[Closed] Big saw on a long extension lead keeps tripping. How do I uprate the supply?

If you have an appliance which needs more than 13A you normally run it off a dedicated MCB from the consumer unit and use an uprated plug / socket / cable e.g. this will of 32A single phase:

[img] [/img]

Quite common for running a welder etc that might want 20A.

However if it is rated for 11A and tripping 13A, I'd suggest it's faulty.....

Although looking at the size of that motor, it looks like way more than 11A!!!!

What trips? The fuse in the plug, the RCD or the MCB in the board?
If it's the mcb you have probably got a B curve fitted. A "C" curve mcb will handle the higher startup current of the motor.
Obviously difficult to tell without seeing the setup in the flesh.
Rich.

Might be worth checking out the electrics for a bad connection that could be getting hot and leading to higher current.

I think I would definitely be getting a higher power single phase supply wired in though if it's a long term thing.

I'd try a heavier gauge cable, unless your heavy cable is really very heavy...

Don't those things just protect against an imbalance of current and not trip on level of current?

Maybe the RCD itself is getting hot if running at near maximum current and it has a safety trip for heat?

I've only got two ancient Bakelite fuses feeding the whole bungalow, a 5A and a 20A.
The mice chewed through the old wiring, so all I've got at the moment is a double socket fed off the 20A fuse, with two of those RCDs pictured above plugged in to that and extension leads from there on.
I know it sounds a bodge, but I'm doing some major renovation on the bungalow and will do the electrics properly one day, but for now, while I'm not living here full time, I'm just running a couple of lights, a PC and a fridge. And this saw of course.

What if I was to buy;
This [url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/bg-20a-single-pole-b-type-mcb/22963 ]MCB[/url]
This [url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-ip40-insulated-enclosure/32311 ]enclosure[/url]. Is it compatible?
This [url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/ced-240v-extension-lead-blue-2-5mm-x-14m/23418 ]extension lead[/url]
This [url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/ced-240v-2-pin-earth-blue-plug/20201 ]plug[/url] for the saw
This [url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/mk-commando-interlocked-angled-socket-2p-e-16a-200-250v-ip44/40962 ]socket[/url]
This [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Start-Stop-Switch-No-Volt-Release-Switch-NVR-2HP-16A-with-Emergency-Stop-/151476318780 ]NVR switch[/url], or probably search for a waterproof one.
Then wire it all in to my existing 20A fuse, until I get around to fitting a proper consumer unit?

What trips? The fuse in the plug, the RCD or the MCB in the board?

Don't those things just protect against an imbalance of current and not trip on level of current?

If any of the extension lead is coiled, uncoil it.

The physical size of the motor - isnt that a red herring in this case - its likely to be an induction motor given physical size use and age. Does it have an hp rating ? I would expect between 2 and 3 but given the age it could less given the age perhaps.

If its induction it will be 11amp on the start up circuit and 5 amp once running ?

The under load tripping confuses me though - sounds like somethings not right on your wiring and your shorting under load according to the rcd.

Does it work fine if you take the plug rcd out of the equation , its not been unheard of that once you start tripping those , especially cheaper ones they become easier and easier to trip.

3hp single phase under full load wants to draw 14amps +- 10%

3hp is generally biggest you would typically see on a single phase system.

I have a couple of 1.5hp induction motors - you can see the lights dim when they start up.

My mates 3hp belt drive compressor even wired in right by an electrician through a 32 amp plug on a short hd flex and a propper feed from the metre still dims his lights,briefly when it starts up.

i do not wish to sound rude but i hope you have a lot of fire protection at your disposal. biggest cause of fire is over loading supplies everything from bakerlite fuses reduced to a double socket is a ticking timebomb. see it most days people do not see the problems until the fire brigade are bashing down the door
safty first big boys toys second.

The purpose of the MCB/Fuse is to protect the cable so it doesn't overload, get hot and catch fire. The RCD is to protect against electric shock by ensuring that the power is disconnected within 300 milliseconds and the current doesn't rise above 30millamps (a bit simplistic, but accurate enough).

You need to ensure that the cable you are feeding the saw with has a current carrying capacity greater than the demand being put on it and the fuse/mcb rating is greater than, or equal to both the demand and current carrying capacity of the cable.

Lets assume the socket the RCD is plugged into is on a ring and it's run in 2.5FTE. This will [s]have a cable rating of 27amps[/s] be satisfactory due to the way a ring works and a fuse/MCB of 32A so likely all ok.

