Is this old fuseboard satisfactory for use?

Yellow_Fern

Hi all,

I am keen to check if this old fuseboard is ok for you. It if for an old office that gets light use, and no EVs or cookers or higher use appliances, bar storage heaters. I am keen to check if safety is compromised by the old board. I guess it has no RCBs. Thanks loads and happy Christmas.

20221227_130539.jpg

Yellow_Fern

Just posting again so the image is vertical.

meercat

Which board are you concerned about

id sat there’s undersized mains to the distribution board on the left

theres no blank plates fitted either

are those brown and blue cables feeding the storage heating board connected directly to the black esbn cutouts. It looks like the meter is bypassed but can’t be 100%sure from here

does that bottom meter spin after 11 and do the numbers increase

any chance of closer up photos of

1 the cables entering the esbn cutout (black fuse unit) it looks like the seal is broken

2 all the mcb units on both distribution boards

3 cables entering the bottom meter. (There’ll be a gap between the mounting board and the wall. You’ll need a torch). Otherwise let me know what color the cables are.

iwillhtfu

It looks like someone's connected the smaller board before the meter you'll find yourself in trouble there.

meercat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120038978#Comment_120038978

Yeah. It looks like that alright

esbn seal missing and cutout broken

iwillhtfu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120038990#Comment_120038990

Yep. I assume the larger meter is a night rate and the timeclock beside intended for the storge heating.

OP I'd be asking whoever did that work some serious questions as if it's found you will find yourself in some serious hot water.

JL spark

No , would be a good answer, as what the above have said ,

kirk.

I don't see any reason to believe the metering is bypassed there

Brown blue down to meter/time clock and back up to nsh board

Main protective conductor presumably linked across from main board

Looks like there's a seal on the fused cutout

Yellow_Fern

There is night rate. I think part of this set up is for a storage heating. I don't think it is bypassed as we do get regular bills and an engineer takes a reading every year. This system was installed I think around 1980.

kirk.

Looks like a DIY rewire or board upgrade was done at some stage

The old style double pole main isolator beside the old GD meter

Hard to know without seeing behind the main board cover

There's neutralising done at the fused cutout anyhow

kirk.

A REC will probably advise a rewire there as the wiring looks to be quite old on the main board anyhow

meercat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120039366#Comment_120039366

Post the list of photos that I requested and we can help more

also, if your storage heaters came on last night then did the numbers move on the bottom meter. How many units did this meter move.

post photos of it.

how come it’s only read once a year

the meter readers aren’t engineers so it’s unlikely they’d spot if it’s incorrectly wired.

kirk.

Those older cutouts and GD meters often give trouble , overheating and connections

There's no main protective device in that system with 2 separate boards so potential for overheating on the esbn equipment

Whole lot wants rewired and metering moved outside

You'd be changing to 1 set of tails and control pair/contactor arrangement for the storage heating rather than the current direct switching I presume?

iwillhtfu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120039338#Comment_120039338

Could be just coincidence the tails to the board run exactly along the same path as the tails out of the connection block thats throwing the eye off. The tails could indeed be going through the wppd panel down to the night meter and then feeding the storage heating DB.

Either way could do with some tidying up. Those old chip board sheets used to be like kindling under boards and then they were usually covered by some cabinetry. A recipe for a fire.

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120040999#Comment_120040999

That's all it is optical illusion

Pretty sure there's a seal on cutout there

One thing for sure if you change to smart metering there you'll be losing money

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120040315#Comment_120040315

Thanks so much. I will prepare those photos. The point I was making about the reading being taken is that there isnt free electricity. There is a regular bill and I think that these lads would have spotted a bypass by now? I think the readings area only twice a year as they need to enter the building and they often have bad hours. Sometimes the readings were only only once every few years. We are very interested in reducing use so I was monitoring the readings over the last few years. We'd use 2 to 4 kWh a day, occasionally up to 8 kWh.

meercat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120041930#Comment_120041930

You’d still get a bill as the other meter is connected correctly

4kw per day is low considering there’s storage heaters installed.

has the bottom meter moved since your original post. What are the numbers

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120042890#Comment_120042890

It would change. I don't record it routinely, but I have some old records. For example I have a reading from 6th June 34389 and another one from 13th of June 34436.6.

Yellow_Fern

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Posting these to clarify