Opinion on board change

[magnoliafan89]

hi guys

Got asked to look at a job the other day. Sweet old lady in a mobile park.
She had an electrician come out to do a socket. After doing it he told her the consumer unit needed changing as it was dangerous. This obviously worried her.

He quoted £600. Hadnt dine anything else other than change a socket front, no tests etc.

So anyway She asked around. I went round and had a look. 4 circuits re wirable fuses and a 30Ma rcd protecting it all. Bonds in place etc etc.

I'm doing a full test as a given anyway but I've informed her that if after a full test everything is all a okay I wouldn't feel any need to change it. If however lots of work needed doing following the test I would but the test would be part of the work so qouldnt charge for the test and then the board.

Well the electrician who told her has now approached me and said I was wrong and shouldn't have poached his work.

Whats your opinion straight up change the board or if nothing is wrong just leave it??

 

[davesparks]

I worked on a caravan site for 10 years, @davesparks and can assure you every one of them was plugged in, exactly the same as the tourers.

The two sites I've worked on had hard wired mains supplies.

 

[UNG]

It would be a good idea as it would :

• help contain a fire.
• easy to reset compared to a fiddly fuse wire.
• just the RCBO would trip rather than all circuits

What is with the paranoia of consumer unit fires that was started by the LFB and perpetuated by the IET with the 17th amd 3 changes, I was talking to a retired fireman recently who had 30 years service in who said in all that time he had only been to one shout involving a consumer unit fire, I've seen 2 that were smouldering and didn't get to a full fire mainly because of the acrid smell in 40+ years I've been in the trade. The conclusion of the conversation was that poor installation was a big part of the cause and not the materials that the CU was manufactured or assembled with

 

[telectrix]

What is with the paranoia of consumer unit fires that was started by the LFB and perpetuated by the IET with the 17th amd 3 changes, I was talking to a retired fireman recently who had 30 years service in who said in all that time he had only been to one shout involving a consumer unit fire, I've seen 2 that were smouldering and didn't get to a full fire mainly because of the acrid smell in 40+ years I've been in the trade. The conclusion of the conversation was that poor installation was a big part of the cause and not the materials that the CU was manufactured or assembled with

that's what we all think. limp wristed installers unable to tighten terminals correctly. it's also led to the paranoia of torque screwdrivers. whole thing is trying to fit a band-aid to an arterial bleed.

 

[UNG]

that's what we all think. limp wristed installers unable to tighten terminals correctly. it's also led to the paranoia of torque screwdrivers. whole thing is trying to fit a band-aid to an arterial bleed.

I prefer the talk screwdriver "yep that's tight"

 

[pc1966]

While it makes perfect sense to me that a CU should be made from fire resistant materials, it also is obvious that a 20 year old CU in not suddenly going to burst in to flames for no reason!

As said elsewhere, a general decline in the practical skills of those doing the work is the main underlying reason to worry

 

[happysteve]

If the PSCC is >2kA, I'd be swapping out the 3036's for something else in consideration of breaking capacity.

 

[pc1966]

If the PSCC is >2kA, I'd be swapping out the 3036's for something else in consideration of breaking capacity.

A good point, though I suspect unlikely on a caravan park supply.

 

[happysteve]

A good point, though I suspect unlikely on a caravan park supply.

Agreed. Occasionally sites have their own transformer, though.

 

[pc1966]

Agreed. Occasionally sites have their own transformer, though.

True, you might have a surprise waiting in that case!

As always, assumption is the mother of all major screw-ups, so always safest to measure the PFC/PSSC and find out if anything is suspiciously low or worryingly high.