Beware: Consumer Unit Fire Hazard! The Importance of Proper Installation

[@philhermetic]

The result of piss poor design and flimsy construction of mcbs etc. I am a 71 year old retired electrical engineer. Consumer unit fires never happened in my career, so what has gone wrong? Putting it in a metal box and sealing it up is not a solution! Phil

[@AJ-tj7jm]

More to do with being a price lead industry, clients not being prepared to pay what the job is worth and companies always undercutting eachother or under pricing to get the work. End result engineers under pressure rushing jobs, sloppy workmanship, leaving loose connections all over the place.

[@philhermetic]

@@AJ-tj7jm so you expect to be over paid for poor workmanship? Rewiring domestic premises is the very bottom of the electrical industry, it requires very little skill and only a basic knowledge of installation techniques. It is not worth what firms are trying to charge today. Are you seriously trying to say that leaving loose connections is the result of not being paid enough or being rushed? It seems to me that the modern “technician” has a very inflated sense of his own worth and a belief that he can charge what he likes for his superhuman god like skills! It doesn’t matter how well paid you are or how much pressure you are under, do it properly or go sell double glazing! Phil

[@andrewwatson3576]

Thats got to be the hardest of jobs, where you know they have nothing and need to spend a fortune to simply make the installation safe, keep up the good work

[@GreenHawkConstructionltd]

@@andrewwatson3576 absolutely was a real tough one for me as long as I have informed the customer that is as much as we can do

[@almartin727]

Great video. Thanks for sharing. When something like that happens, I’m instantly thinking “what else is going to be wrong with this”. For the time it takes once you’ve got the board isolated, I think it’s worth doing dead tests on the existing installation before making any changes/replacing a board and becoming responsible for the safety of the whole lot.

[@mattsan70]

My Wylex rewirable fuse-wire unit from 1972 is as good condition today as it was when new - so much for progress - I will not be "upgrading" it any time soon

[@blower1]

Classic 'mistake' that I've seen numerous times on installations....in fairness i see this as more of a fatal design flaw of many consumer units. You have a rising terminal clamp, upside down in a position where you can't see the terminals without an inspection mirror. Then you combine that with a multiway bus bar that has no mechanism to tell if it's secure or not on more than one terminal (you can't just tug on a wire to see if any one terminal has actually clamped) I've been aware of this potential issue for decades - long before I ever saw sparks using inspection mirrors to check. In the early days i just made sure all the terminals were fully open before slotting the MCB onto the rail, now i do this and check with a mirror. If CU manufacturers continue to use this crap design then they should have warning labels specifically about this issue and even provide an inspection mirror with every CU - or change the crap design.

[@davideyres955]

Agree. How hard would it be to put in a little mirror along the length of the bus bar so you can see the terminals. They put in little levels (that are pretty useless) so why not some mirror at 45 degrees?

[@dougaltolan3017]

They cover thier arse with the "check all connections including factory made" note in the box.

[@mesparky9]

Spot on,vi just said the same thing. Also 1 screw main switch terminals, should be double screws.

[@paulmyhill4158]

spot on have come across this once in my career before it fried the rcd welded it in the on position ,its a fatal floor in the design just like you say . I always check very carefully they are clamped in its very easy to come unstuck on this .

[@dieseldragon6756]

After seeing this and another toasted Wylex CU in another video here, I'm wondering if I should consider replacing the busbars in my CUs with tails in series. That way you can tell for sure that you have good, safe continuity all along the bus with a quick continuity test...And make damned sure it's under an ohm!!! 👍

[@andrewbrady1063]

Had a similar issue some time ago. Wylex split board, installed by British Gas, one of the RCD units, was not clamped down onto the busbar. I was only there to replace an existing light switch. Luckily, I happened to hear cracking when they put the kettle on. I do have a clip of it, if you'd like me to send it.

[@garrett69]

Why upgrade to 25mm tails when the main incoming fuse is only 80a? 16mm is more than enough and 25% over-sized compared to the fuse.

[@chas3997]

I’ve come across similar standard on several installations you can only make sure your being compliant and issue documented safety notices. I had a council flat that had sockets wired through old metal conduit where the conduit it’s self was being used as an earth and degrading causing sockets to become dangerous (500 ohms +) again really wanted a rewire.🥵 Customers don’t always understand the technical requirement and standard you have to work to. Also as you mention some customers aren’t able to afford a rewire and sometime the installer isn’t looking for that volume of work. So can be a minefield dealing with jobs that are poorly installed from the start.🥵

[@dl8966]

Still Learning the trade, But where do you stand with putting them circuits back into service with no cpc through out and no actual ring final circuits? Does this mean now that you're responsible for that installation now that you've upgraded for consumer unit?

