Electrical / Consumer panel comments please

[brightspark]

BG consumer units are reasonable quality with decent room inside - link to 6 way unit

screwfix or electrifix do the bg units at a cheap rate. 8 and 12 way . there good easy to fit units

 

[colnerov]

lighting on a 10 amp ? , thought 6 was the standard ,

That's so you can do the ironing.

 

[Maker]

It's obvious that the neutral carries less current than the live.

I mean, the power comes in on the live and whatever is plugged in uses some of it - it's only what's left over that has to come back down the neutral...

Of course, how could I be so dense. I'm off to replace my welding return lead with a bit of wet string.

 

[rtbcomp]

It's obvious that the neutral carries less current than the live.

I mean, the power comes in on the live and whatever is plugged in uses some of it - it's only what's left over that has to come back down the neutral...

That's rubbish. There is no current in the neutral, the electrons come in on the live on the positive half of the cycle and they get sucked out the same way on the negative half.

 

[Robotstar5]

Quite a bit of the older infrastructure is overloaded these days thanks to the popularity of switch mode power supplies whose harmonics induce current into neutral line.

 

[dannyp]

you don't even need the neutral theres no volts on it just connect it to the frame of the shed only need one wire then

 

[colnerov]

you don't even need the neutral theres no volts on it just connect it to the frame of the shed only need one wire then

That's how it's done on cars.

 

[dobbslc]

you don't even need the neutral theres no volts on it just connect it to the frame of the shed only need one wire then

Tell that to the man that got a belt off a floating neutral! Worst I've ever had.
I measured 380 volts across neutral to earth as some d##k had taken a live from one dist board and the neutral from another on a different phase! This was feeding an emergency light. Ironic!
@mrfuzzy what are those BG boards like?
I think one of those RCBO jobbies would suit me.

 

[brightspark]

a few people think the neutral only needs to be 1 third of the size of the live

Tell that to the man that got a belt off a floating neutral! Worst I've ever had.
I measured 380 volts across neutral to earth as some d##k had taken a live from one dist board and the neutral from another on a different phase! This was feeding an emergency light. Ironic!
@mrfuzzy what are those BG boards like?
I think one of those RCBO jobbies would suit me.

i use bG boards all the time decent quality and the price is right

 

[Robotstar5]

a few people think the neutral only needs to be 1 third of the size of the live

Hence my post earlier, the board used to install 3 1/2 PILC which is now struggling to cope with neutral current in some built up areas.

 

[brightspark]

the new metal boards are easy to fit there's 4 large ish knockouts at the back for cable entry and knockouts top and bottom if the mains tails are brought in from one of the sides they need to be fed through a sealed stuffing gland . all entry points need to be sealed to contain any fires on loose cables (NOT THAT THEY SHOULD BE ANY )

 

[Spark plug]

Metal ones are loads better IMO, safer easier to mount and you can make a decent job of terminating SWA.

 

[brightspark]

I tend to mount the db on 2 pieces of roofing lats 3/4 x 1. 1/2 inch . u can level them up on an uneven wall get good fixings and all cables fit nicely behind without having to chase them in

 

[Robotstar5]

I tend to mount the db on 2 pieces of roofing lats 3/4 x 1. 1/2 inch . u can level them up on an uneven wall get good fixings and all cables fit nicely behind without having to chase them in

Are they fireproof laths?

 

[brightspark]

Are they fireproof laths?

tantalised they wont rot