Discuss Cutting Slots In In Metal Dist Boards in the Electrical Tools and Products area at ElectriciansForums.net
I thought all metal CU now had to be sealed to retain any fires within the enclosure. As such, what are you using to fill the 'slots' you're making?
I still use a cone cutter or a holesaw to cut 20 / 25mm holes and then use CTS glands to seal.
Nope, I don't know where you got that information from but it wasn't the regulations
As per Consumer units - IET Electrical
it states
"The non-combustible enclosure or cabinet must provide a complete envelope (for example, base, cover, door and any components such as hinges, screws and catches) as necessary to maintain fire containment. All blanks, circuit-breakers and other devices must be contained within the non combustible enclosure or cabinet. Figure 5 shows an example."
Furthermore "Sealing of wiring entries:
It is important for the installer to seal all openings into the enclosure or cabinet for cables, conduits, trunking or ducting that remain after the installation of cables - see Figure 6. The intent of the sealing is to ensure that, as far as is reasonably practicable, any fire is contained within the enclosure or cabinet and the escape of flames to the surroundings of the cabinet or enclosure or into conduits trunking or ducting is minimised, as intended by Regulation 421.1.201.
Good workmanship and proper materials must be used, and account must be taken of the manufacturer’s relevant instructions, if any."
NB. Diagrams also confirming this are contained within the said document (images removed due to copyright etc). :book:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nJvLT7uwO58 forward to 13mins
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nJvLT7uwO58 forward to 13mins
IMO I still think most of these fires are down to inexperienced installers, did we have fire to the extent we have now before the onset of short training courses? I'll leave that for you to decide, as I said this is my opinion and mine alone I have no proof that my statements are true, just a gut feeling, there it's been said.
That appears to conflict with what is recorded within the IET document that my link takes you to (or at least my interpretation of it does).
Well said that manThe thing with it is that no where in BS7671 does it say that cable entries need to be sealed. 421.1.201 says that manufacturers instructions need to be taken in to account....so if the manufacturers instructions say they need to be sealed then you could seal them if you feel the need to. Wylex even do an extra which is an intumescent pad thats installed within the gravity flap door. Imo the manufacturers are taking an opportunity in making a profit on all the confusion that's been made by an ill thought out regulation.
Nothing much changed there then, apart from more money for the CU makersI'm procrastinating that much from my paperwork that I've just found this video on YT that shows some of the ways to meet the IP rating requirements for consumer units.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOypkkgTEB0
Reply to Cutting Slots In In Metal Dist Boards in the Electrical Tools and Products area at ElectriciansForums.net
Thanks for visiting ElectriciansForums.net, we hope you find the Electricians Tools you're looking for. It's free to sign up to and post a question yourself to find a tool or tool supplier either local to you, or online. Our community of electricians and electrical engineers will do their best to find the best tool supplier for you.
We also have a Tiling Tools advice from the worlds largest Tiling community. And then the Plumbers Forums with Plumbers Tools Advice.
We get it, advertisements are annoying!
Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.