The plug on the extension cable is going to be rated at 13A and 1.5mm Flex is rated at 16Amps so all ok here. We'll also assume that the cable is fully extended.

MCB isn't tripping, so no cable overload in the house. Fuse not blowing on the plug, so no overload there.

RCD trips implies an earth fault. Not sure if there is an RCD in the house protecting the circuit(?). The most sensitive RCD will trip first.
If the circuit has a 30mA RCD protecting it on the main board, take the plug in RCD off and try the saw. If the house RCD goes, it will eliminate the plug in RCD and confirm an earth fault. If there is no house RCD don't do this, but try a different plug in RCD to see if the tripping persists. If not, then it's a faulty RCD otherwise you still have an earth fault on the saw.
The RCD at the plug tripping indicates the fault is between the RCD and saw as the RCD would not trip with a fault "north" of this.

If an earth fault is suspected, power off and check for a loose neutral connection in the plug and also at the saw. Heavy load could be causing an increase in temperature in the RCD. Not sure whether there is a thermal cutout in the RCD or whether an increase in temperature could make it excessively sensitive.

Failing that, I would have the saw and extension cable tested to ensure that the LN-E Insulation resistance is satisfactory.

Rich.

edit:
Don't dual up the conductors - It's not safe and I don't think it would solve it anyway.

showerman, I think you're being a bit dramatic there.
Running an 11A motor through a 20A fuse isn't overloading anything. I put the 13A RCD in for additional protection and that's what's tripping out exactly as it should.
Or perhaps not exactly, if Trail rat is right about them becoming over sensitive with age and use.

It's a 2hp motor.
The extension lead is fully unrolled.

It's fine cutting 25x38 laths, it's when I try cutting anything bigger that it trips.
My guess is that the voltage drop of the long lead is increasing the current draw when the saw starts to slow down on thicker timber.

16A RCD then.

Edit: but no higher unless you are sure everything is wired with 2.5mm2 cable.

This is what I'm connecting to, it's probably been there since the 1930s.

[img] ?oh=f38d516c38d00fcdb6fab3d8f274f5ee&oe=55097CC2&__gda__=1427565223_cdc0c850b9bc2768386c06c7db8480c5[/img]

The loose tails at top right are disconnected.
Since taking the photo a couple of minutes ago, I've realised the switch box at top left doesn't feed anything, so I've switched that off.
All that's live is the double socket connected to one of the two Bakelite fuses. Everything in the bungalow, a fridge (100w), a couple of fluorescent lights (60w), an electric blanket (100w), a PC & monitor( 300w) plus a phone and drill charger run off the left hand RCD extension lead. Well under 1Kw peak load.
The right hand RCD and extension is just the saw or any other outdoor power tools.

I know it looks a mess, but there's no exposed wires, the insulation is all good and nothing is overloaded.

Thanks for the comprehensive reply rwamartin.
As you can see, there's no breakers in the house.
I don't think it's an earth fault, as it only trips when I'm cutting thicker logs.
Swapping the RCDs would help identify the fault, as the left hand one has never had a heavy load on it.

Anyway, I'm off to Screwfix now for a new consumer unit and some other stuff to try and tidy that mess up.

Anyway, I'm off to Screwfix now for a new consumer unit and some other stuff to try and tidy that mess up.

Sounds like a good plan. It's amazing how cheap the CUs are fully loaded with MCBs. You will spend half that on a couple of new plug in RCDs.

I'd fit a few dedicated high current outlets (like the blue one above)

Get some new wallpaper while you are out 😉 😀

Get some new wallpaper while you are out

Why is there a plug socket on side of saw table,

the riving knife is to far back, or the blade is to small in diameter,

the crown guard is not covering the top of the blade,

there is no guard on the drive pulley or what looks like a chain drive.

I hope that saw was free ;-).

The robustness of the power supply might be one issue the other might be the blade being so undersized. The guard and reaving knife suggest the blade is less than half the size it should be, and that would mean the teeth will be hitting the wood at a around a third of the speed they should be. As you are progressing the wood you are cutting through the blade the teeth are making as third as many passes as they should be and are having to cut more material with less momentum and leverage to do that - which is why your giant saw is struggling to cut anything bigger than kindling.

You shouldn't really deviate from the intended blade size by any amount at all, less than 60% if the designed size is deemed to dangerous rather than just rubbish.

