Unsafe or bad practise?

[brenfox]

Got my knuckles wrapped by my engineer (again). My NIC report handed to him stated that there were adequate isolators in place. The supply came from the DNO fuses and into the DB/control panel which went into an isolator so you could isolate the panel. (Not sure if the installer wired them in live or pulled the DNO fuses). He says it is an unsafe practise and adequate isolators were not in place. I disagree and say it is bad practise but not unsafe but agreed that an isolator fitted upstream would be good practise. If I were to fit an isolator upstream from the panel that would mean either working with live tails or pulling the DNO fuses. Back to my point, unsafe or bad practise?

 

[Pete999]

Read the Electricity at work Act, and tell the NICEIC to read and inwardly digest

 

[Richard Burns]

You appear to be describing an incoming supply going into a distribution board.
Like this (but apparently without the meter)
View attachment 32595
This has been known to happen and yes, one could have an isolator beforehand, but I would not have thought it was unsafe or bad practice to not have that earlier isolator unless the supply was also feeding other separate boards.
For any incoming supply at some point there must be a requirement to connect the supply to a piece of equipment, the means of doing this obviously requires a dead supply, but this is normal.

 

[brenfox]

You appear to be describing an incoming supply going into a distribution board.
Like this (but apparently without the meter)
View attachment 32595
This has been known to happen and yes, one could have an isolator beforehand, but I would not have thought it was unsafe or bad practice to not have that earlier isolator unless the supply was also feeding other separate boards.
For any incoming supply at some point there must be a requirement to connect the supply to a piece of equipment, the means of doing this obviously requires a dead supply, but this is normal.

That is the arrangement illustrated in your attachment. The only difference being the panel controls and feeds pumps. In my opinion this arrangement is safe but not ideal. The engineer who I work under is young, keen and trying to make his mark which is fair enough. But to call it unsafe is using the wrong terminology in my humble opinion.

 

[Richard Burns]

It is no more unsafe than any other installation that has a public supply incoming.
If you need an isolator before the board then what prevents that from being unsafe?... and so on.
I suppose if your incoming tails wander around inside the board before getting to the isolator this does introduce a risk but a direct feed to the isolator is fine.
Presumably there is some means of over current protection in the pump control board so that the installation is not relying on the DNO fuses for protection.

 

[brenfox]

It is no more unsafe than any other installation that has a public supply incoming.
If you need an isolator before the board then what prevents that from being unsafe?... and so on.
I suppose if your incoming tails wander around inside the board before getting to the isolator this does introduce a risk but a direct feed to the isolator is fine.
Presumably there is some means of over current protection in the pump control board so that the installation is not relying on the DNO fuses for protection.

The pumps have overload protection inside the board so no problems there. The engineer is trying to find problems that do not actually exist. Or he could be trying to convince the water authority that every pumping station needs an isolator.£££££££.

 

[professional]

Got my knuckles wrapped by my engineer (again). My NIC report handed to him stated that there were adequate isolators in place. The supply came from the DNO fuses and into the DB/control panel which went into an isolator so you could isolate the panel. (Not sure if the installer wired them in live or pulled the DNO fuses). He says it is an unsafe practise and adequate isolators were not in place. I disagree and say it is bad practise but not unsafe but agreed that an isolator fitted upstream would be good practise. If I were to fit an isolator upstream from the panel that would mean either working with live tails or pulling the DNO fuses. Back to my point, unsafe or bad practise?

Your "engineer" is a moron. He clearly has little or no idea what he is talking about.

Where on earth do the scams find these individuals?