Electrician Jobs External mains power inside house?

[Pete999]

Thanks for your help Pete.

Your Welcome, Hope you can sort things out.

 

[Spoon]

That's all I can say. so I'll sign off now, as I can see this thread becoming a mud slinging exercise.

No mud slinging from my direction mate.

 

[David1128828]

So what you recon we should do - rewire the house, or go with our electrician.

 

[Spoon]

Have you any pics of the wiring inside your house. All the way to the Meter.

 

[David1128828]

not at the moment - as at work...that last photo happened to be on my phone.

 

[Midwest]

Hi Pete,
It's a 30's house, and all the houses on this stretch are the same - i.e. the power line goes directly into houses (with fuse on the inside of the house) - this was like this when we bought it, and the neighbours all have the same system, so i am not worried about that. The wiring in that photo is as we bought the house.

We knew about the problem, had scottish power out, and was going to move everything until the electrician said you could do it this way instead. Having a last minute panic to confirm it is OK.

I've seen DNO route their supply cable through house before now. Did Scottish Power provide you with a price for re-routing their supply cable?

 

[David1128828]

No- they said they'd put a fuse on the outside of the house. At the time we didn't want any wiring on the wall (as we were going to leave the brick exposed)...

 

[Midwest]

No- they said they'd put a fuse on the outside of the house. At the time we didn't want any wiring on the wall (as we were going to leave the brick exposed)...

I don't quite understand 'fuse on the outside of the house'?

 

[Midwest]

Guessing your supply is TT, overhead supply from pole (yours & neighbours), your supply set up should look something like this;

The cable going through your extension, is represented in the above diagram, by the piece of black cable. The rest of the above diagram, should be inside your existing property.

If your supply is a different one (not TT), the same set up exists, supply cable, main fuse, tails to meter, meter, meter tails to consumer unit.

 

[Midwest]

I don't quite understand 'fuse on the outside of the house'?

Were they going to install something like this, on the outside of your property?

 

[David1128828]

Hi Midwest,
You assume right on both counts.

 

[Midwest]

Hi Midwest,
You assume right on both counts.

How much did they quote, Scottish Power?

 

[David1128828]

about £600

 

[David1128828]

And then electrian another 2.5k (but that was an estimate)

 

[Midwest]

If you did go with SP relocating their cable & main fuse to a new meter cabinet, the meter would normally get relocated there too. You would then have to run a supply from the meter cabinet to your consumer unit, typically done with steel wired armoured cable (swa).

Is the 2.5k price for this new supply cable, its represented by the blue & brown cables in the diagram from meter to consumer unit?

 

[David1128828]

Yes, thats what they said - the cable/main fuse would be relocated there.

So you are saying that an armed cable wire can be fitted from the new meter cabinet on the side wall directly to the existing consumer unit (effectifely replacing the external mains wire with a fused armoured cable)?

The 2.5k price is for rewiring the internal wires from (what would be) the old consumer unit in the kitchen to the new consumer unit on the side wall of the extension. I am not sure if SP or the electrician would move the blue wire - assume it would be the electrician.

 

[Midwest]

Personally if it was my property, I would have the DNO supply relocated to a meter box, and run new customer supply swa cable to the consumer unit.

I see, the 2.5k is for effectively relocating consumer unit (CU), extending existing final circuits to new CU position, and running new swa cable from meter box to new CU position, and obviously new CU?

 

[David1128828]

OK, Thank you - that is the advice i was looking for...

You are correct about what the 2.5k is for... But i imagine it would be much cheaper if we were just replacing the mains wire with a cable...

Thank you again, i'd owe you a beer or three!

 

[Midwest]

The blue (& brown!) wire is the responsibility of the property owner (meter to CU).

Difficult to say without looking at your property, but I would suggest 2.5k to move CU & new swa cable is a bit high, don't know what other members think?

Perhaps get some more quotes.

Are SP going to convert your TT supply to PME, as part of that £600? It might not be possible, if you & your neighbours is fed from the same supply, unless your neighbour has it done as well

 

[David1128828]

Not sure about the TT to the PME question... I just know they were going to put the fuse and meter where i mentioned.

Definitely will get more quotes. Thanks.