OP: You may have a neutral to earth short in your extension lead or the saw. It will trip the RCD when the voltage drop down the neutral wire is enough to send 30mA down the earth wire, but not otherwise.

RCDs are not omnipotent - it will only trip when there's electricity going up the "live" and not coming back down the neutral. Load, extension lead length, voltage surges and phase of the moon are irrelevant.

Believe your RCD - it is telling you there is a fault. All you need to do is find it. (Megger meter would be handy).

...what looks like a chain drive...

Edit to add:

Since the RCD apparently doesn't trip when a high current is drawn on start-up, the fault could be with the 'run' windings in the motor itself (I'm guessing it has a start & a run winding with a centrifugal change-over switch, as I can't see a starting capacitor in the photo - may well be wrong, though).

We've been using those RCD's for work and have had issues with them a lot!!!

That's the saw as bought.
It came with a selection of blades. I wanted to fit one of the bigger blades to cut thicker logs, but assumed that would make it even more likely to trip. It's interesting to know that, counter intuitively, a big blade would cut easier.
You can see the adjustment for the guard. The height of the blade, or depth of cut is adjustable as well.

There's no guard on the underside of the table either, the lower part of the blade is exposed.
There's a short lead from the motor with a 13a plug on the end.
That plugs in to the switched socket you can see.
That's got it's own longer trailing lead which I plug in to my extension lead.
It's all a bit pre HSE in design.

Before I put the RCD in line, it used to blow 13A fuses, so I still suspect it is an overload problem, not an earth problem.
If I switch the saw off, then switch it back on before it comes to a stop, it will blow the fuse/trip the RCD straight away.
I take it there's a centrifugal switch for the two stage motor which doesn't reset until it comes to a halt, so switching it back on while still spinning slowly is trying to build up speed on the lower setting, which it doesn't like.
There's no external capacitor, the cable goes straight in to the motor.

The first thing I did was put in an Isolator straight after the meter, so I didn't have to keep opening up the Bakelite fuse...

[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/15774932788_64752b1c38_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/15774932788_64752b1c38_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/q2YDVN ]100A Supply Fuse[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/75003318@N00/ ]brf[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8607/15776616127_28dd39d682_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8607/15776616127_28dd39d682_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/q38hjT ]IMG_1391-001[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/75003318@N00/ ]brf[/url], on Flickr

I've since tidied up the tails and added a second consumer unit for the workshop...

Before I put the RCD in line, it used to blow 13A fuses, so I still suspect it is an overload problem, not an earth problem.
If I switch the saw off, then switch it back on before it comes to a stop, it will blow the fuse/trip the RCD straight away.

If you're fitting new breakers make sure they are 'motor rated', you don't want something thats a higher rating than your lead out to the saw in terms of overall rating, but a motor rated breaker will tolerate an extra short-term load as the motor starts up

I bought [url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/mk-sentry-16-module-10-way-dual-rcd-consumer-unit-with-8-mcbs/40025 ]this[/url] from Screwfix and wired it all in.

[img] http://s7g3.scene7.com/is/image/ae235?$p$&layer=0&size=281,281&layer=1&size=281,281&src=ae235/40025_P [/img]

The consumer unit is fed from a 30a bakelite fuse in that metal fuse box, top left, in my picture above.
I've then wired the extension lead to a 16a MCB.
As soon as I switch the saw on now, it trips the 63a RCD.

Is this likely to be a fault with the motor, or is there a less sensitive RCD or some sort of soft start switch I could buy that would cure it?

Make sure you have not inadvertently connected the negative tail for the 16amp spur to the wrong side of the consumer box (ask me how I know!). If you look at the negative bus bar you will see it is split in 2 parts. One part has RCD protection, the other not. If your positive to the 16 amp spur is from the RCD side of the box and the negative from the other side it will instantly trip the RD as soon as the saw is turned on.

Is this likely to be a fault with the motor, or is there a less sensitive RCD or some sort of soft start switch I could buy that would cure it?

Motor-rated RCDs allow for an initial spike in load as a motor spins up. But if your tripping 63amps theres something fundamentally wrong somewhere. Like I said up there - I hope the saw was free.

I'm sure I've got it wired up correctly.
I've got the saw and extension lead on blue 16A plugs and sockets now.
If I buy a 16A plug to 13A socket adapter today, I can check that my wiring is OK by plugging 3kW worth of power tools in at the same time.

