I'm forever told online how easy it is to install a consumer unit, its easy if you know how! check out our Sponsor Unilite, Code RDAVIS25 for 25% off unilite.co.uk
I've been in the automotive trade for around 40 year sand have forgotten the amount of times people have said that they have read on forums or the internet or from a mate down the pub that their specific job needing doing is easy,usually without them or their mate having a clue about what they are talking about. I used to argue the toss every time,now I just say,"yep,maybe so but its still that price if you want me to do it,if not get your mate to do it,it's easy!"
Great to see these videos though, being informative to help consumers know the difference between a reputable electrician and someone who cares about how it functions and works!
Good lil tip if you haven't got that mirror to check the busbar has gone into the holes correctly is to use the busbar itself to push the screws on the bottom of the breakers back
Cracking job you've made of that board,one of the neatest I've seen,it certainly makes a difference cutting down those neutrals as it's less cluttered at the back,great content
Embarrassingly neater than mine. The heatshrink sleeving is cool too & so is the slicing tool for the Inner of the swa. Also the mirror tool is cool too, i use an old vanity mirror that i borrowed from an elderly customer about 25 yrs ago ( approx 2" × 1") i must remember to let her have it back 1 day. As for All tails, i always do it by hand , give em a good twist and wriggle then i get another full turn... repeat etc, as i have in my time seen rather a lot of tails fall out of meters & cut outs where the elec company rarely do the tight enough.
I’m a subscriber from the US and an electrical contractor myself. These are so vastly different from the American counterparts! I am a fan of your videos and I watch to learn how different but similar the installs are. Keep up the good work my friend!
They are easy, try making a wiring loom for a kit car, ECU 63 pins, lights, wipers etc, just going by the pinouts of the plugs, no diagrams. And then the customer wants an immobiliser fitted too. Sorry but CU's are, done one, done them all.
hello I am a qualified electrician in France I have 15 years of experience I wanted to come to England to work how much is the salary per day thank you in advance
@@RDavisElectrical hello I am a qualified electrician in France I have 15 years of experience I wanted to come to England to work how much is the salary per day thank you in advance
Nice clean job as per usual from you mate... If that cu was 50 mm taller it would be ok for fitting rcbo's other than that it looks like a decent bit of kit..... 👍
That is a nice New installation, shame you didn't do ours, we had to pay a proper Electrician firm to come in our New build, strip out the consumer unit check everything and rewire it properly because in their words looked like a Friday afternoon installation, other houses on the 6 house estate were just as bad, now the builder has had to pick up the bill for all 6 rewires, including plaster repairs and decorating, we are all safe now.
this might help mate, when tightening the busbar undo all the bottom terminals fully put the busbar in then push it away from you towards the back of the board then tighten one by one just until they slightly pull the busbar forward then onto the next then retorque up then use the mirror. nice vid once again mate
The Fusebox consumer units can be purchased with miniature RCBO's to give you loads of space at the top. Also they don't have the functional earth wire either. The Schneider is probably better quality but I went for the Fusebox one for my house as alot of the good youtube domestic sparks seem to swear by them. I'm an industrial electrical controls & software enginneer in a car factory so spent alot of time deciding on this one. Nice neat job 👍
Fuse box boards are great for the money. An absolute shame the company has been bought out by Robus. I do hope Robus will not cut back on quality and pricing
Great video, thanks. You mentioned you aren't a fan of cable ties so I wondered how you got the rcbo neutral leads so neat and tight up the top? Cheers
Irish sparky, we can't fit consumer units under stairs fite hazard, our regs don't allow us . Min height new fuseboard new project 1400 mm to bottom but we use double stack boards , 2150mm to top highest mcb/rcbo
Not a fan of them boards with rcbos. Not much room above like you’ve said. With a 25mm earth you could’ve made it easier for yourself putting in the far left terminal perhaps. Good job as always
well done good video good neat job i think maybe next time wire in the SPD some people struggle with this the first time they come across it 10 out of 10
I would run a earth lead off the SWA locknut too. You could argue it’s earthed through the metal consumer unit box but belt and braces? I like the lock nuts with the teeth that cut into the paint when tightened. They also have a bolt for attaching a earth lead 👍🏻
Good video!!! I was always wondering why the recruitment agencies always advertise commercial and domestic electrician, now I understand why after seeing this gentleman terminating the SWA gland! Overall very good video!
