melting point

[maguire]

An idea I have been toying with, we have all no doubt came across overheating in CU,s etc, or is over heating the wrong term any kind of heat apart from that which normally ocurs in a cicuit and its componant parts is bad, whats the thought on combining a thermal detection device in a CU that would cut supply. any one ?
Mac

 

[wingcoax]

They used to fit them in old storage heaters and called them thermal links. They were about the size of a standard fuse.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

MCBs

 

[maguire]

well yes derry boy, if only they did all of the time I changed a main swith the other week that was not making connection at it N terminal all black and burnt like an old tea pot handle, it was on the off peak storage circuit how the worked is anyone,s guess so my thought was what was the tempreture like and could it have been dectedted Iam thinking of setting up a test rig with a high resistance fault in it and seeing how hot the surrounding air gets
Mac

 

[Taylortwocities]

Do have fun. Let us know how you get on.

We could work together -
I am right in the middle of designing a water sprinkler system to go inside a consumer's unit. We might even get on Dragon's Den.

 

[viewer]

Fusible links as used in e.g. deep fryers would be hard to fit in a CU situation, but how about a packet of strong odoured material which had a specific rupture breakdown temperature? Food systems often use temperature sensitive materials, so material shouldn't be a problem. Stenching agents are common and widely used. Would be fail safe - the worst that could happen would be a pong.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

But not one so bad that you couldn't bear to get close enough to the CU to investigate...

How about a fishy sort of smell? You wouldn't expect that from a CU, so it might work.

 

[maguire]

some great ideas from TTC and BAS we could combine the two ideas a fishy smelling liquid from the sprinkler and it would be harmless cos the leccy would switch of at the same Iam not sure about the dragons den I cant stand that grumpy scots *** even though Iam a scot

 

[Taylortwocities]

I cant stand that grumpy scots *** even though Iam a scot

According to the papers here, all scots are grumpy. esp GB.

 

[Doodley]

IIRC there is a similar device on the market used in socket outlets - I remember reading it in Professional Electrician, it detects over heating and puts a small spike on the circuit to trip MCB/RCD/RCBO!