Meters and boards Question

[Luke105]

I work for a company who installs electric heaters.

Usually we remove old storage heaters and replace them with our heaters using the same point with a new switched fcu.

The fuse board is usually just an old Wylex type with just an on off switch and non switched fuses.
The board is powered from the live coming out of the radio teleswitch meter so to make the board live 24 hours we remove this cable and put it into a Henley block which has permanent live feed.

The questions are....
Are we allowed to touch these meters as there are stickers all over them saying property of the electricity board.

Secondly, using the old points coming from the old style board with just an on off switch. Is this ok?

 

[Luke105]

In fairness Luke, credit to you for coming on here and asking questions, as you clearly are not comfortable that what you’ve been told to do is correct.

That’s right, I’m very sceptical and I was hoping someone with experience could just tell me a right and wrong.

 

[Luke105]

In fairness Luke, credit to you for coming on here and asking questions, as you clearly are not comfortable that what you’ve been told to do is correct.

That’s right, I’m very sceptical and I was hoping someone with experience could just tell me a right and wrong.

 

[The Ghost]

I genuinely have no idea if we should be pulling fuses out for opening the meters to remove a tail.

Absolutely not! Especially with your level of knowledge you are playing with fire. Who supervises you?

 

[The Ghost]

As to the board change, not enough information. But generally speaking there is no imperative for it to be changed. Although it may be recommended to the client it is just not a yes or no answer.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

If I were working for a company, I would not be pulling DNO fuses.
Yes, I admit that I have pulled DNO fuses in the past and will probably pull them in the future.
The times I have pulled them have been for me, family or my own jobs.

 

[ipf]

Sorry Luke but you're being taken for a mug by cowboys. No way should this be going on. I'll ask again, who is the contract work being carried out for?

 

[Andy5678]

The company you work for should have some sort of procedure in place for getting the fuse removed.

Any work has to be done to bs7671 18th edition.

If you know these regs then you might be needing RCD protection, SPD, if altering or making additions to the circuit it should be up to current standards.

the correct certificate needs issued every time.

 

[littlespark]

Well, this is interesting reading.

Recently, I attended a house where this heater swap had been done. The company that came only changed the heaters. They told the homeowners to have their E7 tariff changed.
This was done, but the meter guys didn't reconnect the E7 board... leaving my customers without any heating. (said they weren't allowed to).

I was actually thinking of doing this myself as a business idea, but you guys are putting me right off!

Have the customer get an isolator installed from their supplier to make the changeover easier, swap the heaters, test the circuits and move the E7 board to 24hr.
Hence a recent thread I made about disposing of the bricks.

My heater choice would be the Rointe Kyros range, but would accept other suggestions.

Reading the Rointe website, it does say that any warranty would be void if the plugs were cut off... so i'd have to change the switches to sockets, and therefore changing the board to RCD protected if required.
I don't know, but i'd expect other manufacturers to say the same regarding plugs??

 

[Strima]

Sounds like your company is cutting a lot of corners, someone will get hurt sooner rather than later.

 

[MJPD29]

You definetly should not be disconnecting any cables from the meter if that is what you mean

 

[DPG]

Interesting thread!

 

[Shoei]

As a company employee this is an HSE issue, the HSE set out what employers must do to ensure safety in the workplace. Live working isn't forbidden but is tightly controlled, it doesn't sound like any kind of risk assessment or controls are in place.

You can read the HSE guidance here in the Electricity at work: Safe working practices (pdf download)

 

[Wilko]

Hi Luke - I think Minor Works Cert for changing the supply feed point and another for a new FCU, if I've understood correctly. As you are moving the tails, they would have to comply with current regs for sizing, insulation and support.
Clearly they should not be asking you to work live.

 

[littlespark]

I think we’ve scared Luke off with all this.

Maybe Luke is merely someone who fixes the new heaters to the wall and takes the old ones away. Perhaps the electrical work is done by someone else in his team who is qualified to do so. Perhaps the management above have agreements in place with the suppliers who come round afterwards and reseal fuses that the team have removed.
Optimistic tag alert!!!

Maybe Darth Vader is his father
“NOOOooooo!!!”

 

[Luke105]

I think we’ve scared Luke off with all this.

Maybe Luke is merely someone who fixes the new heaters to the wall and takes the old ones away. Perhaps the electrical work is done by someone else in his team who is qualified to do so. Perhaps the management above have agreements in place with the suppliers who come round afterwards and reseal fuses that the team have removed.
Optimistic tag alert!!!

Maybe Darth Vader is his father
“NOOOooooo!!!”

Just the boring dick measuring tradesman replies. Someone asks a simple question and because they don’t know every little rule on electrics that means they aren’t a “sparky” so it’s better to just ignore