The RCD is rated at 63A 30mA.
Doesn't that mean it can handle a total of 63A load, but will trip with a 30mA leakage to earth?
I'm trying to learn about all this as I go along, but it sounds more likely to me that I have got a 30mA earth leakage than a 63A short term load on start up.
It just seems odd that the new 30mA RCD built in to the consumer unit trips straight away, yet the old 30mA plug in adapter would at least let me cut thin sticks.

I think I'd be best off taking the motor in to a local rewinder and getting them to check it.

If it is wired wrongly as I detailed above (ie. negative not on the correct side of the Consumer unit bus bar for RCD protection) then you can test it with anything (you wont need 3KW!) as the instant a current flows in the circuit it will trip.

Best double check as the unit in your photo only seems to have 3 RCD protected outlets and it would be easy to stick the -tive wire in the wrong place.

EDIT. Sorry, just checked your link it is seems to have 2 RCDs in the CS. But still make sure your +tive and -tive for the 16 amp circuit are both on the same side of the unit.

Well, that's embarrassing, and thank you WelshFarmer.

Spot the difference.

Before.

[img] ?oh=1d480174559e7626c90505a4c1c475cf&oe=55443977&__gda__=1429749128_25a7d47f3ee20626a5caf311bd2b159e[/img]

After.

[img] ?oh=6c154877e36a468bd4905594ad27e6b0&oe=553333A5&__gda__=1430062110_458586fad2b608c28ee539051f58771f[/img]

I'd got the socket earth connected to the main earth busbar on the left. 😳
It seems to be working OK now with it connected to the RCD busbar, second from left. 😀

See. Not to worry, you are not the first and won't be the last. When I phoned my electrician mate for his opinion on why mine did the same as you described he didn't hesitate to tell me what he guessed I had done wrong. Seems to be one of the most common wiring errors out there.

Good to hear you've got it working. In my mind the thing that's missing in those picks is the big fat yellow and green earth cable coming from the metal stake hammered into the ground somewhere.

Could do with some earth sleeving

Could do with a 10 second brake on the saw.

Sorry OP but what the hell! you obviously don't have a clue what you're doing!

Call an electrician out immediately before something bad happens.

Ive seen worse consumer units. But I've seen better ones burn houses/boats down!

MTG

The consumer unit is fed from a 30a bakelite fuse in that metal fuse box,

Ive seen worse consumer units. But I've seen better ones burn houses/boats down!

Going back to some of the less dramatic replies...

Earth sleeving; I'll pick some up in Toolstation next time I'm there. It comes in 100m rolls, so I'm trying to think of something creative to do with the 99.5m offcut. Xmas decorations maybe.

"big fat yellow and green earth cable coming from the metal stake hammered into the ground somewhere". Now you mention it, that is something missing from my system.
This is what I started with.

[img] ?oh=f38d516c38d00fcdb6fab3d8f274f5ee&oe=55097CC2&__gda__=1427565223_cdc0c850b9bc2768386c06c7db8480c5[/img]

Power in via two overhead cables coming through the wall, centre right.
Live goes through that grey box, presumably there's a fuse or isolator inside to isolate the meter if required.
Neutral goes through the smaller black box, which has also got the thin earth wires from the two fuse boxes going in to it.

Now, as far as I can tell, the incoming wires are not armoured, so I take it the earth wires are connected directly to neutral.
From what I've read [url= http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Earthing_Types ]here[/url], I think I've got a TN-C-S system, although going by the diagrams [url= http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/16/earthing-questions.cfm?type=pdf ]here[/url], I should have a separate earth spike.

As for the saw, first step is to order a NVR switch, then fit the bigger blade and make some guards for the belt drive and the underside of the blade.

To add to what Slogo said above, fitting a Consumer Unit isn't a DIY job, it's a notifiable job, but...

