Date the CU

Octopus · Aug 28, 2013

Ok all, can anyone help me give an approximate date for the CU below? Its in a flat built in 1963 so I'm having a stab in the dark for late 1980's

Thanks

kingeri · Aug 31, 2013

I was still at school in the 80's. I remember once we had to give a presentation to the rest of the class about our hobbies. Mine was electrics, I took in fuses, a DB, cable, switches etc. that my dad gave me. Not that that has owt to do with owt like.

jay sean · Aug 31, 2013

we had one at home untill the 1990s, dad fitted it in the 1970s, and it was second hand a 4way db, how many new houses have a 4way db now??

LeckyBill · Aug 31, 2013

kingeri said:
I was still at school in the 80's.

i wozernt born then!

telectrix · Aug 31, 2013

LeckyBill said:
i wozernt born then!

we know that. it's common knowledge that you were landed here by aliens in 2001. :walkman:

Engineer54 · Sep 1, 2013

davethsparky said:
12 way was the biggest they did, main switch in the middle with 6 ways each side.

They also did a 7 way with 6 normal ways on the left of the main switch and a 45amp way on the right of the main switch

That must have been an MCB, or HRC fuse, as i've never seen a 45A 3036 fuse!! lol!!

Something else that hasn't been made clear or pointed out, these old Wylex CU's were also able to employ BS 1361 HRC fuses. Which was another feather in the Wylex cap. There had never been a CU or DB that could be utilised for BS 3036 Rewirable (course protection), BS 1361 (close protection) and Miniature Circuit Breakers (close protection)!!

cornishboy · Sep 1, 2013

There are also some random metaclad boards that have two banks top and bottom one for off peak (duplex) units these also had a single fuseway for a water heater on another tarrif so u had three sets of meter tails in the board . I donrt think the NH boards they do now will ever be of the quality of the past

davethsparky · Sep 1, 2013

Engineer54 said:
That must have been an MCB, or HRC fuse, as i've never seen a 45A 3036 fuse!! lol!!

Something else that hasn't been made clear or pointed out, these old Wylex CU's were also able to employ BS 1361 HRC fuses. Which was another feather in the Wylex cap. There had never been a CU or DB that could be utilised for BS 3036 Rewirable (course protection), BS 1361 (close protection) and Miniature Circuit Breakers (close protection)!!

Yes they were HRC's if I remember rightly they were green for 45amp and orange for 40amp. Don't think i've seen 45A 3036's in those units. I'm sure i've come across 45A 3036's somewhere though, along with 60A and 100A.
For some reason you just can't get hold of 60 or 100A fusewire for them these days, thankfully MEM haven't changed their designs since noah built the arc so you can just replace the fuse holder with an HRC one.

Richard Burns · Sep 1, 2013

A 45A and 60A rewireable fuse, I have seen a standard MEM porcelain 45A still in use for a cooker circuit.

Engineer54 · Sep 1, 2013

There you go then, ....As i say i can't ever remember seeing a 45A 3036 in either porcelain or bakelite/plastic whether Wylex or MEM!! ...lol!!

davethsparky · Sep 1, 2013

I was right with green then!

I might remember to get a pic of the 100A rewireables next time i'm swearing at one.

7029 dave · Sep 1, 2013

and 40amp is orange

Engineer54 · Sep 1, 2013

davethsparky said:
I was right with green then!

I might remember to get a pic of the 100A rewireables next time i'm swearing at one.

60A/100A 3036 fuses are/were pretty much standard sizes for 3036 fuse boards of the time, especially in industrial/commercial sectors!! You wouldn't however find a 60A or 100A fuse in a typical domestic Wylex/MEM CU, as stated earlier, the DP main switches for those CU's were limited to 60A. It wasn't until much later on, that CU's came incorporated with 80A/100A main switches. Most domestic DNO supply meters of the time, were only rated at 40A ...lol!!

davethsparky · Sep 1, 2013

Yeah I was talking commercial/industrial, I forgot this thread was purely about CU's.

Now at what point did a fuseboard cease to be a fuseboard and become a CU? Nobody seems to have informed the general public yet as they still generally look blank when you ask where the consumer unit is, generally you have a better chance if you ask for the fuseboard. Mind you having said that some don't know what or where that is either.

ExArmy · Sep 1, 2013

tamlex boards are absolutely awful. at first glance you'd think it's a wylex with 3036 fuses, but they have just knocked it and cheaped out on everything and the screw heads are all far too small for any of my screwdirvers!

Engineer54 · Sep 1, 2013

davethsparky said:
Yeah I was talking commercial/industrial, I forgot this thread was purely about CU's.

Now at what point did a fuseboard cease to be a fuseboard and become a CU? Nobody seems to have informed the general public yet as they still generally look blank when you ask where the consumer unit is, generally you have a better chance if you ask for the fuseboard. Mind you having said that some don't know what or where that is either.

My understanding of a Consumer Unit, is a domestic type board, where all the protective devices and all circuit conductor connections and the means of DP isolation are incorporated into the same enclosure. Wylex CU's were the first true CU's on the market and as stated, revolutionised the means of supplying domestic and small commercial installations. Before these CU's, installations were made up of several small fuse boards, (some with fused neutrals) and only very rarely was there a main switch or switch fuse that isolated the whole electrical installation!!!