twin and earth feed to fuseboard

[lloyd666]

Hi everybody,

I have had an electrician quote me to replace a fuseboard which is an old one with a wooden back and rewireable fuses, it is not in good condition with lots of bits added on, he also wants to replace the supply wires from a twin and earth to an swa, but the swa he said is the same size so I cant see the point, the fuseboard is about 25 metres from the meter, the running of the cable will cause a great deal of hassle and i want to make sure it is needed, would i be better of getting another quote ?

Many thanks

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Could you post a picture of what you have?
Fuse box
Cable supplying the fuse box
and the connection that is 25m away.

 

[streetlighter]

Hi there, welcome to the forum!

I can understand why the electrician that you have been quoted by has suggested and recommended replacing the Twin and Earth for a Steel Wire Armoured cable, Any cable that is concealed within a wall or partition at a depth of less then 50mm is required either to have RCD Protection via a 30mA RCD, or have an earth metallic sheath (hence the SWA) if the T&E was to stay in place, then it would require RCD Protection at the meter, and RCD's would also be in the new consumer unit, but there would be no discrimination between the RCD's. It is likely in the event of a fault, the 1st RCD in line would be the 1st one to trip.

By replacing the twin and earth cable now for a SWA your potentially saving yourself further hassle and more money down the line!

 

[sparkwright]

He may be doing it as a way to increase the size of the earth conductor.

What is his reason for changing it?

 

[lloyd666]

Thank you for your replies,

He said that it isnt the proper way to terminate both ends, and also the earth wire in the middle is smaller than the others and its a long way, he said if he doesnt replace it he may have to put in a seperate larger cable but isnt happy doing this as its not as he said ' a good solid job' . We have 3 phase here and its got its own switch and fuse next to the meter, however the twin and earth is not fixed as demonstrated by him as he pulled it back and fourth from inside the isloator box !

He has rebalanced the phases as most the loads were on red ? not quite sure what he means but he seems to know what he is doing

His work seems good and he seems trustworthy I just havent got the knowledge to know if what im being told is right or needed.

 

[streetlighter]

Ahhh, 3Phase Installations :

Each phase has to be equally balanced, so rebalancing the board is a good thing as this will re distribute all the loads equally! Having most of the load on 1 phase will cause problems within itself!

If possible could you upload some pictures of the main incommer and the board that is being replaced.

If the Twin and Earth is unsecure then that could cause damage to the sheath of the cable, potentially causing further problems with the insulation and then the conductors themselves!