dodgey electric meter

[ScottishGasMan]

hey all, just bought a new house, was in for a peek last night (dont key keys for few weeks yet)

The electrics would appear to be ancient, which I was aware of anyway, but looked at the meter, and the board its attached to, and meter seems to be leaning forward, gave it a push and it will wobble back and forward as if its only a fixing at the bottom holding it on.

Question is who do i phone to mount it a bit more sturdy? and would I be charged for that?

Also, being that the house will need rewired, If I had say a 100A dp isolator, do you think they would fit that on the tails off the meter so the spark wouldnt need to call them in and out to turn power on and off for them changing over fuse box/rewiring etc?

cheers

 

[Iggifer]

you would call your electricity supplier (whoever the bills come from) to get the meter refixed. They probably wouldn't charge you for that - and would probably replace it with a new meter whilst they're at it, but they would want to fit their own DP isolator. I had British Gas do this for me recently and they charged me £45 ish I think for the isolator & meter change was FOC.

To be fair though the MOP did a pretty tidy job and replaced my tails with 25mm (were 16mm) so can't complain.

I guess all suppliers will be different, just give them a call with the MAPN number or meter serial number

 

[Chri5]

Isn't the meter board mounted, so the board is loose rather than the meter?

 

[ScottishGasMan]

Cheers guys, will just ask them to fit isolator at same time then, £45ish isnt bad, was expecting some scarey numbers.

Would Ideally like meter moved as its, is basically in a hole in the wall behing a bedroom cubpoard that has the back out it. but when looking at cost of moving on internet its silly money. So thought If I have isolator then as far as Im aware I could get tails run from their to hall cuboard or something and put fusebox somewhere central.

No, board behind meter seems fine, its the actual meter that appears loose, only nociced it was pointing forward a bit and went to give it a push, and it would rock back and forward with maybe an inch or so gap at back at most.

didnt want to pull it further to see fixings etc and end up pulling it off all together, but till I get keys etc i dont have a provider at the moment so will wait till im in and get better look and ask when im sorting out a supplier

 

[ilikewatchingtv]

I would be tempted not to mention the isolator until the engineer turns up, then ask him directly - I had a chap round to replace my dual rate meter with a single rate a few months ago and when I asked he fitted an isolator for free - he wouldn't even take a cup of tea and a biccie for his trouble...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

MEM do a good one where the enclosure has a cover which slides off to expose the load terminals without you needing to remove the whole cover and thus expose the supply ones.

If you are going to ask the meter installer to put the isolator in you might want to fix it to the board first, so that it takes him less time - these days many of them are closely time-managed. And provide your own extra tails in case he doesn't want to use company provided materials.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Would Ideally like meter moved as its, is basically in a hole in the wall behing a bedroom cubpoard that has the back out it. but when looking at cost of moving on internet its silly money. So thought If I have isolator then as far as Im aware I could get tails run from their to hall cuboard or something and put fusebox somewhere central.

Your consumer unit/fuseboard cannot be more than 3 metres from the electricity meter unless the (long) tails are protected by a separate (and supplied by you) switch fuse.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I didn't go back and read earlier posts despite, at the time I was posting my reply, wondering if any moving of stuff was relevant.

SGM (ooh - almost the abbreviation for a blend of grapes used in a splendid and often rather expensive wine) - just in case, don't get an isolator for the guy to fit, get a switchfuse.

At the risk of looking like a MEM spammer, the MEM 800KMF is handy if you are short of space.

 

[JohnW2]

At the risk of looking like a MEM spammer, the MEM 800KMF is handy if you are short of space.

Indeed so - they are very nice. One one my greatest reasons for indebtedness to you is for having brought these to my attention soon after I joined this forum. I have subsequently put that knowledge to very good use! Many thanks.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ScottishGasMan]

Ah right, I've been getting mixed up then as well, I thought if it was say an 80a dp switch, the 80 was the fused rating, but realised that's just it's max capacity, as I'd read it needed this for longer tails, switch fuse it is,

Fuse box will already be between 5 and 10 meters away depending on how they ran cables, and there was an old grey box near the meter so probably some old sort of switch, but I want the lot replaced with new before decorating as sockets are in skirting boards, and light switches in door frames, so gonna make a fair bit of mess lifting floors and channeling walls.

Thanks for the advice, a lot clearer now what I need

 

[Taylortwocities]

Your "grey box" may be a switchfuse.
Post a photo and we can tell you, or (carefully) open it up and see what lies beneath....

 

[ScottishGasMan]

just got a peek in house again for a few measurments

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just got few on phone, so not great light, I think regardless of whats there, I need the man to refix the meter and ideally fit some new tails to a New 80/100A Fused Switch so I can look at getting fuse box renewed aswell as just about every other bit of wiring.

Got an electrician mate thats living in OZ the now, so hes meant to be coming back at new year for a bit, so Im going to rag the walls and run the cables etc to new consumer unit in different location then get him to test it and connect it up to meter/supply. worked with electrician before on a rewire so quite happy for the most part of it, but may post up for some other advice as I get on with it.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I would condemn most of that.

There are two switchfuses. One (I guess) will go to the manky flush fuseboard.
The one on the left is lethal with twin & earth not properly terminated. Also it looks like twin & earth going into the bottom of the meter. I can't see proper like because those two weedy green earth cables are in teh way.

Yikes, you need that sorting out pronto. Don't wait for the Fosters fella. Get a good local registered electrician to do it for you.

Don't know about Scottish regs, check out what's allowed without a Building Warrant here http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/217736/0092252.pdf

 

[xr4x4]

Why can't the new fusebox go in that cupboard where the meter is?

You've got to rewire the house anyway.

 

[kai]

Does that look like a PME compatible service fuse block you have there?
If yes, it will be handy to get a good earth connection off it.