Fitting a Power Meter to a CU Part 1

[brianmoooore]

Is all this fed from a single phase 'standard' 15kVA supply? If so, is the DNO fuse 80A or 100A?
If 100A, there's a real chance of those 80A RCDs being overloaded.

 

[JS118m]

Is all this fed from a single phase 'standard' 15kVA supply? If so, is the DNO fuse 80A or 100A?
If 100A, there's a real chance of those 80A RCDs being overloaded.

Thanks - I believe it's a 'standard' supply, I'm back home tomorrow and will have a look and let you know.

 

[Aaron b]

Thank you for the reponse. Re the use our space heating and DHW is by gas/solar hence the desire to understand where all the eletricity is being used, if it was water I'd think there was a leak in a pipe!

For the power would it be acceptable to set up an FCU next to the CU and take a live feed from the same breaker that supplies the garage sockets? There are spare ways in the board so another option would be to fit a breaker specifically for the power meter, this approach I belive would bring the work within the scope of Part P by adding a new circuit.

There is a second CU (see image) which supplies the lighting control system this is on a different wall to the main CU. I intend to install a second power meter which will also need a power supply, is it possible to put an FCU next to this CU and take a live connection from one of the RCBOs? These RCBOs all supply lighting circuits.

THANKS

Yes, an additional socket can be added to a ring final circuit or a radial circuit from the MCB.

 

[JS118m]

Thanks - I believe it's a 'standard' supply, I'm back home tomorrow and will have a look and let you know.

Thanks for alerting me to a potential problem, the main fuse is 80A so I guess all is fine.

 

[brianmoooore]

That raises the question as to why you have 596 amps worth of MCBs on the main fusebox, plus another 94 amps worth on the lighting box!

 

[JS118m]

That raises the question as to why you have 596 amps worth of MCBs on the main fusebox, plus another 94 amps worth on the lighting box!

I guess that's a conversation with the NAPIT approved contractor who designed and installed it 10 years ago. There are several single item breakers e.g. HRVS, alarm system etc which will make understanding consumption easier. A safe installation though?

 

[brianmoooore]

It all looks very neat and tidy, and I've no reason to think it's unsafe in any way, but there does seem to be an awful lot of circuits!
I've always specialised in houses of at least 150m2 upwards and have wired several of around the 400m2 of yours, but I've never fitted anywhere near the number of circuits you have. My 'go to' consumer unit for many years was a MEM 20 module dual rail board, fitted with a main switch and two RCDs, occupying 6 modules, leaving room for up to 14 MCBs.

 

[JS118m]

It all looks very neat and tidy, and I've no reason to think it's unsafe in any way, but there does seem to be an awful lot of circuits!
I've always specialised in houses of at least 150m2 upwards and have wired several of around the 400m2 of yours, but I've never fitted anywhere near the number of circuits you have. My 'go to' consumer unit for many years was a MEM 20 module dual rail board, fitted with a main switch and two RCDs, occupying 6 modules, leaving room for up to 14 MCBs.

This is the final part of the installation - the Lutron Homeworks. Having lived with it for 10 years we're every pleased. Just need to workout how to reduce the circa 7500Kwh/yr electricity consumption, I'm looking forward to getting the Emporia system up and running.

 

[freddo]

Central vacuum system installed as well? Very nice.

 

[JS118m]

Central vacuum system installed as well? Very nice.

Thanks to everyone who assisted by replying to my question. The job is now complete and the energy monitoring proving informative. The Emporia instructions illustrate fitting the CT claps and the monitor inside the CU but for UK installtions I don't think this is really feasible so I used two enclosures which made the job alot easier.