equipment in a dno meterbox

[vitoboy]

Hi all

can anyone tell me of there experience of fitting gear inside a dno meterbox....?

ie a switch fuse for submain..

or switch fuse as required if your tails or submain to your consumer unit is more than 3m away from the cutout..?

im aware that the dno's regs may say i cant fit gear in their box....but ive also been told to do so on occasion by them..

im not aware of any reg as per bs 7671 amd3 that requires me not to do so....

but id love to hear all your thoughts on this......well almost all...you know what i mean.

ta

vito

 

[Deleted member 26818]

My thoughts are: if the box belongs to the consumer, then the consumer should be able to put in it whateve4 they like.

 

[telectrix]

if there's enough room, can't see anyone complaining. always been one to do whatever i can get away with ( providing that safety and the regs. are complied with).

 

[Risteard]

At the end of the day they could refuse to connect the supply if you fit unauthorised equipment in it.

 

[snowhead]

It's the customers box, not the DNO.
Try ringing them up and ask for a repair to the box, they'll soon tell you.
Same with Gas.

From Western Power's website;
Replacement of meter box door

Where an external meter box is fitted, this is owned (and should be maintained) by the customer.

 

[Risteard]

It's the customers box, not the DNO.
Try ringing them up and ask for a repair to the box, they'll soon tell you.
Same with Gas.

From Western Power's website;
Replacement of meter box door

Where an external meter box is fitted, this is owned (and should be maintained) by the customer.

It's the customer's insofar as they must provide it, but it is for the DNO's use. This means the DNO are perfectly entitled to lay down the law as to how it is used. Here they certainly wouldn't entertain customer equipment within it.

 

[hightower]

Never understood the "they might not be happy with consumer side equipment installed in it" answer. Fair enough if the install is dodgy as, nobody would be happy. But what's the issue with installing an isolator in it? What's the actual reason for them kicking up a fuss? That the box is for their equipment only? In that case, the tails belong to the customer so those should be removed too.

 

[Risteard]

Never understood the "they might not be happy with consumer side equipment installed in it" answer. Fair enough if the install is dodgy as, nobody would be happy. But what's the issue with installing an isolator in it? What's the actual reason for them kicking up a fuss? That the box is for their equipment only? In that case, the tails belong to the customer so those should be removed too.

I suppose to bring it down to its simplest form, "their supply, their rules".

 

[hightower]

I suppose to bring it down to its simplest form, "their supply, their rules".

But surely there needs to be a degree of common sense applied. An isolator is something prescribed by BS7671 in certain situations, and more recently something that is fitted a lot by DNO. It's not like we're wanting to stick a 12" CCTV monitor in there, or cut out a slot for a little pizza oven.

 

[Wilko]

Hmmmm ... pizza ... must be lunchtime

 

[hightower]

Hmmmm ... pizza ... must be lunchtime

I know, maybe not a bad idea actually. Wonder if there'd be room for a little kettle too.

 

[Richard Burns]

What the DNO are looking at is that they are required to upgrade and replace equipment at various times and to have another item installed in the limited space may mean that they are unable to fit in a larger meter or an isolator, etc. without excessive changes to the customers installation, with which they are not trained to work.

All we need now is to have the same rules in place for plumbers to prevent them installing pipes over our perfect electrical equipment!

Generally I think if you leave space around the meter,etc. there should not be a problem.

 

[Midwest]

Judging by some of the posts on this forum, of members stating reg 421.1.201 doesn't apply to meter boxes, guess the DNO's are terrified all those plastic switch fuses are gonna set fire to their equipment.

 

[vitoboy]

Thanks for your replies

The second question is what do you do when you've installed an isolator in the meter box...
Another electrician comes to do some work..and tells your customer...................
Hey...
Your previous electrican has carried out work that should not have been done....
They say they have had a dno engineer look at it and he's told them they better get it out asap...
or the dno may disconnect their supply....

The dno of course (say ive spoken to them..the guys apparently on site for this..and the head engineer) deny all of this....
But your customer....(or by now ex customer) ... and their new electrician continue to make accusations about your workman ship....

All in theory of course..

how do you deal with it.

cheers

vito

mmmm pizza ...

 

[Midwest]

Ask the DNO, think some allocate a certain section for an sw/fuse, one of those nice little plastic ones will fit, but not the new metal one!

 

[Deleted member 26818]

A lot depends on the attitude of the engineers who attend your premises.
Most are ok, a few are idiots.

 

[egg67]

Speak to DNO, get your answer in writing send to customer, if the job you did in the first place was done to regs then you have nothing to worry about, but why is the customer getting a different spark in ? Was he already a excustomer or is it because some thing you did.
Just asking not having a pop

 

[Leesparkykent]

most are fine with it and I've done it 100's of times an never had a problem. IIRC I think @Murdoch once had a problem with them refusing to connect.

 

[Tony Barnes]

I agree we have put switch fuses in them before for sub mains got a moan or 2 off the metering lads but there's nothing they can do

 

[HandySparks]

I agree we have put switch fuses in them before for sub mains got a moan or 2 off the metering lads but there's nothing they can do

...apart from refusing to connect.

 

[Graham DJ]

I have known a large meter box contain a cut out, meter, contactor, live and neutral connector blocks, main consumer unit, off peak consumer unit, and a shower switch. I was there to fit a 4 pole isolator for the 24 hour and off peak supply and it took ne a couple of hours to rearrange and rewire everything to get it to fit.

 

[7029 dave]

I take it we are talking about external meter box, it is the customers property, having said that, it is only meant for cut out and metering equipment, but these days you have solar equipment, isolators, s/fuses etc.As long as access it is all accessible happy days.

 

[Tony Barnes]

...apart from refusing to connect.

Haha well maybe

 

[Stu1312]

I can't find the drawing at the moment but the meter board layout in a box used to be specified was: bottom left quarter dno cut out, top half of the board metering equipment & bottom right quarter customers equipment. This used to be printed on a lot of the back boards

 

[Taylortwocities]

This used to be printed on a lot of the back boards

Some were also printed "suppliers equipment only". But I too have not had problems putting switch/fuses etc in the meter box.