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.

 

[mogga]

only thing you can do is phone them and say you are concerened re the safety they will send someone out who will better advise than a lot of guys here Im sorry to say as far as I know none of the members are DNO advisors even if they were each DNO and indeed each DNO Are has differing rules regs and other stuff so the only people to advise you would be your DNO

 

[telectrix]

think a rewire might be advisable looking at that VIR cable. make sure you do thorough IR testing if just changing the CU. looks like it was once a 3 phase supply as well. as mogga says, contact your DNO for advice.

 

[cdavies33]

You fuse board looks like it was constructed by the installer, Fair play that is old! From those 3 pictures alone, I'd put money on it that house needs a rewire! Sorry for sounding so negative on your new purchase.

 

[AIM]

Don't bother trying to get indicative price from DNO over phone, they will not commit to anything.

Submit application form and get basic price in 10 days, detailed price in 15 days.

First call regarding safety of supply, you should get someone 'gloved up' appearing promptly!

 

[micknew]

Double pole fusing dates it back to the days of DC supplies, I think.

 

[micknew]

They can't charge for replacing their outdated dangerous wiring/equipment.
Pretty though isn't it.

 

[Octopus]

Are you a sparky? Can you do some IR tests?

I removed a board like that a few weeks back and the insulation on the cable was falling off!

 

[Engineer54]

think a rewire might be advisable looking at that VIR cable. make sure you do thorough IR testing if just changing the CU. looks like it was once a 3 phase supply as well. as mogga says, contact your DNO for advice.

Doesn't look much like VIR cable to me!! That looks like very early PVC twin to me. Maybe one of those cable could be a VIR, but never seen grey coloured VIR, only ever came in black sheathed cable as far as i remember. I'd say this house was rewired in the early 50's, so probably no CPC incorporated, certainly not in the lighting sized cables.

That cut-out is maybe well over 80 years old though!! The DNO has a duty to replace ALL rewireable type cut outs free of charge. They have even given a notice that the majority of these old service heads will be replaced by 2015 i think it was...

 

[telectrix]

cable looks black on my laptop, esp the ? 7/044 ?

 

[Engineer54]

No, the majority of them cables are coloured grey... The conductor insulation are also on the shiney side to be VIR insulated, VIR are normally very much on the dull side...

 

[UKMeterman]

Give the DNO a ring on the normal emergency number, state that it is very old and you think it might not be safe.. That should get someone round quick. NB Make the call at first light as they may put you off supply, whilst they do the improvement works..

 

[rick]

Looks like ceramic rewirable carriers. DNO should replace FOC. Not immediately unsafe but would be good to get it upgraded, I would imagine 60A per phase. DNO will probably want to isolate underground beforehand, so prepare for hole in your driveway!

 

[Knobhead]

WOW! That cut-out and board should be in a museum.
Whoever replaced the tails wants their ares kicking for letting the cut-out to be left in place. The meters an old dual tariff, so where’s the other board?
The incoming cable if it’s three phase must have cores like wet string it’s that thin.

I can’t get over someone putting PVC in to that board, try as I mite I can’t see any CPC’s. (I took the picture in to photoshop for a close look).

It looks like a rewire I’m afraid.

 

[UKMeterman]

There is something very odd about that meter installation, yes it is a dual tarriff radio controlled but the installation is not using the contactor (relay) in the radio switch. If you do want to use the dual tarriff your electricity supplier needs to fix it so the contactor can be used,