[@tf2694]

19th edition needs to have some indicator on MCB's / terminations to show everything is tight I've seen this too often

[@chrisardern4594]

Tricky one but as long as you make it known that the sockets with no CPC you should in my opinion disconnect them my reason for this if you leave it connected and someone gets a electrical shock or God forbid dies your the professional Electrician and when your dragged into court to explain why you left a dangerous electrical situation as there barrister will accuse you of could you justify yourself. Obviously this is worse case scenario but it does happen.

[@andyfarmer8591]

Since moving to the east coast, near Skegness. I have come across several boards just as you found them, including loose tails as well. Most were installed by Diyers. 2 off them, I just caught in time, otherwise they could easily have set fire to the property. How many more are like this out there?

[@gregcressey1791]

Can I just ask a question when I was doing my electrical training as part of my multi skilled maintenance apprenticeship I was always told you always connect to source last after you have completed your install but in this video you connected it to the isolator with the tails first then completed the install if you by mistake or someone managed to turn the isolator on it could become live unless you have pulled the dno fuse why connect it first pal instead of doing the unit then connect to source after ?

[@nathd1748]

I've come across this loads. It's due to the busbar tips not catching under the MCBs properly and allowing thermal runaway. It's more often than not a sparky error UNLESS of course those batch of MCBs are numbered under the Wylex recall for fire risk. They gave us £10 a breaker years ago to swap them out.

[@G8YTZ]

On my advice, about 35 years ago, I got my dad to fit an RCD to the house. He employed the south-eastern electricity board to do the job, but the electricians installed. It had failed to clamp the incoming 25 mil cable down properly, actually, had the cable on the back of the clamp. The meltdown occurred whilst cooking Christmas dinner obviously seaboard came out straight away on Christmas Day and repaired it, but it was a really shoddy installation. I had a similar experience with an EV charger that wasn’t installed properly back in 2013. He had used inadequate plastic chocolate block to make connections on a circuit that was going to carry 32 A for about 7 hours at a time. At this time, porcelain chocolate block was required. When I first met my wife, I was somewhat horrified by the electrician she had installed new (17th) consumer unit, (again on my advice, replacing old cast, iron isolators and wired fuses), he left it with a neutral crossed between the RCD, protected circuits and the non-RCD protected circuits. Every time you switched on the conservatory lights, the RCD tripped. The only way to do a job properly is to do it yourself, I’m not technically a qualified electrician, but I have a lot of knowledge from my training and experience of broadcast transmitters, so I’ve wired every single one of my houses and then get it independently tested afterwards. It’s the old story if you want the job done properly, do it yourself. Having said that, I’ve met a lot of very competent electricians too, but there is certainly a problem with domestic electricians. When I built this house and wired it, the inspection company asked if they could use my house for the Rhône NIC-EIC inspection, so I got two inspections for the price of one!

[@tonywatson1412]

Are the taller fuse box rcbo,s DP ....? It's just when you mentioned .earth rod. If it's TT ...

[@Mainly_Electrical]

Single pole

[@tonywatson1412]

And me a 75yo. amateur ...and still learning... could have been an S type up front...Still ​@@Mainly_Electrical

[@johnmcfadden7418]

why did it need a new board?

[@AndyK.1]

Did u run out of RCBOs 😅

[@daveenglish2031]

100% a diy job. found a shower switch that someone had done and had stripped 2 inches of isulation on all conductors. it went bang as soon as I removed the screws!

[@mesparky9]

Its common with these units. Its easy to put the bus bar behind the mcb connection. Bad manufacturing and installation. Seen this many many times.

[@dieseldragon6756]

I'm only a DIYer myself - Not formally qualified - But am I right in thinking that a safer way to do the job is to remove the MCB/RCBO block from the CU, turn it upside down, ensure the busbar is *correctly* fitted in all terminals (Screwing down as tight as is possible off the DIN rail) then reinstall it to rail before restoring the other connections? 😇

[@chrisardern4594]

Done this myself a few times BUT i always check with a mirror before powering up. It does prove though 17th ed boards were / are non combustible. OMG I didnt realize you are a fan of Elvis and his jungle room lol.

[@thedon7536]

It’s ionic that the government run adds if you can’t smell gas but never do one about if you get a fish smell 😮

[@michaeltye8853]

Surely you’d have been better to do remedial work on the old board and recommend a complete rewire ………missing the bus bar clamp is often found. No way would I have just changed board. Easy way out just replace mcb s and a well written report sent .

[@bovnet]

Cant beat a rewire-able wylex

[@dieseldragon6756]

Part of me is tempted to replace mine with *non* flammable 18th ed boards, and repurpose my existing Wylex units as barbecues... ⚡🇬🇧🔥🍔😉

[@stunimbus1543]

missing the gate is quite common.

