What on earth has happened here?

Rockingit · Sep 14, 2012

Every pun in the title intended!

Went to do a small 10 min job this morning - just a single to double conversion - and then found this little beauty.

Have absolutely no idea how long this rental property has been like this, and also just can't figure out why the job wasn't finished, given that it's pretty rare to find 16/16mm on a 16th board anyway! The VOCB was also, unsurprisingly, knackered.

Given the 30secs it took me to correct, I obviously did it and I'll talk to the landlord later!!!

[ElectriciansForums.net] What on earth has happened here?

Guest55 · Sep 14, 2012

wheres the met ?
or is it tt ?

Rockingit · Sep 14, 2012

biff55 said:
wheres the met ?
or is it tt ?

TN-C-S (or rather, it is now!) No MET as such, just the 2way on the head.

Guest55 · Sep 14, 2012

we await pics showing improvements ;-)
and that earth reminds me of bootlace liquorice chews lol.

Deleted member 26818 · Sep 14, 2012

Was the earth out of the VOELCB connected to anything?

Rockingit · Sep 14, 2012

I didn't take one of me having simply connected the cable back in, I kind of thought that was self-evident!

Though I do have a video of me pressing the VOELCB test button in futility about 20 times.

Guest55 · Sep 14, 2012

the cu looks like it has a rcd for the socket circuits yes ?
i'd have removed the veolcb completely if it has.

Rockingit · Sep 14, 2012

spinlondon said:
Was the earth out of the VOELCB connected to anything?

Quite possibly not! I didn't go rummaging too far ('Pandoras Box' springs to mind) as clearly it all needs addressing regardless, and I was on the clock. The sockets at least are on a 30mA RCD which I DID test as working, and the socket I'd changed had a reasonable Zs, though the PSCC and PFC were slightly lower than I'd like as the nominal was only 232v measured.

It just beats me as to how/why someone 'forgot' to connect the earth, when they'd probably struggled with a 16mm inside the CU to start with. And clearly it wasn't tested.

Risteard · Sep 14, 2012

Rockingit said:
TN-C-S (or rather, it is now!) No MET as such, just the 2way on the head.

Surely by definition the Earth bar in the DB is the MET in that instance.

Rockingit · Sep 14, 2012

Risteard said:
Surely by definition the Earth bar in the DB is the MET in that instance.

Unless it's actually connected to something useful, it's just a chunk of brass!!

Yes, you're quite correct that either the 2way on the Intake or whatever is inside the board would become the MET if you wanted it to be. Personally, I fit a separate 4 or 8 way MET outside the board and bring all the bonding / supplementary back to it as that way you can label them and instantly see it's all good to go and what is on which size conductor.

Deleted member 26818 · Sep 14, 2012

I'm thinking (although from the picture it looks unlikely), that if the earth conductor from the VOELCB was actuall connected correctly, then connecting the 16mm² conductor would entail the VOELCB would not function correctly.
It may be that whoever did the installation work, was waiting for the DNO to turn up to isolate the installation before removing the VOELCB and connecting the the 16mm².

Risteard · Sep 14, 2012

I know here that NIE don't (or at least didn't used to) permit the use of the DB as the MET and insisted on an ISCO. In fact I saw them refuse a connection over it once.

Guest55 · Sep 14, 2012

Risteard said:
I know here that NIE don't (or at least didn't used to) permit the use of the DB as the MET and insisted on an ISCO. In fact I saw them refuse a connection over it once.

i agree with this sentiment.
its much safer to have access to your main earth connections outside of the CU.
easier to identify whats what as well.