Cut out Seals.

[silver surfer]

Is it still illegal to cut the seals on the fuse cut out?

I"ll rephrase that, does anyone ever get prosecuted?

I hear of sparks who do Dist Board changes just cut the seals, pull the fuse, upgrade the tails if required, before installing the new CU.

 

[vernam616]

I know of a guy who worked for 30 years on HV who thinks nothing swapping CU boards with live tails!

Also seen this done, bare ends taped up well during the swapover

 

[roukel01]

What about replacing a blown cut out fuse?

 

[Mark_Burgess]

What about replacing a blown cut out fuse?

There must be some serious damage upfront for a blown cutout fuse, i'd deffo contact the DNO to replace it.

 

[Silly Sausage]

There must be some serious damage upfront for a blown cutout fuse, i'd deffo contact the DNO to replace it.

Mine went once years ago, you would never know.

 

[Rauer]

What are meter seals?????

 

[cjp1]

What are meter seals?????

I think there mammals that live in the sea.

 

[Ponty Massive]

What are meter seals?????

Sea living creatures about 3 feet long.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

What are seals? i thought they were just a myth!

nope....saw some a while back (on the telly) seemed quite happy where they were n all........

 

[ipf]

I think there mammals that live in the sea.

Good reason for blubber mats.

 

[saveloy]

For those of you who work in the SSE and Scottish Hydro Areas AND are members of the relevant organisations.
SSE Power Distribution - Removal of fuses

 

[EastAnglian]

That's a very enlightened approach to the problem. I wonder if it will catch on elsewhere?

 

[Knobhead]

Never mind the legalities, if your not competent don’t do it!

In 35 years I’ve only seen the aftermath of arc flash involving a person once, that was down to the incompetence of an electrician I respected until he made a mistake. He was on the wrong end of a 1200A feeder that flashed to earth. I had to repair the collateral damage, the NHS had to repair him!

And yes I would still work live if needs be. It’s what I was trained to do.

 

[grantr37]

I have seen a young lad who was working at the council in the rent office leave his job there, do a 4 day "course" with the local power company then get given a van and tools and sent out to pull main fuses and change out consumer units and meters by the power board in council houses and blocks of flats, he was getting good money as well and said he did it as he was getting more money than at the council and his sister was "going" with a guy at the power board who got him onto the books......even showed me his crimp tool that he was really proud of for doing the new seals "look at this its got my own registration number engraved onto it for seals" he had apparently had to wait 2 weeks for it to be delivered....appeared in a white rented fleet van clutching a brown leather bag with a few old hand tools in it, a plastic visor and a plug-top checker which he shoved in to "make sure the earth was back in ok".......

 

[JONOXNAM]

Darwin had theory but it must have been wrong as there are not nearly enough people dying from dangerous practices..... I thought you were meant to be competent to work on this stuff full stop which includes an understanding of safe working practices.....

The amount of times my lecturers spent over the couple of years at college drumming into our heads that live is illegal unless you have no other alternative and even then you need to understand the risks your are taking.... I personally think a 4 day course does not sufficiently give you competent status.

Even going to college and getting proper quals for years cannot guarantee competency. On the 2330 course I did, there were some people scraping passes after 5 attempts but will be regarded as proper electricians as they have done their 5 year apprenticeship and have all the quals (they even brag they have a pool of photos between them etc for the pointless NVQ paperwork exercise).

I even know a guy who could not calculate parallel resistances who scraped all the way through to a L3 pass after multiple retakes and I know it all just went straight out the other side of his head after the last day...

 

[DNS1]

Even going to college and getting proper quals for years cannot guarantee competency.

Glad someone else recognises this! :clap: