Prosecution

[tigerpaul]

We had our ECA assessor visit today and while we were chatting he mentioned a case in London where a contractor had done an apartment block. There was a fan in a bathroom which had gotten stuck and the motor had caught alight and caused a major fire. Everything he'd done was as per BS7671, except however he hadn't fused the fan down to 3A as per the fan manufacturers instructions. Now this contractor has been prosecuted.
Now how many times have you seem a bathroom fan fused down to 3A? I haven't at all, it's always just the 6A Mcb providing protection.

 

[brucelee]

I believe that there is.

Is there wish I had known that mate just recently fitted a3A FCU & 3 pole pull switch isolator high level out the zones for a fan in my bruvs bathroom as manufacturers stated 3A fuse
so a 3 pole iso with a fuse would have been ideal

its got to be safer now than the fan it replaced as that was wired in 1mm direct from the shower pull switch which was wired in 6mm and fed from 32A Bs3036 the 6mm was also tapped off with a Jb hidden and 2.5mm out under boards in loft to a old FCU in bedroom which used to feed to the old central heating system all still connected even though fan had given up long ago , central heating has been replaced and moved to new location and shower had now been replaced with a thermostatic mixer tap Type shower as the shower had given up the mice had also been at cable at some point also No RCd old wylex wooden backed Fusebard well open wooden backed with Bs 3036 fuses 4 way each way stuffed with as many cables as could possibly ft for various circuits

 

[tigerpaul]

I think the main point the assessor was making was that when the shi& hits the fan (or in this case, fire!) the lawyers can have you in court with your pants down. I will call the ECA guy sometime this week and ask him for any more details on the story.

 

[morph]

why is it a 3 amp fuse and not 1 amp
fan is about 100 w/ 150 w

 

[richy3333]

I honestly never ever new that 3A MCB's existed hahaha oh my days.

Isit just MK that make them?

Hager list a 0.5,1,2,3,4A type C MCB

 

[yellowvanman]

Going back to the original post, what law has the guy being prosecuted against? BS7671 is not legally binding.

Also I beleive you can configure a fused triple pole switch using click.

 

[ste mac]

I think that if the manufacturer requires their equipment to be fused then they should install the relevant fuse in their equipment, then if the fuse blows it will require an electrician to change the fuse which should ensure that the reason for fuse failure is identified and rectified and that the a correctly rated replacement fuse is installed.

 

[cymroaur]

All the fans I've installed I've fused to 3A, as per manufacturer's instructions. I normally have those dual 1G boxes to hand for the purpose. The whole bathroom goes onto the FCU, with the fan iso along side.

 

[richy3333]

This is what you need...

 

[Fin170]

Didn't somebody on here mention once they had some Chinese equipment they had to install and had manufactures instructions stating that neutrals were to be fused?

Would you still follow their instructions or the standard nic reply or would you apply professionalism to the incident? Just to throw a spanner in the works....

 

[Robert Turnbull]

This is what you need...
View attachment 16712View attachment 16713

You'd need 2 fuses unless you fuse down the whole room. Could you configure that with 2 fuses into a double box? what do the front plates look like?

 

[ste mac]

The switch and fuse holder are the Click Mode range. You buy modules an fit them into the normal face plates. 4 gang face plate would be a 2 gang back box. Or you could fit the fan isolator and bathroom light switch into a 3gang plate and 2 fuse holders into a 2gang plate next to it in a dual back box.

 

[bodders22]

According to there website http://www.greenwood.co.uk/media/pdfs/AXS100%20NB%20data%20sheet.pdf Greenwood AXS 100 fans do not require fusing down when fed from a 6amp mcb lighting circuit. Solves the problem I think !

 

[richy3333]

^^^ Yep lets all buy Greenwood fans. In yer face Vent Axia and Xpelair

 

[Engineer54]

I dunno what your all going on about. There is no prosecution going on, it's just another tall story!! If anyone would get the blame (if it were true), it should be the fan manufacture. A 10/20W fan isn't going to be too well protected by a 3A HRC fuse or 6A MCB, so it's all academic, your all scaring yourself's silly, about something your not ultimately responsible for...

 

[Guest55]

Didn't somebody on here mention once they had some Chinese equipment they had to install and had manufactures instructions stating that neutrals were to be fused?

Would you still follow their instructions or the standard nic reply or would you apply professionalism to the incident? Just to throw a spanner in the works....

i'd never follow manufacturers instructions that directly contradicted bs7671.
ie use your loaf ;-)