Bayonet type MCB'S Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[greengrass]

HI! BLAKEY I'M BACK AND HOPING YOU READ THIS. I TAKE THE POINT OF ELECTRICIANS NOT BEING ABLE TO SIGN OFF OTHER PEOPLES WORK.

I AM THINKING OF USING PLUG IN MCB's TO REPLACE THE OLD WIRED FUSES, NOT THE REALY OLD ONES BUT THE TYPE WITH THE COLOUR DOTS ON THEM IE: WHITE FOR 5AMP BLUE FOR 15 AMP AND RED FOR 30AMP AS A CHEAPER METHOD OF UPDATING FUSE BOARD DUE TO THE FACT BY THE TIME I'VE SAVED ENOUGH FROM MY PENSION THE ESTIMATE WOULD RISE BY £100.

IS IT AS STRAIGHT FORWARD AS IT SOUND? JUST A MATTER OF REMOVING THE OLD AND PLUGGING IN THE NEW? OR HAS THE FUSE HOLDER GOT TO BE CHANGED ALSO?

I KNOW WHERE I CAN GET THEM BUT NEED TO BE SURE.
MY FUSE BOARD IS A WYLEX ONE.

GREENGRASS

[Breakingwind]

In order to fit the Wylex Mcb's you are thinking about requires the fixed shroud changing, the Mcb's are supplied with this shroud when bought.
Although you can change these without removing the front of the consumer unit you will expose the common busbar from the main switch which supplies all the fuses in the unit, so make sure you switch the consumer unit off before begining this task.
Change one circuit at a time so you do not mix up the circuit ratings, the colour codings are the same but you will find the 5 Amp fuse wire is now a 6 amp Mcb.
Also ensure you pick up red and not orange for the 32 amp circuits they can appear very close if the lighting is bad. orange is 40 amp.
Also you will find that after you have changed all your fuses to Mcb's the cover will no longer fit, this can be sorted by scoring around the rectangular fuse identification panel inside the cover and gently breaking it out, the remainder of the cover will then go over the mcb's and screw back into position.
You then need to identify the circuits on a label stuck to the outside of the consumer unit.

[greengrass]

Thanks Breakingwind [are you an American Indian?] I'm thinking of changing mine to 'Silentwind'.
Will take all safety precautions carrying out the work with a supervisor friend who's daily task is to check electrics on commercial premises for insurance purpose. Has all the test gear and well trained ex Royal Navy officer.
Learnt to respect electricity after hitting a 415 volt in Hammersmith working for BT but now don't trust plans or labels still carry out full testing to ensure cables/circuits are dormant/dead/off/disconnected using tester and roving lamp. By the way how come I hit the 415 volt was the electricity boards plans were not up to date and it did not show the old burried un-recoverable cable I uncovered was dead and the new one placed directly below it so I thought the cable found was the live one. The roadbreaker found the live one it went straight through the middle of the joint saltgalzed coupling. No protection tiles/plate was evident when they dug out for repair. They tried to cover my markings by digging the whole tarmac footway up in the work area but didn't notice I had put marks from their joint box towards the excavation so when they said I hand't marked it they fell foul of BT'' safety prog.


Greengrass