main 100A fuse holder to the meter then out to the consumer unit which i know is normal BUT there is another live direct from the main fuse holder to another smaller consumer unit and the neutral from that is connected to all the others at the henley block.
The meter is working so i know that it's reading usage but is the smaller CU getting read too with it sharing the neutral with the meter ?
It's all done very neat with security seals etc so i don't know if it's all ok or do i need to get an electrician in quick sharp to put it right.
Thanks in advance..

 

[littlespark]

any chance of a photograph?

anything missing out the meter will need to be removed.

 

[Kwaka 1]

any chance of a photograph?

anything missing out the meter will need to be removed.

Hi. Sorry!
I don't have any pictures.
I'm oldschool and don't want or have need for a mobile and don't have a camera and my son is away with his but it's just as i described.
Everything looks normal but for the second CU being fed a direct live from the bottom of the 100A fuse holder and then the neutral from the second CU is connected to all the others.
It's basically two extra tails that dont go through the meter.
It all looks professional with the second live coming from an adjacent hole in the fuse holder next to the one that goes to the meter but it goes direct to the second CU and not the meter.
If the meter doesn't read off the neutral which is connected to the others then i can only surmise that it's an unmetered supply that fed the previous tennants activities and i need to get someone in to get rid of it.
I just want confirmation either way whether what we have is wrong or not .

 

[littlespark]

A regular electrician may not want to touch it if it’s still part of evidence against the previous tenant.

And it may be something that the supplier or meter operator needs to remove, rather than a regular electrician, as taking it out will leave a hole into a live connection exposed.

Meters need to have a live and neutral in, and out. 4 wires in total.
If a live comes from main fuse, directly into a consumer unit, then it’s very likely an unmetered supply.

 

[James]

It sounds very much like an illegal unmetered supply
it also sounds like it may be without any fuse protection.
I would contact the local supplier and let them know of it and ask them to make it safe immediately.

edit.
just to add that this could be a serious fire risk and needs to be sorted quickly.
even if it looks like a neat professional job, it is not!!

 

[Kwaka 1]

Thank you both ..
That confirms what i suspected but was unsure whether the neutral connection was capable of being read as it's such a neat job with flag seals and everything and i have no clue whether new meter tech somehow reads on the neutral and this is the latest way of doing things. Anything before the CU is beyond me..
It is fused as it's fed via the main fuse in common with the meter and basically the exact same layout but with no meter in series.
There's no on going case regarding the house and the offenders are already tucked away apparently.
We only found out about the previous horticultural shenanigans from the neighbours who were keen to gossip and there was no mention of it from the solicitors or in the paperwork when the house was purchased a few months ago.
I think it's such a neat job it's either been missed or someone forgot to remove it as the house has been empty for over a year prior to the sale.
Either way i think the best way as you say is to get on to the supplier to sort it out and hopefully they won't charge us for the privilege.
Thanks again.

 

[James]

If indeed there is another supply being taken from the BOTTOM of the fuse holder, it is unlikley to be protected by the fuse.

if you do have to pay my of the costs, you should check with your solicitor as I think information like that should have been disclosed by the seller.

 

[Kwaka 1]

Thanks for the concern but it's definitely protected, i know that much..
The main armoured feed from outside runs enters the top and the lives come out the bottom with the fuse inbetween.
Maybe i should have said outlet instead of bottom to clarify but i did state in my 2nd post that the rogue feed is out of the adjacent port to the meters live feed.
This is an old end terrace with internal meter and the cable coming up the outside wall and in just below ground floor to a ceiling height meter cupboard and not an external one coming up from the ground through a hockey stick.
I've just been on to the supplier and someones going to get a slapped wrist as it's on record as being sorted over a year ago and they are sending someone out asap . No charge..

 

[littlespark]

i know it's not easy, but we'd really like to see a photo... lol

A before and after if at all possible..

 

[Kwaka 1]

Aye! A picture of the offending item would maybe provide some entertainment value and possibly admiration of the quality of the job but i'm 30miles from the place and all the extra gubbins will be gone by the time my sons back at the weekend.
My Granddaughter is here and i've got her to take pic of a sketch i've done and email me it.
It's no rembrant but it's the best i can come up with and is pretty much self explanatory of what i described earlier.
Fat solid red is live mains input to fuse and the thin one the output to additional CU .
Dotted red ( didn't have a blue pen ) is neutral shared with the rest of the circuits. ( forget the squiggled out line at the fuse , i started to draw the neutral too close to the live )

 

[James]

glad its being sorted by the dno ASAP.

 

[littlespark]

He said the DNO believed it had already been sorted….

I’d be inclined to fit a socket or two to the unmetered supply and use it for kettle boiling etc.
plead ignorance when they come to read meter.

 

[Kwaka 1]

He said the DNO believed it had already been sorted….

Yes! They had it on record as being sorted over a year ago and when i told them it was still bypassed you could hear the guy jump out of his chair whilst spitting out his tea..
Somebodys arse is on fire as they are out first thing in the morning to remove it.

 

[loz2754]

Question of the day though is - what does the second consumer unit supply?

 

[Kwaka 1]

Question of the day though is - what does the second consumer unit supply?

If you read back you will see that the previous tennants got nicked for running a cannabis farm.
The bypassed unit presumably fed the grow equipment.
There's quite a few extra ganged outlets in the loft and bedrooms that most likely lead back to that CU.
They were clever enough not to fiddle the whole supply though so as not to alert the lecky provider with a sudden drop in usage.
Apparently they got discovered because of the smell and not the meter fiddle.