Moving meter and ccu!!

[Ross1]

Hi guys, my first post

Ive got a total rewire to do on a flood damaged bungalow, the customer wants to move the cu from above the back door to a cupboard about 15m away and wants the meter moved outside because he is abroad most of the year and no one home. Never had this situation before, so are the tails to the meter allowed to be that long. And what is the process for moving the meter.
Cheers​

 

[SirKit Breaker]

The supplier will have to move the meter, they will want a suitable hole cutting in the wall to mount the meter and supply head. Your customer will have to contact them to get the right forms to get this done. tell them to ring them up and explain what they want to do, they will get some forms, you will have to fill part of it in as the Electrical contractor.

You can put the CU wherever you want as long as it is accessible etc, but if it is more than 3 metres away from the cutout fuse, you will need to fit a switch fuse within 3 meters of it to protect their gubbins. what i normally do its fit an 80a switch fuse within 3 meters,( it has to be 80a because it needs to be lower rated than the cutout), connected to supply with 25mm tails and 16mm earth as normal, then run 16mm 3 core SWA to new consumer unit, as this is adequate for your 80a fuse.

Cheers........Howard

 

[Ross1]

Thanks for the advise mate, pretty much confirming what tidbits I`ve been reading but you summed it up nicely in one. Cheers

 

[Electroserve]

Just a bit more advice on this really.

For years now i have fit a switched fused isolator for all domestic consumer units for the simple reason its always easier to work on in future with-out going down the supply company route for re-sealing cut-outs.

I have always chose to fit my isolators in the meter box's, today i was advised that this is an illegal practice and my isolators should be on the inside of the house...

Now if this is true i find it ludicrous as what would the point be in the isolator they not exactly small so i may as well mount my consumer unit behind the meter box and just scarp the isolator.

I have found over the years that many meter men have rules that i have never heard, but just looking for some confirmation..

Cheers

 

[Andyfm]

Yes that is true - on several jobs where the CU wasn`t near the meter ,I have installed two meter boxes, one for the meter and one for a metalclad switchfuse feeding the armoured to the CCU.
They do have some strange rules which they don`t tell you about until you do something wrong, another one was that they had to have a minimum space for their meter board of 450mm x 650mm or something like that, though that was in the days of "The LEB" who would make life difficult just for the fun of it!!

 

[Geordie Spark]

Just a bit more advice on this really.

For years now i have fit a switched fused isolator for all domestic consumer units for the simple reason its always easier to work on in future with-out going down the supply company route for re-sealing cut-outs.

I have always chose to fit my isolators in the meter box's, today i was advised that this is an illegal practice and my isolators should be on the inside of the house...

Now if this is true i find it ludicrous as what would the point be in the isolator they not exactly small so i may as well mount my consumer unit behind the meter box and just scarp the isolator.

I have found over the years that many meter men have rules that i have never heard, but just looking for some confirmation..

Cheers

I worked on a friend's new build a while ago & the meter was in a recessed box on an outside wall.

DNO's blokes turned up, ran the cable from the street into the recessed box, fitted their cut-out and meter & then supplied & fitted an isolator .... all inside the meter box.

Our 25mm tails went from the isolator, through the back of the recessed box & straight into the CU which was mounted on the other side of the wall.

So, we have the daft situation of my DNO fitting the isolator inside the meter box, and your DNO telling you it's illegal !!!!!