Company fuse.

[westie101]

You can choose 50:50 or ask a friend

 

[sparkticus]

You can choose 50:50 or ask a friend

I went with the audience vote which was "make a cup of tea"

 

[JohnW2]

"is it correct to state that a cut-out fuse may be withdrawn only by a person authorised to do so by the distributor?" Multiple choice answer of YES or NO.
Help which is the correct answer???

I'm not at all sure that it's in the regs (so goodness knows what answer they are expecting) - but, if one is going to be realistic, the answer should be 'No', if not only because os the existance of 'emergency situations'.

I wouldn't like to be the DNO who had to stand up in court and explain that the reason a meter fire destroyed a house was that no-one on the scene was authorised to remove the fuse!

Kind Regards, John.

 

[JohnW2]

You can choose 50:50 or ask a friend

50:50 would be a very sensible choice when there were only two answers on offer - but I suspect they would not allow it

Kind Regards, John.

 

[OwainDIYer]

I'm just doing the 1st amendment update on line, the NICEIC/Virtual college offering. You won't believe this but one of the interactive questions asks:

"is it correct to state that a cut-out fuse may be withdrawn only by a person authorised to do so by the distributor?" Multiple choice answer of YES or NO.

Help which is the correct answer???

It might not be a DNO cut-out, so no

 

[shav]

Fascinating stuff, I remember a fire at my parents house when the company fuse failed one morning by way of exploding, showering the hall in burning bakerlite (the fuse was situated above the front door fed from an overhead supply).
Anyway to answer the original question, I am having a rewire done at the moment and I contacted my supplier, British Gas. They sent out an engineer (they use United Utilities for this, not the DNO which is Scottish Power I believe) who fitted an isolating switch after the meter. The cost was £29. They took the opportunity to replace the meter at the same time so he replaced the old cord-braided tails from the cutout as well. So well worth it as it everything's new and the spark can do his job in safety. The biggest problem was getting the call-centre operator to understand what I wanted doing. Took a while but he found the right department in the end!
About 7 years ago I had the same thing at another property and the supplier fitted the isolator for free then, but I guess nothing's free any more. I do wonder though if different suppliers have different fees for this work?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I didn't think that Bakelite burned....

 

[JohnW2]

I didn't think that Bakelite burned....

It's pretty resistant - but virtually anything made out of organic chemicals will burn if you get it hot enough in the presence of oxygen.

Kind Regards, John.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Or other oxidisers

 

[JohnW2]

Or other oxidisers

Yep - and all sorts of other things as well; there are more ways to create fire than oxidation!

Kind Regards, John.

 

[efiste2]

Recieved this today via a Safety bulletin.....A meter fixer found a damaged vandalised cutout and meter, and having NO PPE on moved the meter slighlty and the cut out blew up...Luckily he only recieved burns to his hand....The same could potentially happen when removing a fuse from a cutout.....it does take a little force to remove the fuses and if the cutout is damaged in anyway, it could fall apart and even worse could go bang....The meter fixer mentioned above "THOUGHT" the incomer was/should be dead and therefore had no PPE on......the golden rule is TREAT IT AS LIVE until proven NOT LIVE

 

[kai]

The right way was to Spike the incoming cable - no viable alternative.