Ancient supply feed & cutout

[Chunks]

I have just moved in to a victorian house and found a rather ancient supply & cutout. (see Pics) I need to change the CU as one of the two units is made of wood and both are old rewireable fuses, unlabled and some very old wiring too. My concern is that the cutout is vey old (but still has seals intact) and of an unknown ampage plus the earth is very small from the feed cable.
My thoughts are that the DNO need to upgrade supply cable/cutout/earth before I commence any other work but how do I approach them and will they charge ? if so how much

All thoughts appreciated on old upgrades like this.

 

[stitch]

That meter and time switch setup is the same as a friend of mines farm, where the bulk tank refrigeration system builds ice up on cheap rate electricity in the early hours. All the radio time switch does is switch the meter over to drive the low tariff reading at either midnight or 1am and then switch the meter back to the normal tariff reading at 7am or 8am depending on GMT/BST.

 

[Des 56]

I notice a set of red +black tails out from the meter but no sign of them in that fuse board


Is this perhaps an obsolete unit that has been left in situ,where are the tails going,there's probably another board

 

[Mr.Ian]

I'd say it's a 3 phase supply and a vintage one at that as there are colour markings above each phase and seperate neutral, when you get it changed try n keep it n get it on ebay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chunks]

Thanks for the responses. For info there is another CU other than the wooden one. Its more traditional with rewireable fuses (see pics). I havent opened it up yet but there is an earth going in. My first thoughts are that the lighting is in the wooden unit with no CPC and the rest of the circuits are in the more modern unit and hopefully have a CPC utilised.

Were sockets ever run with just Line & Neutral? I know most of it will need replacing but I think the DNO should do their part first.

 

[Des 56]

I notice a set of red +black tails out from the meter but no sign of them in that fuse board


Is this perhaps an obsolete unit that has been left in situ,where are the tails going,there's probably another board

Looking at the new picture I am more convinced this is just an obsolete board
The new picture has at least what appears to be, minimum one lighting cable,also no evidence of main bonding
If the ancient board is live,its going to need a feed from here

Is there a cable from one to the other?

There were cables with a separate bare cpc, mainly VIR, but most pvc/pvc power cables in domestic use had stranded core cpc going back many years

 

[Chunks]

There is a cable from the main CU to the old wooden board so I believe it is still live. Guess its from the late 50's or early 60's ? Find it hard to think people thought wood was a suitable barrier/insulator just a few years ago.
Got to sort Isolation of the supply before tackling this project. Perhaps DNO will fit when they change cutout.

 

[Engineer54]

There was nothing wrong with the old Wylex wooden CU's with the open backs. So long as you fitted them on non-combustible material. The wood used was seasoned hard wood and is probably far better protection than any plastic CU. At least they won't melt down to a molten blob!!! The fronts on most of those older Wylex wooden CU's was bakelite, so they weren't going to burn too easy!!

The wooden CU in the OP's photo's is a different matter altogether. That is, ... made of cheap soft wood, and were often home made back in the 30s and 40s. Electricians were multi trade in those days, that often took in carpentry as a major component of an electricians work, singles were often run in a wooden grooved capping that ran around and in-between rooms, Some of the joints and mitres in that wood capping, were better than some of today's carpenters could achieve...lol!!!

 

[UKMeterman]

CAUTION,
Another issue has been spotted regarding the wooden CU, it seems to be using double pole fusing, so a fuse could blow in the neutral line and the appliance would still be live..