Wylex or MK split load CU

[Ouch77]

At second fix stage on the house refurb now, and a bit of a misunderstanding between myself and the electrician has left us both thinking the other would supply the consumer unit.

I'm looking quickly at screwfix and they're offering quite a range (MK, volex, wylex, crabtree and marbro) of them Wylex and MK are familiar as my electrician gave me a Wylex part number to start off a while back, but I see that MK are a bit cheaper.

As professional electricians which would you prefer? I get the impression MK are more of a 'quality' brand, whereas Wylex, volex crabtree etc are more budet-orientated - hence my suprise that what I see to be equivilent spec is actually cheaper for MK than for Wylex.

In particular I'm looking to supply and populate a 15way high integrity split-load board.

Would this MK one do? MK split load board - the illustration doesn't show any devices between the isolator and the first RCD - can it be configured that way?

Thanks for any thoughts..

 

[LiamPope]

Why not ask the electrician what he'd prefer you to supply? Or is your next thread going to describe a misunderstanding between yourself and the electrician regarding who is going to install the CU?

 

[JohnD]

Is this the electrician who keeps going on holiday so you can't ask him? He's always cropping up on here. I don't know how he makes a living.

Of the stuff sold by screwfix, MK is OK but not what it used to be. Crabtree is good but has an unusual device/busbar connection which might maker future changes or additions more difficult.

Do you really need 15-way?

Why don't you get RCBOs?

 

[Ouch77]

I get on fine with the electrician, he's been quite patient with me given he's having to work around a complete house refurbishment that is taking far too long.

15Way has been recommended for future expansion, and the fact I've got multiple rings, extra radials and a variety of stuff going on. There's also a couple of RCBO's for some resiliant circuits (fileserver, alarms & such).

He said he usually carries Wylex in stock, however I'm not sure if that because he can get a good margin on it, or it has features he likes. In the past I've found that not all sparks will sell/install the best product. I don't want to give the guy junk, but in the same way if I can find a nicer product for the same amount - what's the harm?

 

[Ouch77]

I think the question answered itself as soon as I called my local electrical factors (rather than screwfix). They did the Wylex board plus all the breakers I needed for about a third what screwfix wanted.

Thanks for your thoughts though..

 

[skenk]

Be aware you will need a 'high integrity' board rather than simply 'dual rcd' to make use of RCBO's.

 

[Ouch77]

Be aware you will need a 'high integrity' board rather than simply 'dual rcd' to make use of RCBO's.

yup, it's got high integrity written on the side of the box

It's the NH range: NHRS15SSLHI

 

[echoes]

I got one of those. Rather flimsy, but ample space if it's not too crammed with RCBOs on the right.