2 x 63A Feeds Into Flat

[3guk]

Hi Guys.

I've been a long time lurker, learnt loads of stuff, but now have a bit a weird question for you guys.

I bought a flat a few months back with a view to renovating it, it's not in a bad state, but it looks like the old owner was a bit of a dabbler who was rubbish at DIY. Needless to say I've been slowly fixing little bits, but am now moving on to the slightly bigger jobs.

I'm looking to completely rewire the place and then get everything tested and signed off by an electrician friend of mine.

It's a relatively small 2bed flat, with 2 x 63A feeds coming from the meter two floors down, I've not had much of a chance to explore downstairs but as far as I can tell there are 2 63A fuses down there off of which run the feeds to 2 separate fuses boxes in the flat, one in the kitchen and one in the hallway, doing separate parts of the house.

I can't really change the two cables that run up to my flat, as they appear to run through someone elses walls.

Is there a way I would be able to consolidate these two feeds into a single consumer unit? I figured since I want to swap out the fusewire for RCD protected units I might as well tidy everything up in the process.

Is this do-able ? What would be the best way of doing this ?

Cheers

 

[ColJack]

you sure they're both yours and not one for you and one for a neighbour? or one for you and one for the comunal area?
get in there and post us some pics of the set up and pics of your 2 CU's...

 

[ColJack]

stupid server reset.. every night at 00:30...

 

[3guk]

Nope they are both mine, running to two old units in the house, the both appear to be split on my side of the meter (there is only one meter for both feeds). Can turn the kitchen / bathroom one off and the meter keeps on running until I turn the one that feeds both bedrooms off.

Hope that clears things up a bit, have been doing a little bit more reading this evening and google brings up results of a few other people who have had this similar situation and have ended up installing 2 x CUs.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Are you sure that one isn't an off-peak supply?

 

[bernardgreen]

If you do not have easy access to the meter and the two 63 amp fuses then maybe having two CU's will ensure that in the event of a fault taking out on of the 63 amp fuses you will still have some electrity to the flat until such time as you can have the fault investigated, repaired and the fuse replaced.

But regulations may object to two supplies with no single point of isolation for the flat and the chances of blowing a 63 amp fuse are very small if the system and CU it feeds is correctly designed and wired.

 

[Steve]

But regulations may object to two supplies with no single point of isolation for the flat

Possible to fit a 4 pole isolator though.

 

[3guk]

There was talk of removing the two 63A fuses and replacing it with a single 125A fuse and connecting both runs together on either end.

Is this something that would be possible, it was suggested by a friend of mine with only limited electrical knowledge.

I'm just looking to get as clued us as possible on the topic you see, save me being given the run around by any contractors !!

Thanks for all the advise so far.

 

[Steve]

give us some photos of the equipment on either end, and we can advise further. For all we know at the moment, the whole lot is DNO property and you cannot do anything.

 

[3guk]

Ok, I can't get to the downstairs flat at the moment but I can explain what goes on down there.

These are the two boxes that I have in my house, I have taken the first cover off, I can lift the main cover off if you needed images of the interior.

Hallway : http://imgur.com/bemZM.jpg - Turning this off cuts power to lounge sockets + lights + 1st bedroom sockets + lights.
Kitchen : http://imgur.com/cOnKg.jpg - Turning this off cuts power to kitchen sockets + appliances + lights + 2nd bed sockts + lights + bathroom

In the flat next to the meter, there are two metal boxes again the sample colour with an on and off switch and a hatch, behind each appears to be a 63A fuse. Two feeds come out of our single meter then one runs to the first box and one runs to the second. Tripping the 1st of these boxes cuts power to the hallway CU, tripping power to the second cuts power to the kitchen CU.

Hope that explains it a bit better, let me know if there is anything more you need.

 

[SparkyNinja]

There was talk of removing the two 63A fuses and replacing it with a single 125A fuse and connecting both runs together on either end.

Is this something that would be possible, it was suggested by a friend of mine with only limited electrical knowledge.

What size are the conductors? I doubt they are big enough to be considered individually for 125A

If it is to be totally rewired, could you not consider isolating one of the supplies. The rewire all to one point? What demand are you considering?

 

[3guk]

I'm guessing by isolating one of the supplies you mean just running on a single 63A feed ? I need to open up one of the boxes again if you wanted conductor sizes, it has been a while since I have looked in there.

I can't see a major problem with this in all honesty, we do not have a power shower although we do have a bath with built in jacuzzi, I haven't looked at the power consumption of this, but I'm assuming since the previous owner had it on a 13A plug with a 13A fuse that it isn't drawing more than 13A.

Tempted to meter the draw on each box with my clamp meter to get an approx value for our typical usage.

The main problem is, pulling any new cables up from downstairs is going to be an absolute nightmare, pulling out neighbours walls and staircases in order to route the cable. We are hoping to avoid this at all costs, just because of the disruption and the fact that the landlord of the middle flat is a bit of a tosser.

 

[3guk]

Just spoken to local chap who said the reason there used to be two feeds to each flat was due to most places being dual tariff, this is no longer the case, and I'm assuming rather than just leaving the other 63 to do nothing they decided to repurporse it to get a bit of extra capacity.

Is 63 going to be adequate for a 2bed flat, or are we going to come across issues further down the line?

 

[electronicsuk]

Is 63 going to be adequate for a 2bed flat, or are we going to come across issues further down the line?

Fancy seeing you here! Small world, eh...?

Assuming the existing supply cable is actually capable of taking 63A (rather than just being backed by a 63A switchfuse), and the main earth provided with/via the cable is up to scratch, you should be fine in terms of maximum demand. I assume the heating is gas, rather than electric, as you say the dual tariff has long been removed?

Oh, and it's not all that uncommon to find entire houses backed by 60A supplier fuses.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm looking to completely rewire the place and then get everything tested and signed off by an electrician friend of mine.

Has that plan been approved by your local Building Control department?