I’m just coming to the end of my electrical apprenticeship and about to do my AM2S exam is there any chance you could do a video on testing? Love your videos and tiktoks always watching 💪🏼
Lol. If you're a newbie call up the manufacturer of the brass gland / storm gland. Their technical dept will let you know. If you've been in the game for years, you should be able to work it out by eye.
If it’s an inside gland it’s not so important as the outer sheath covers the armour hanging out from the gland (hopefully just a bit) it more important to get it right on a outside gland. If the armour is too short it a pain to get the sealing locknut on. If it’s too long then the armour protrudes past the gland compromising the seal. It’s just practice really. Try 15mm to 20mm depending on gland type and SWA size.
I have done hundreds of swa glands and at the end of my apprenticeship I could do one in 3 mins blindfolded! You can take off multiple wires at a time when scored (I always use a junior hacksaw to get a deeper score to make this easier and faster). Plus, when you wind out the galvo wires always do them in the direction of the wind as they lay in the cable as this will prevent the ragged dispersion you got when you went the wrong way. A few tips to make this easier I hope. Liked the video. Nice work. When you come back will you seal the entry with intumescent foam into the cavity?
Love the Schneider boards, but find the RCBOs don’t leave much space at the top. Would love if Schneider will bring out some compact ones! Neat job guys 😊
Put the Earth in the left hole (you had enough slack) have routed it along the bottom and up the side of the DIN rail and sorts one issue, perhaps buy single phase cable next time (you do people use the WRONG cable all the time?) and possibly start using piranha earth nuts to tidy things up.... But great video, Schneider lost it IMHO when they dropped the Isobar stuff, full size RCBOs with functional earths are just SO last week, I wouldn't use and un-branded (FuseBOX) CU as I simply would get away with is, but you now have a good choice of miniature, type A, no-earth-wire RCBOs out there and Schneider need to catch up!
What a good video, great quality and good aesthetics in your work, I have learned much more about how you work in the UK. Greetings from Arica (Chile) (sorry for my bad english, I'm using google translator)
New to your channel. You’ve done a great job on that consumer unit & thanks for the great tip with the mirror checking the busbar connections. I’ve been using my phone camera with the light & struggling to do so before. All the best 👍🏻
Non combustible backing board, you do specific fire proof boards, standard board though, not sure, I would say apart from the paper, the plaster is not combustible,
I also hate the plaster board fixings. Had too many problems with them ripping holes in the board when you try to undoo them. Far from easy to resolve behind a cu.
Hi mate. Nice one. Just starting a side hustle doing minor works. What make is your crimping tool. Looking for one that will last and do up to 16mm for when I get more qualified and fit the big stuff =) cheers.
Hello mate. Just came across your channel. Instant subscriber. Really enjoyed watching the video and learning. Currently working my way through the NVQ and planning on getting qualified in 2024. How do you like the Knipex crimping tool? Is it really worth the premium price? Thanks
If a customer does not have his kitchen built, can you do a first and 2nd fix? I mean, add sockets without plastering and leave boxes loose off wall for eye level oven and integrated fridge for customers to bolt to kitchen. he would have the appliances so you know the loads Or, do you have to return to see oven bolted in secure etc to allow sign off of certificate? Just trying to avoid two visits cost if that's possible?
if i can see well you forgot to connect the neutral cable from the bottom side of the main breaker back to the neutral bar! please correct me if I'm wrong. with respect Manos!
Mr Davis loving your work and videos! one quick question could you tell the the name and model number of the tool you're using to strip the twin and earth cables please? thanks in advance.
My brother is a sparkie and done a bit of work on my house and he shows me all the bits because I have a genuine interest in electronics. Honestly, I would not want to install one of these. Thankfully, the law does not permit my stupid ass from doing it! I’ll stick to doing bulbs and switches!
