Reliable switchgear

[Mark Polden]

Hi There

Looking for some advice about reliability of certain brands of switchgear. I am building a custom three phase distro on a value for money budget and was trying to use crabtree but they do not do certain things I need such as non specialised RCD's. I am looking for non chinese made kit at reasonable prices, I have heard about reliability issues with MK and would love to go with ABB or Merlin Gerin but they are well out of budget, what do people think of Hager

Thanks in advance

 

[somersetsparks]

I have used hager to fit out a mains room before, thought it was pretty good gear to be honest. If your struggling with crabtree, have you tried wylex? They are all part of the same group and wylex offers a broader range, Wylex PSB style gear and Crabtree loadstar are exactly the same.

 

[Guest123]

I use a lot of Dorman Smith gear. They supply a whole range from 1250A ACB's to 6A MCB's. Reasonable prices and not had one problem with them yet.

My latest install was a 4Mx2M panel board with 1250A ACB imcommer plus assorted MCCB outgoers ranging from 32 - 400A.

 

[Engineer54]

You don't say what sort of range of supply your looking for?? or what you mean by switchgear

One thing you need to remember, buy cheap on a budget and you tend to buy twice, or it's forever giving problems. My preference is with Schneider (Merlin Gerin), which is totally adaptable to your own requirements...

 

[johnboy6083]

i too prefer MG/Schnieder, but ive also used a lot of ABB for another firm, and had no problems.
I recently had to price a 3ph board change, and wylex was by far the cheaper price, but im not keen, considering the recalls not too long ago. Ended up with an 8way TP&N isobar4c from MG

 

[Premier elec]

Have used Hagar recently and is better than it was a while ago.........steer clear of the cheaper manufacturers, Wylex 3ph range is terrible and we would never use that again

 

[somersetsparks]

Wylex/crabtree have improved no end since those recalls IMO, there RCBO's and MCBs are a lot better fitting with better terminals etc, and to be fair I think they are good units that are well priced with easy availability of parts etc.
Merlin/schneider is very good gear and has the full range, and expert service available on big jobs, mobile workshops - the lot.

I thought it sounded as though the OP was talking about small MCB/RCBO boards and not Panelboards. I would go wylex everytime, my company have fitted them for years and never have any probs.

 

[Engineer54]

i too prefer MG/Schnieder, but ive also used a lot of ABB for another firm, and had no problems.
I recently had to price a 3ph board change, and wylex was by far the cheaper price, but im not keen, considering the recalls not too long ago. Ended up with an 8way TP&N isobar4c from MG

MG, ABB, Seimans and the like, are all good kit, and all are adaptable to your requirements. The fact that these and other major good manufacturers, ensure that all their protective devices (within frame range) along with other electrical control components (of which are too numerous to list), can be accommodated within their standard LV switchgear panels/DB's makes them the ones to go for !!!

Having said that i've seen some really badly designed MV switchboards from ABB, one scared the life out of me, opening up the back of an ''On Line'' 13.8 KV board... I made dammed sure is was off line, before i allowed the electricians to do any work, or reinstate that back cover!! lol!!

 

[Guest123]

This is the latest DS install........

 

[Guest123]

And, yes that is me.:cool3:

 

[johnboy6083]

nice job that lenny. Thats my kind of job. I like lots of big cables, and fitting everything from the panel to the instrumentation myself!

 

[Guest123]

nice job that lenny. Thats my kind of job. I like lots of big cables, and fitting everything from the panel to the instrumentation myself!

Certainly beats carpets, floorboards and twin&skin.