consumer unit fires.

[telectrix]

it's all a case of treating the symptoms, not the cause.

the 2 probable causes are :

1. poor quality materials.
2.poor workmanship.

the latter being the most prevalent. entirely due to :
a. cowboys who don'tknoew any better and don't give a f*ck.

b. Electrical Trainee's who although keen, have insufficient training to do it right.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

That is two possibilities.
Others could be network problem, an increase in the load, external source, etc.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

2005/6 was also about the time we switched to harmonised colours.
I blame the EU.

 

[jackhammerJIM]

The market is full of low quality and suspect quality electrical equipment, if people settle for lower quality,
then they must accept the consequences of that.

CHINT

 

[ipf]

i agree part p has lowered the overall standard of entry within the industry but at the same time most cowboys would still have been doing CU changes regardless pre post p and will carry on doing them now without being part of a scheme as they dont care about the law. they dont care and do a runner with no paperwork. so to say its part p causing the fires is to simplistic. your average home owner only cares about price and it working.
in some ways being part of a scheme even if a cowboy means at least minimal knowledge and some supervision from schemes even if its not much they have at least some testing know how and demonstrated it. i recognise its a bit of a hot topic on the forums but i do think the part p schemes have overall been good for the domestic sector, you will get cowboys out for quick money in any trade and they will ignore any laws and rules no matter what.

In some situations, maybe, but, if you give someone the go ahead to do a task which they haven't got the experience or knowledge to carry out, it's just asking for trouble.
OK, there are still cowboys but some of those ''qualified'' can be little or no better.....trading with a right and CONFIDENCE to do so.

 

[telectrix]

CHINT

a chint board, properly fitted, is no worse than any other board. try some of the other brands where the din rail don't line up with the cover by 1/4". then yous got problems. re=drilling to get it to fit. had 2 in the last week.

 

[Octopus]

Never had loose connections in the Wylex boards with 2, yes 2 screws on the incoming tails................ yet all the flimsy boards are rubbish....

 

[Marvo]

....the 2 probable causes are :

1. poor quality materials.
2.poor workmanship.......

These are also the main two causes I can see that would cause CU fires. Guess you could add faulty components to the list at a push given there were a few product recalls I can recall.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Problem with these statistics is they don’t say how many of these CUs that caught light after Part P was introduced, were installed after Part P was introduced.
For all we know, every one of them was installed before Part P and everyone of them had two loose screws on the incoming tails.

 

[ipf]

Problem with these statistics is they don’t say how many of these CUs that caught light after Part P was introduced, were installed after Part P was introduced.
For all we know, every one of them was installed before Part P and everyone of them had two loose screws on the incoming tails.

Fair enough. I wonder what stats are available for the 10/20/30 years previously. If they are available, get the LFB to publish them. Some chance!

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I am probably the only member who has actually witnessed a plastic CU fire.
I have seen the clouds of blinding noxious smoke that is produced.
From the LFB’s point of view, the cause of a CU fire is immaterial. It’s the result of such a fire that is their concern.
You can blame Part P, you can blame dodgy materials, you can blame poor workmanship.
At the end of the day, if CUs are not made from a material that burns like a house on fire, the problem is solved.
Once all CUs are metal, we can concentrate on swapping all the old flammable cast iron heads for plastic.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Here are a couple of items relating to house fires caused by DNO equipment.
http://fy68w4dd72j1r1z33vbuky14-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/smith_-v-_edf.pdf
https://www.esfrs.org/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=754&type=Full&servicetype=Attachment

 

[Squid]

How many CU's in the UK and only 253 fires I bet the % rate is even lower if you take the cannabis farms out of the equation.

 

[South Spark]

That's what I was getting at. Was there an increase in the number of CUs installed, perhaps due to an increased number of property renovation or awareness of the need for RCD protection.

 

[stevels4]

Never had loose connections in the Wylex boards with 2, yes 2 screws on the incoming tails................ yet all the flimsy boards are rubbish....

Also by coincidence both the cut out and meter also have 2 screw terminals, it's the CUs that often only have a single screw for connection of the load tails.