Who can do this work ?

[phatboy]

Wow, 35 circuits across 4 boards, and 4 contactors?!! I've never seen anything quite so vast in a house....

 

[canteron]

I thought the same as you phatboy when I first viewed the house. In fact it almost put me off putting in an offer because with all that equipment I thought the electricity bill would be enormous until the occupier put my mind at rest by explaining it was because of all the storage heaters that used to be there and where now removed. He said his average electricity bill since they where removed was about £85 per month so I was relieved to find that out I can tell you. All the switches have been left on like they are in the photo because I do not fancy turning them off in case I stop anything critical from working. I suppose the electrician will be able to tell me what has to stay and what can be removed. Hopefully most of it because to my eyes it looks like something from a factory and is horrible.

What is a contactor exactly and what is it used for if you do not mind me asking ?

The only issue I had was on the first day I moved in when I noticed a socket hanging a bit loose in the garage. So i turned off the electric in the garage fuseboard by switching the main switch off then took it off to check it was all OK but there was a wire (the blue one) loose and it came out of the screw terminal as I lifted the socket away from the fixing box and sprung back into the box. There was no spark or anything so I reconnected the wire. However before I turned it all back on again my partner came out of the house and said all the electrics had gone off.

I went back into the house and the big switch at the left of the number three box had switched off. I couldn't see why this would have done this so I was a bit nervous to turn it back on again but did so. The electrics came back on in the house with no drama so i went back into the garage and turned them back on. Everything seemed to be working OK so I crossed my fingers and hoped it would all be OK and it was so I guess maybe it was just a glitch of some sort ? The only thing that is plugged into the sockets in the garage is two little trickle chargers for my motorcycle batteries and they still seem to be working OK.

I'll ask the electrician when he comes down if he can have a look at that for me. Maybe it is just that the boxes and components are so old thye are starting to get temporamental if that happens ? I was thinking that I might ask the electrician to price me up a nice new box with the latest type of switches in them to give the electrics an upgrade of sorts. Hopefully it will not be anything wrong with one of the big thick black cables that go to the garage and the brick shed as it looks like they are buried underneath the drive and I can imagine that costing a lot more money to sort if I have to employ some people to dig the drive up to replace them.

 

[SimonH2]

Here's my take on it.
I'm assuming the small box to the left of the meter is either a timer or teleswitch to control the off-peak supply. I think it's connected into the round terminal box - supply from a circuit in CU3, via the FCU, via the time/tele-switch, and finally controlling the contactors (which I imagine make a horible racket) to switch the power to the other 3 boards. A contactor is a relay - apply power to the coil and it closes the contacts to switch something on.

I'd be asking your supplier to fit an isolator. That's just a switch (only one, they do 3 phase ones) that would be fitted into the tails near the meter. Then you can just flick the switch whenever you (or your electrician) want to work on the internal bits.

Inside, the contactors can almost certainly be removed, leaving all the CUs live. Then you can fit sockets wherever the storage heaters were, using the existing cabling. The other CUs will need RCDs fitting.

At present, your whole house runs from just one RCD which is bad - if it trips, you lose all your power and lights. So if you make the changes above, it would also be worth moving some circuits around to spkit the lights between 2 different boards (or RCDs).
Alternatively, these days it's generally not expensive to use RCBOs.

 

[SUNRAY]

I will also be asking if I can have a smart meter put in so I wanted to try to do it all in one go with as few telephone calls as possible. I do not like calling companies up because of all the different options that you have to work through before you get to talk to a real person so the less times I have to do that the better.

So just to recap once the Electrician has been down to do all his work would I just be left with the one wire coming into the house instead of three and just the one switch box (is that what you called the CU ?) instead of eight like there is at the moment ? That would be perfect as it would tidy that part of the utility room up superbly.

One last thing. How come there are four different coloured wires in the meter box ? I thought the colours where blue brown and a green yellow like my old house but this one has a lot of grey ones as well. Is this because it is three phase ?

Thankyou again JohnW2 (and all the other repliers) for your assistance. I like to try to get an understanding of what will happen before I get any work done so I do not get any nasty shocks when I see everything getting removed !

