oh dear oh dear progress eh

[nickblake]

so a new Amendment 3 board , to me it will be the cause of the fire in the first place neutral bar split when torqued to the required setting and it was the manufacturers side wont be buying any of these boards again

 

[Andy78]

I know we clamped down Andy but I sure we aint that bad lol-- PS, I think I said it post 5

I have got that used to avoiding upsetting anyone I just don't know where to stop.

 

[SJD]

I've fitted a couple of new Wylex metal boards, and the N bar looks very similar, with similar plastic mountings. Actually when I tightened up the N screws, the whole N bar comes close to breaking the mountings, so it would end up floating loose. Plus it is easy to damage the screw heads. In summary, the new metal outer box was quite nice, but a pity about the cheap quality of some of the internals.

 

[Andy78]

Havells or more commonly and Badged as LAP only amend 3 i could get my hands on at the time so i thought i'd try it , my opinion they should all be recalled

Please tell me you are going to let the manufacturer and the retailers know about this. It's the only way to get issues like this addressed.
I am the same, use LAP once, never would again. I'll leave that rubbish in screwfix for all the plumbers and builders to buy.

 

[egg67]

Is it just like car manufacturers now days all parts come from the same bin, just the badge on the front is different

 

[Dave OCD]

You'd think that as materials technology and manufacturing tolerances improved over the years that something as crucial to safety as a distribution board would go in the same direction, but sadly it seems the opposite is true. Is it the market driven obsession with price that's as much to blame as anything else or the desire to increase profit margins by the manufacturers ?

 

[Darkwood]

When you let the likes of this DIY stores sell these products instead of bonafide Wholesalers it drives the cost down but also narrows manufacturing profit margins so to compete they have to produce cheap on mass and corners are cut... My argument is that letting the public buy consumer units in these stores is what ultimately started all this.

 

[Dave OCD]

Mind you crap consumer units have been around for a long time , I'm thinking of the 'Proteus' ones from 25 years or more ago for example...

 

[Andy78]

Mind you crap consumer units have been around for a long time , I'm thinking of the 'Proteus' ones from 25 years or more ago for example...

You'll be pleased to hear that product consistency has been maintained after all these years and they are still awful. I believe they get used mostly by students' landlords and caravan fitters.

 

[robsparky1975]

What they should be doing is improving the main switch,take a step back in time and look at how well the old wylex units were constructed,not to tempt fate but how many have any of us seen melted...ive only seen a couple and thats only because diy'ers were chucking in extra loads!

 

[Daveash123]

Havells now own Crabtree and other brands, same gear, just a name change

 

[Darkwood]

I mean wylex were made out of wood...all those house fires ..must have been like living in the blitz !!

 

[VoltzElectrical]

Please tell me you are going to let the manufacturer and the retailers know about this. It's the only way to get issues like this addressed.
I am the same, use LAP once, never would again. I'll leave that rubbish in screwfix for all the plumbers and builders to buy.

I have used LAP second fix products and I can't understand the complaints here? They seem fine. Haven't fitted a consumer unit though.

 

[Andy78]

I have used LAP second fix products and I can't understand the complaints here? They seem fine. Haven't fitted a consumer unit though.

Terminal screws that round off or strip and are wobbly in their thread, rockers that jam, stiff shutters on sockets that won't allow plugs in without excessive force, poorly laid out designs and cheap build quality. These are my personal experiences with LAP accessories.
Granted I have only ever used less than a bucketful of this stuff, but there are plenty of brands where I don't have to put up with this at all.

 

[R G]

As I mentioned before on earlier posts , unless the quality of the internals are rectified its pointless plonking all the same gubbins in a metal enclosure , the main switch that splits when tightening screws , neutral burn outs on bus bars , poorly threaded screws , MCBs that don't tighten correctly , the list goes on , the quality of the whole board needs to be right ..


If a customer went into a shop and purchased an appliance and was told to check for certain issues that could happen and could catch fire there would be a flood of complaints and trading standards would stop them being sold , So what about these boards then ...

 

[Paul.M]

What they should be doing is improving the main switch,take a step back in time and look at how well the old wylex units were constructed,not to tempt fate but how many have any of us seen melted...ive only seen a couple and thats only because diy'ers were chucking in extra loads!

Totally agree. They should also have a double screw terminal for all main RCD tails within the Plastic box. Also the fist two of the Neutral terminals should be larger so we can fit shower 10mm and cooker 6mm cable into them without causing a future problem? A 16mm terminal on the the earth bar would not go amiss as well???

Small things that make a big difference.