Upgrade earthing on supply/dno cable

[michaelsf90]

In my own house the supply cable is paper lead. VIR cloth to the cutout. The earthing is a clamp round the lead sheath with bare metal strands from the clamp to a small earth bar. I have a 5mm bolt and some washers and I was considering adding a 16mm earth from the bolt on the clamp to a new 8 way earth connection block. Would anyone consider doing this or should I get on to the dno about potential corrosion on the unprotected earth

 

[loz2754]

I would be inclined to get the DNO to sort it. It's their property.

 

[UKMeterman]

Do not touch that cable yourself, the potential arc flash incident could be leathal.

 

[UNG]

Thats a DNO job all day every day wouldn't do anything with that other than pick up the phone

 

[michaelsf90]

A few people on other forums have said it's a mess and contact the dno immediately. I am tempted to see what the ze actually is. When I contact them should I say the earth is showing signs of corrosion? This is massively uncharted territory for me

 

[UNG]

What area of the country are you in

I normally call the DNO and say I have concerns about the main earthing arrangement

My local DNO's SP Energy Networks and ENWL will normally be on site within 2 hours

 

[UKMeterman]

Phone them up and state you are concerned about their earth terminal. The fitter who turns up may do the task in a number of ways. Make life easy for him / her by having your 16mm or other earth conductor to hand and terminated into a nice earth bar.

 

[michaelsf90]

Thats the whole setup. It's a mess. I installed a new consumer unit when we first moved in. I need to fit the tails stuffing gland in the next few days so it's to current regulations. Once I've done this il get onto the dno. I have no idea where to put the new earth bar tho but it's a good idea. Ideally would it be better to go PME? Brilliant if it's free. If not then I hope they just rectify the mess. The wood it's all fixed to is rotten as well. When I did the consumer unit I ripped the wood off and fixed it straight to the brick

 

[michaelsf90]

That's the current earth bar. Squeezed in at the bottom

 

[michaelsf90]

I'm in north west. The dno is electricity north west. They have a general enquires number and an emergency number

 

[pc1966]

That is a rough set up, no doubt. If you can speak to them about the supply condition & earth it is worth having in mind how it might be sorted longer term.

 

[brianmoooore]

EVERYTHING that belongs to the DNO in those pics. is a cause for concern.

 

[UNG]

I'm in north west. The dno is electricity north west. They have a general enquires number and an emergency number

Call either number and ENWL will normally be with you in 2 hours or less with earthing or service head issues. The first guy who attends site will normally call in the jointers to do the repair

When you call them I would also mention the condition of the supply cable to the service head

Looking at that service head they will probably change that while they are doing the earthing, as for PME if it is a TNS supply currently it will stay as a TNS supply
Wouldn't worry to much about a new earth bar as a new service head will have the earth terminal,

I just recently had an earthing and service head issue sorted out on a job near Wigan it was all sorted in around 4 hours

 

[michaelsf90]

Ideally I'd like all new but I highly doubt it. Plenty of other houses must have a setup as bad or worse. Especially older houses like mine. Again tho how do I word it to the dno. Is it an emergency is it a general enquiry? They wont do anything with the meters. I have requested a smart meter from my supplier but that's a long wait

 

[michaelsf90]

Thank you UNG. Once I've sorted the stuffing gland for the tails I will get onto them. Dont want them questioning anything on the consumer unit

 

[UNG]

Thank you UNG. Once I've sorted the stuffing gland for the tails I will get onto them. Dont want them questioning anything on the consumer unit

They are not that interested in the condition of your installation unless it is blatantly unsafe, the job I mentioned in a previous post I rang ENWL up to see if I could arrange for them to attend site about 10 days later when I would be on site doing other work (replacing some CU's and some tidying up of the electrics) the answer was no because I had mentioned earthing issues and a double pole fused service head they would attend ASAP. I went up to site when the first DNO guy landed as the building caretaker was concerned he didn't do "electrician" speak the guy took one look at the service head and called in a jointing team to replace the service head and fix the earthing. The jointing team were a good couple lads, had a good chat and a bit of banter with them as they were working and mentioned I was sorting all the electrics out the week after and they said they would leave the seals off and leave me some seals to seal it after I had finished the work, happy days

I generally get on well with the local DNO's and have pulled them in when I suspect there may be issues with floating neutrals or network earthing issues, once found an earth fault (TNS) that the DNO subsequently found affected half the street. There is no need to fear the DNO and I don't understand why quite a lot sparks have a morbid fear of them and will not call them if they suspect there is a problem, one of the common ones I have been finding over the last 18 months is DNO earthing issues and the sparks answer is knock a rod in rather than call the DNO, I call the DNO and they have come out and repaired the earth so why did someone spend time, effort and materials when a phone call would have sorted the problem

 

[michaelsf90]

I'd much rather make a phone call than install an earth rod. Hardly the easiest or best of tasks. Plus the testing as well. I've only done it once. Thank you for the advice. I will get onto them and hopefully they will tidy it all up

 

[UNG]

I'd much rather make a phone call than install an earth rod. Hardly the easiest or best of tasks. Plus the testing as well. I've only done it once. Thank you for the advice. I will get onto them and hopefully they will tidy it all up

With the state of that supply I wouldn't be waiting to put a gland in. I would be on the phone ASAP to get it sorted

 

[michaelsf90]

Today or tomorrow morning? The general enquiries is shut on a weekend. Only number I can ring is the 150 emergency

 

[michaelsf90]

One question @UNG. How am I going to fit the stuffing gland without pulling the main fuse if the dno replaces it. They're minimum going to add a seal which i will need to cut. Or should I tell them how do I go about it? The seal hasnt been on since we moved in. So it was never a problem. That's why I'm saying about doing the stuffing gland but then I could have issues with the main fuse with the age of it pulling it myself! Feel like I cant win