[@dieseldragon6756]

The first thing about this video that scares the living F out of me is that my landlord installed that same damn model of CU in my home, though I have two separate CUs (Day and Eco-7) rather than the one single split-load board. This isn't the first time I've seen a toasted Wylex CU on KZbin either, come to think of it. ⚡🇬🇧🔥😳 The potential saving grace for me is that thanks to energy price inflation and the fact the income for the industrially disabled hasn't risen to compensate, it's presently *very* rare for my CU to ever have more than 13A drawn through it at any one time. 💸 One thing that stood out to me when you pulled the board apart was the fact that the defect was on the MCB protecting the (What should've been a ring) circuit, which is probably the one most likely to see inappropriate DIY mods (e.g: Three gang socket replacing a one-gang on the assumption it's OK, not realising that one-gang outlet is on a spur off the ring and a 2+gang spur isn't normally compliant.) and that would've immediately started me testing and hunting them out, especially with signs of arcing suggesting to me a heavy current flow into the neutral and implying bad wiring and shorts. 🩳 As for helping the customer out with getting _some_ of his installation back into safe service; He's definitely going to need a rewire - Even a DIY'er like me can see that - But what do the regs say about providing a temporary ring main or spurred sockets in surface mounted conduit? A temporary surface circuit providing a few safely usable outlets to key parts of the house is still better than nothing at all, and (Subject to this being possible under the regs) will at least give him a way of bridging the gap between _I can't afford a rewire now_ and _Let's get all that bad wiring sorted out_ 😇

[@johnburns4017]

Fit AFDDs on socket & heavy current circuits.

[@001Neal100]

But isn't the fault before the afdd itself? Would the afdd actually trip if the busbar copper connection to it was loose?

[@johnburns4017]

@@001Neal100 That is a good question. I have thought about that myself.

[@jonathanstephens7804]

Another classic reason why consumer units along escape routes must be be fire rated. You see so many properties with boards under stairs with no fire escape windows.

[@dieseldragon6756]

That _finally_ explains the 45-minute fire door on my electrical cupboard...And also why I still have a 15th ed CU despite it being on a primary evacuation route *and* the same model of Wylex board we see in the video here! ⚡🇬🇧🔥😳 (Thankfully, I also have a viable secondary escape route. 👍)

[@wibbley1]

Why not replace the backing with proper fire-retardant board of the correct size? Looks awful with the board overhanging.

[@andrewstevens7453]

I was always told to make sure connections are tight, and never do anything with consumer units. Leave it to the qualified 👍

[@johnburns4017]

Should have done dead tests before buying new CU and breakers. Then the ring could have been split into two 16A or 20A radials.

[@granvillebloor6569]

I'd make sure it was all safe and ask two mates doing the same and go through it and do what u can

[@connect4king]

Definitely a distress change of the board.

[@nathd1748]

I wouldn't change it. We have loads of those boards lying about our lockup. I'd just swap out the rail and put a fresh cover on.

[@johnburns4017]

The French system of DP breakers using a dual L&N (comb) busbar entering the breakers from the top is far superior. The British Consumer Units are an appalling design. They needs to be DP ASAP. The French system is available in the UK. Schneider.

[@dieseldragon6756]

Merci beaucoup! L' technologie (Et trains) electriques Français c'est superieur! 🚄🇫🇷💯👍

[@MD-gc4xq]

It is what it us unfortunately

[@patterdalezipsuzilil]

Listen its the easiest thing in the world to criticise other people's work I been sparking for 40 years and I have done this my self I done it once after that I used a mirror to check

[@rodgerq]

It is too easy to miss the cage with the busbar, they arent the greatest of designs over all. Any electrician worth their salt would know to check each breaker but you just never know what's going through folks brains at any one point in time. Or it was a diyer who was unaware of the possibility of missing the cage clamp. Lucky it was caught.

[@markhuckerby-vz4gy]

Love the content but always the same comments.... it was 99% a professional install not DIY, its really poor installation, don't blame the MCB design if you need an inspection mirror buy one just the same as if you need a screwdriver you buy one. Its not undercutting pricing either, that is no excuse for 3..... again 3 missed connections. The original sparky shouldn't be allowed to do another install plain and simple poor workmanship and poor installation.

[@audibell]

🔥🔥🔥🔥 why do people do DIY electrics just leave it to the pros

[@sylvianorah1367]

Sorry about your Dad.

[@over-engineered]

surely this was an amateur job, not an electrician!?

[@carlrobson5745]

I'm not a betting man but that boards been changed by a handy man or a over enthusiactic diy person whos watched a few you tube videos seen many wylex breakers with mis terminations ane even the best can miss terminate hence check with a mirror I also doubt that boars came with a certificate when installed