Very beautiful work. Very clear and completely different from Germany. Here most of the subdistributions are three-phase. I would have found one thing even better: If the consumer unit has to be replaced in a few years, it can be a problem that all the cables are cut to size. Perhaps in this case it would have been better to leave a few handbreadths of cable as a loop tucked into the drywall instead of cutting off all the cables.
if the earth is too thick for 1 terminal I split it and connect using two terminals. And why you didn't use 1st terminal on the left to get that 25mm of the way.
I feel like taking the armoured to the furthest left on the earth bar would of been more beneficial. Consumer unit, mini rcbos without functional earth fly leads would be nice. Definitely not my favourite for domestic installs, much rather FuseBox or Contactum these days. Neat job, did you bother with EV points in the end or not?
@@RDavisElectrical Always the way! It's good that you can add one next to it, UKPN gets grumpy if we put boards in the meter cupboard and the new builds around here aren't allowed surface consumer units outside the housing (Housing Owners Association setups). You can have a selection of Zappi/Anderson A2 and a couple other EV points currently though.
Hi mate cracking job on the install , considering there isn’t much room inside them Schneider boards I personally favour fuse box and Hager which have more room and I hate those flying leads for the earths
I know that metal cu enclosures were introduced to limit fire risk but even so, would it not be better to site the cu somewhere other than under the staircase? Apart from that comment, nice job! 👍
Looking for some advice, I have 3 appliances each allegedly consuming 3050 at maximum capacity, but the wires and my main feed to the consumer unit is getting so hot. I deliberately upgraded my consumer unit so it could handle these appliances. I installed the outlet (Specifically for these appliances) using Prysmian 10mm2 twin and earth, wired to a 50-amp breaker, then installed ANOTHER Prysmian 10mm2 twin and earth, wired to a another 50-amp breaker so there are now 2, one for two lower end of the consumer unit and the other for the higher end. Furthermore, I also have two BG 80A 30mA 2 Residual current device (RCD) installed on the consumer unit and the main feed that powers the consumer unit has a fuse of 100amps. These appliances are in a container where I linked each outlet to one another so they can draw power from the first one (again, each has its own 50-amp breaker at the opposing side of the consumer unit, one for the upper side and one for the lower side), not sure if that is causing resistance as I even have the powercables with 13amp fuses to power those appliances, but since there is a 50amp breaker for each outlet, I’m still confused.
I'm English but moved to Germany and did my qwals as an electrician here, watching out of curiosity how it is back home and there a quite a lot of differences from the stuff done here despite similar SOPs. Can't say I've even seen an armoured cable here and was curious there is no better way of terminating the armoured splices. Also that the consumer unit has 1 row as standard. Any patient english electrician around to discuss it ? Plus I never see a mains switch in consumer units in the UK, is that just down to costs ?
Personally I would of used a 25mm split con instead of the SWA. A lot easier to fit, lighter, more flexible, can just use a stuffing gland. When its visible, run a bit of 25mm conduit to give it a little protection. Non the less, great install.
@@carlmarquardt994 There's two types of single phase concentric cable, Straight Concentric(CNE) and Split Concentric (SNE). Single phase Concentric cable is used for sub mains and also for the supply feeding your house. The DNO taps off the main three phase cable in the street(newer installs are a form of waveform cable) and brings a concentric cable upto the cutout. Both have a Line core in the middle, this can be copper or aluminium, with a single layer of insulation on top. CNE then has bare copper strands on top, like the steel armour of swa but it serves as the netural and earth. (CNE-Combined Netural and Earth), then a final layer of insulation. SNE has only a few bare copper strands around serving as the earth and has the rest insulated and marked blue for the netural. (SNE Separate Netural and Earth). I would recommend having a look online to see exactly. Concentric cable is easier to work with, extremely flexible, cheaper and has a smaller diameter overall that SWAs of the same size.
@@ryandavis8064 NOW a cupboard? You are obviously assuming that I have watched any more of your videos. It is not a cupboard in THAT video. I watch plenty of you tube but on the basis of your arsey responses it won't include any of your stuff in future. Bout de cloche
I'm from UK and a certified electrician. Also many other skills. But I have to let this lose my friend those self drilling plugs you are useing are best of drilled straight into dry wall ( plaster board ) you don't need a pilot holl they more stronger if you use a pz2 and drill them straight into the wall. Ps the plastic ones are shite lol go for the metal ones they also have a better head and thread 😉