To make it easier to understand your wiring later, as you connect to the neutral bar count in the number of slots - on the LH RCD you're using the 4th MCB so connect the black wire to the 4th connection point on the corresponding neutral bar (4of6 counting from the left). Doesn't seem important now but as the board gets filled up if makes life easier.
As mentioned above you've got no main earth connection to the CCU, but there does seem to be a small earth from the incoming supply? Sounds like you're looking into your earth connection though.
To meet regs all earth wires need to be marked, so you'll need the sleeving even though it seems a waste of money (should be able to get a smaller roll than 100m though)
As also mentioned before all an RCD does is measure the difference between incoming and outgoing supply. If it's more than the stated 30mA it will trip as this indicates a fault to earth path. It's your MCB that trip if it's overloaded - this can either trip instantly or after a couple of minutes depending on the fault.
The bakelite fuse you mention is the property of the electricity supply company and you shouldn't be pulling it - like me telling you is going to stop you!
If the incoming supply has a 30A fuse there's not much point in anything further down the line having a higher rating than this as you are then relying on that 30A fuse as your protection and if it blows you can't just pick one up at Toolstation. You need to limit the onward supply at the consumer unit instead so no one circuit is higher than the 30A.

MTG,

Whatever you do it will be safer than the mess you've got there!

But . . .I'd take a step back first and have a look at the incoming supply from the power company. Western power will check it for free. If you've got the old style two/three cables coming into the property they will more than likely want to replace it with a single insulated cable.

Hth
Marko

I'm always pleased to help people with electrical stuff, but this isn't a DIY job that you can learn on the fly.

The "earth" you connected incorrectly, isn't an earth. It's neutral. This is basic.

TN-C-S doesn't require an earth stake. The installation looks like it's TN-S. This doesn't require an earth stake either. This is basic too.

There is a requirement to size the earthing conductor correctly to be able to carry the PEFC. These can be found in the Wiring Regulations (BS7671)or calculated using the adiabatic equation. This is important because if you don't, the main earthing conductor will not be able to carry the fault current in the time between the fault occurring and the main fuse blowing - thus setting fire to that nice piece of flammable wallpaper it runs underneath.

Are your water/gas/other conductive parts that bring earth potential into the property bonded? This will ensure you don't get a shock if a fault occurs and you're touching the sink at the time.

You can fit all the RCDs you want. There's still an earth fault on the saw that's causing it to trip. It was there 3 weeks ago when I first told you and it's still there now.

An electrician will have that done in half a day. Safe and certificated. He can also test the lead out to the saw. This will show that the saw has a problem.

I respect you for wanting to give it a go, but it's not just a case of connecting 3 wires up. The skill is not making it work, it's making it fail gracefully when a fault occurs. This requires knowledge, experience and suitable test equipment.

There is a time and place for DIY and a time when a tradesman is worth the money. This is that time.

Sorry, but it has to be said.

Rich.

HAHAHA Well when the house burns down and everyone inside dies, or someone accidentally gets a shock and dies. Don't come crying to STW. *ive killed everyone in the house with my shoddy wiring what should i do?* post

Don't forget to tell them you did it yourself when the shit hits the fan and they ask for the installation and test certificate! I wouldn't bother with house insurance either. its void. You sound like you don't have it anyway.

Enjoy the new year it could be your last!

Strewth.

On so many levels, regarding so many posts!

But yeah, I'd get it looked-at by a pro. Maybe you can get a STW-rate off someone here?

Just to add to the confusion, last year I was wiring a motor and inverter up (not something I'm familiar with), but looking through the specs of inverter it had a leakage current to earth of around 20ma. Odds are that it would trip an RCD.
If this saw was originally 3 phase, and has been converted to run off a single phase via an inverter, there's a reasonable chance that it is 'earth leaky' by design and no amount of faffing with RCDs will make any difference.

Slogo, why are you pretending you know about electrics when you don't appear to know any more than I do?
I've posted pictures of what I've got above, so explain to me which bit is going to catch fire.

Thanks to rwamartin and others for the knowledgeable replies.
To cover some of the points raised;

I know a 63A RCD downstream of a 30A bakelite fuse doesn't make sense, but I've got no way of isolating the bakelite fuse, so that's what I'm stuck with. I've got a 16A MCB downstream of that anyway.

What I'm starting with has probably been there way over 50 years. tacking a modern consumer unit on has got to make it safer.

I've got no mains water, so there's no earth connection there.

The earth connections from the existing fuse boxes to the incoming overhead cables look very thin. I'd guess one is 1mm and the other 6mm.
There's no main earth to the CU because there's nothing I could connect it to at the moment.

As far as I can tell, the incoming cables haven't got armouring. I'm not going to start scraping insulation off to check and the box where the earth cables connect to the incoming cable is sealed.
Without knowing that, I can't be sure if it's TN-S or TN-C-S
Is it normal for individual overhead cables to be armoured?