You already have a smart meter so that bit is easy.
The white box is not an isolator but your energy supplier or DNO may be happy to visit and fit one for you rather than 2 visits to isolate and reconnect for the electrician.

The wiring in the meter box has sheaths on it so you have coloured insulation (grey) round a red, black, brown or blue insulated wire, just like the twin and earth cables in the round brown junction box in the second pic.

I was going to ask if there are any outbuildings, shed, garages.

A list of the labels in each consumer unit will do if pics don't work for you.

Here's my take on it.
I'm assuming the small box to the left of the meter is either a timer or teleswitch to control the off-peak supply. I think it's connected into the round terminal box - supply from a circuit in CU3, via the FCU, via the time/tele-switch, and finally controlling the contactors (which I imagine make a horible racket) to switch the power to the other 3 boards. A contactor is a relay - apply power to the coil and it closes the contacts to switch something on.

I'd be asking your supplier to fit an isolator. That's just a switch (only one, they do 3 phase ones) that would be fitted into the tails near the meter. Then you can just flick the switch whenever you (or your electrician) want to work on the internal bits.

Inside, the contactors can almost certainly be removed, leaving all the CUs live. Then you can fit sockets wherever the storage heaters were, using the existing cabling. The other CUs will need RCDs fitting.

At present, your whole house runs from just one RCD which is bad - if it trips, you lose all your power and lights. So if you make the changes above, it would also be worth moving some circuits around to spkit the lights between 2 different boards (or RCDs).
Alternatively, these days it's generally not expensive to use RCBOs.

I basically agree although the contactors are too small to supply a CU, as is the wiring which looks to be about 2.5mm/7/0.029" So I'll guess they control the 16ish Amp circuits but only 12 by the looks of it.

 

[canteron]

Hallo all again. I took the pictures this morning as requested and they are below. I know it is a lot later now but literally about five minutes after taking the pictures almost a dozen of my partner and I friends turned up for an impromptu house warming of sorts. Apparently my partner had arranged it as a surprise for me which I found rather odd as the house is completely upside down especially as I moved so much detritus from the area of the electrics so I could get some pictures for you fine people. Ah well such is life.

The last of our guests only left about twenty minutes ago so I thought I would put the latest set of photos on here for you all to interrogate and digest as you all see fit.

I must admit that I am not sure that any of them will be particularly helpful as a lot of the switches do not appear to have had any notifications appended to them so hopefully any electrician who will agree to take on the work will be able to decipher what on earth has been connected or disconnected and to or from where. I can only hope that the actual wiring running around the property is not as what appears to be as hit and miss as these boxes are.

I did find something out today that I will pass on regarding the two large black cables that feed the garage and the brick shed. There was a piece of paperwork stuffed into one of the drawers in the kitchen that said the X switches in the boxes are for the two buildings. Being inquisitive I decided to turn them off and sure enough the power was cut to the buildings so I now feel quite happy that I know what at least two of the 35 switches are for !

Thankyou again for all of your help as it will be nice to be able to contact the people required with some modicum of knowledge and understanding of the system I have in the house at present.

 

[canteron]

Hallo again. I have just been looking back over the various replies and I notice SUNRAY that you state I do have a smart meter. I have looked everywhere I can think that we have not already been in the house but I cannot find any form of display that gives the current energy usage. I can only presume that the previous occupier either lost it or it had been damaged irrepairably maybe.

I am not too concerned as I am usually quite thrifty with energy usage anyway but the display is sometimes quite useful I found if you want to try to pinpoint any devices that are particularly greedy. Would this be something EON would be able to provide me with at no cost do you think or would they be quite likely to ask for a further payment ?

 

[JohnW2]

.... I notice SUNRAY that you state I do have a smart meter. I have looked everywhere I can think that we have not already been in the house but I cannot find any form of display that gives the current energy usage. I can only presume that the previous occupier either lost it or it had been damaged irrepairably maybe.

All possibilities - but another is that the previous occupier may never have had an "In house display". When I've witnessed 'smart' meters being fitted, the householder has usually been asked whether or not they want an IHD - and I suppose some may say 'no'.

I would imagine that if you contacted the supplier and explained the situation they might well provide you with one.

Kind Regards, John

 

[canteron]

Thankyou John. I will ask the question when I eventually contact them.