Junction Box for Extending Old Wired Fuse Board

[Vitesse]

I went to look at a job the other day for a customer to install a Hot Tub supply in the garden. Whilst there I found that an 'electrician' in the past had extended all the cables down from where an old wired fuse board used to be located to an RCD protected CU.

It was basically a bodge where they had crimped and terminal blocked all the existing T&E, to new and tried to ram it all inside a JB to make it look pretty but over time the JB had split in two and when I took the cover off I found an unsafe mess with obvious signs of damage between conductors that looked like someone had decided that a bit of insulating tape would resolve the problem!

I said to the customer the first priority before I do anything is to sort out that mess, which he has no problem with. I also pointed out that I would need to test each circuit to make sure they were all ok.

You can see the brickwork where the old fuse board used to be. Above the white is plasterboard that goes up about a foot before it disappears into the floor void above and all the T&E is run in galvanised steel attached to the brickwork. I can remove that plasterboard and free up some slack to allow me to terminate it okay.

My question is I am looking at terminating in a JB using din rail mounted Legrand Viking 3 terminal blocks, I can't remember the exact number of circuits it's written down in my note book in the van but I think it was 3 x 2.5, 2 x 1.5 and 1 x 6. If I go down this route does the JB need to be metal to conform with AMD3? It's probably in the grey area!!!!

Or does anyone have any better suggestions to extend the circuits down safely?

 

[sparksburnout]

Well, sorry bud, but had I seen something in such poor condition, the least I would be advising is a rewire(If there is not sufficient slack to terminate into a new fuseboard) of the first and last legs of the ring main and lighting/ or affected circuits.
Im not doubting you will leave it in safe condition, but you are last man in.

Are you really going to be happy leaving a termination box metal or other in situ after you have seen it? I wouldn't!

Just my 2p's

The least is a rewire?? Whats the best option then??? "Oh sorry love, thats £££££££££££'s that job"...............What a load of nonsense.

 

[Vitesse]

The bits arrived today to complete the job. The Wiska Topline connectors are a quality bit of kit. First time I have used them so I wasn't sure what size enclosure I would need, so I ordered din rail connectors first so that I could get the measurements correct. I had a chat with the guy at Connexbox and he is really knowledgable and knows his stuff, I got the impression he is an ex Spark?

 

[Wilko]

View attachment 33451 ... I had a chat with the guy at Connexbox and he is really knowledgable and knows his stuff, I got the impression he is an ex Spark?

Hi - Ray from there was a golden source of info for me on MF, maybe same guy? Cheers, David.

 

[Vitesse]

Hi - Ray from there was a golden source of info for me on MF, maybe same guy? Cheers, David.

Possibly he was very chatty and we had the discussion about AMD 3 and the requirements for IP4X on these enclosures. I did ask his name but he had to rush off and sort the post out and forgot to tell me.