I'm doing some major repairs to the bungalow and the wall that it's all fixed to will be coming down, that's why I'm just running temporary sockets on spurs at the moment.
You've all convinced me that I should make this a priority now, so I'll fix a suitable board to the new wall and get the MEB or a qualified contractor to move the meter and get everything to comply with modern standards.

The saw works fine now. Maybe the old 13A plug in RCD was faulty, but it hasn't tripped the new 16A MCB or 63A 30mA RCD yet.
NVR switch and belt and blade guards are next on my To Do list.

"I wouldn't bother with house insurance either. its void"

Orly.

MTG if you want all the regs, I can send you a link to to download some PDFs, just drop me an email.

I've fitted my own consumer units / pulled apart the incoming supply - it's all pretty straightforward.

If you want a pro who is very good and charges fair rates, try alanl (on here), he has done a load of work on the wife's rental property for us. He's Leicester based IIRC.

Thanks Footflaps.
Once I start getting a bit further on with the bungalow, I'll be doing as much of the wiring as I can myself, so it would be helpful to have all the information.
I'm in Worcestershire, so I don't suppose it would be cost effective to pay someone to travel from Leicestershire. Thanks for the recommendation anyway.

Going back the earlier warnings, the only thing that I can see that is actually dangerous or a fire risk, is that 1mm earth cable from the grey fuse box, top left, to the black incoming neutral connection, centre right.
It's probably been there since before I was born and hasn't melted yet.

Keep plugging away MTG if you feel confident in your work, I personally would get it checked over as is just for piece of mind. However, I personally think the most dangerous thing you've got with the whole set up is that ****ing saw, it'll have your fingers off in a jiffy!

Split the problem in half.

Try hanging another large appliance that you know DOESN'T cause an issue off the extension. If it still trips, it's the wiring, if it doesn't it's the device.

I guess it's the device, with slightly degraded insulation, myself. If it sits around in the damp, it could well be a circa 30mA leakage. Heck, the RCD may well be more sensitive than you think.

Have you tried taking a multimeter [M?] to the earth>live end of the cabling, and the same with the thing plugged in? And for the neutral>earth connections?

It's probably been there since before I was born and hasn't melted yet

Er.. You know how it's meant to work, don't you? You won't find out if it's too small until you have a fault, and then it might be too late... Doesn't make a difference how long it's been there does it?

I did have a fault when the mice chewed through the original wiring. That's why I cut back to just a double socket mounted on the fuseboard itself and extension leads from there.
The earth cable is too small by current standards, but obviously did it's job at the time.

And gofasterstripes, keep up at the back. 😛
The saw is working now.

I studied Marine electrics and have been a fully qualified marine electrical/engineer for 10 years. I don't touch houses.

I'm the Chief Engineer on a 108ft super yacht and a few smaller boats with in the company i work for.

Enjoy fixing your shitty electrics!

keep up at the back

I pride myself in not knowing what's going on.

Slogo - it's the weekend, mate. Put your feet up and set fire to the end of a 9-skinner. You clearly need to chill out.

Well, I'm Chief Engineer [i]and[/i] Captain on a 9ft tandem. [img] [/img]

Going back the earlier warnings, the only thing that I can see that is actually dangerous or a fire risk, is that 1mm earth cable from the grey fuse box, top left, to the black incoming neutral connection, centre right.
It's probably been there since before I was born and hasn't melted yet

Pretty standard, the original earth wire on our distribution board probably couldn't take the >100A load required to blow the service fuse (see photo). I added an additional wire and compression clamp (not really suitable as it can crush the paper insulation if done up too tight). I recently got a [url= http://www.sicame.co.uk/sicame_electrical_developments-products?category=310 ]proper Earth clamp[/url] from alanl which I'll fit. NB With the addition of RCDs the earth no longer needs to blow the main fuse as hopefully the 30mA RCD will trip long before a 100A load is put through the earth.

[url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5476/12415057325_c9b46ed1ac_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5476/12415057325_c9b46ed1ac_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/jV5q1v ]TN-S Earth Bonding[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/75003318@N00/ ]brf[/url], on Flickr

Ive seen worse consumer units. But I've seen better ones burn houses/boats down!

Wouldn't kill you to rewire it with the cables cut to the right lengths and with 90 degree bends. It does the job now but in 5 years time when you have more stuff hanging off it you'll deeply regret not starting with a tidy job.

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Inside Flaps' Fusebox 😉