Meter Tails Incident

[Sam Ball]

Hi everyone, I am not an electrician and have joined this forum for some help. Here is some background information to my incident:-

Background

House Built 1985
Took ownership December 1999
Electricity meter replaced by electricity supplier 12 January 2004
Consumer unit upgraded 16 January 2008
Current Incident March/April 2017

Incident
During March 2017 I noticed a thud in the lounge on right hand wall and investigated and could not find the cause

The thud or popping sound continued four or five times daily until 2 April 2017 when I investigated further. The electricity meter box was open and I looked inside and noticed the meter tails had a sooty deposit and was arcing.

I contacted my electrician who told me to switch off the power at the consumer unit and he came out immediately and made everything safe.

He noticed that the meter tails were of the wrong size being16.0mm² twin and earth cable old colour conductors of red and black (current rating 70Amps). Possibly original installation as the only work I had done is detailed above.

I agreed that the meter tails be changed to correct specification of 25.0mm² double insulated tails (current rating 110Amps) with 16.0mm² earth (current rating 74Amps).
This work was completed on 4 April 2017

Conclusion

There was an electrical storm early March 2017 and I noticed shortly afterwards that my AV amplifier stopped working due to a short burn fuse blowing. I can only assume that the electrical storm caused a power surge sufficient to not blow the main fuse on the incoming supply at the consumer unit but sufficient to cause heating and arcing of the twin and earth cable which had a current rating of 74Amps.
Is this feasible?

 

[Rpa07]

Telectrix - don't feed him after midnight!

 

[LankyWill]

is your tv amplifier led flat on the insulation? They kick out an awful amount of heat that over time could burn out the unit itself if not dissipated properly i.e not buried in fibreglass. As for the surge id be expecting extensive damage if one had occurred and im adamant the meter tails issue is coincidental

 

[Wilko]

Where the 16mm cables were damaged they were touching each other and glowing red. There was nothing rough enough nearby that could have caused damage to the cables through abrasion.
I was too s**t scared when I saw what was happening that a photo was the last thing on my mind.

Agreed, thats not a place to hang about clicking pics !
I can only think the tails were subject to significant prolonged overload to melt the insulation off and allow them to contact each other. Or the tails had a defect in their insulation. They are each double insulated, but they can be damaged ...

 

[DPG]

Where the 16mm cables were damaged they were touching each other and glowing red. There was nothing rough enough nearby that could have caused damage to the cables through abrasion.
I was too s**t scared when I saw what was happening that a photo was the last thing on my mind.

There must have been some damage to the insulation of the meter tails I would have thought. It would have taken quite some overload elsewhere in the system to cause enough current to flow to melt the insulation to the point where it caused this failure, and if this was the case then there would be heat damage somewhere else as well, ie. at the location of the fault itself.

As said above, it's suspicious that the meter cabinet door was already open at the time.

Daz

 

[telectrix]

and they tell us that aliens are not amongst us. just take a look at that jeremy corbyn. obviously from another planet.

 

[PigletJohn]

if the meter tails were touching ten inches from he meter, and glowing red hot, this is very curious. For the sheaths and insulation both to have been nicked, and in a position where the two nicks actually touched, sounds very improbable.

I was considering the possibility that a nefarious person might have pushed a bodkin into each of the tails, with the intention of abstracting electricity. But they would be dumber than usual to do it downstream of the meter.

It might be useful to take the meter readings and see if an unusually large amount has recently been recorded.

Are there any squatters or caravans nearby?

 

[davesparks]

if the meter tails were touching ten inches from he meter, and glowing red hot, this is very curious. For the sheaths and insulation both to have been nicked, and in a position where the two nicks actually touched, sounds very improbable.

I was considering the possibility that a nefarious person might have pushed a bodkin into each of the tails, with the intention of abstracting electricity. But they would be dumber than usual to do it downstream of the meter.

It might be useful to take the meter readings and see if an unusually large amount has recently been recorded.

Are there any squatters or caravans nearby?

The OP said it was a bit of T&E used for the tails, so not too hard to believe that a bit of damage could have affected both cores

 

[PigletJohn]

sorry I missed that