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Background my parents live in a big house converted into 4 flats. In total there are 6 meters they want to remove 2. Obviously to do this two supplies need to be cut off. The house was built 1850s and finding where the supplies come in is proving to be interesting. I think that this is where the mains come in the splits to the various domestic meters. Could it be? If so would they stop the suppyhere?
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This meter is for one of the supplies that is to be removed.
Can't really tell what your question is but yes the large black cable at the bottom is a main incoming supply. It might be the only one or there may be others in the building too if there are 6 meters
The electric provider will sort all that out,I wouldn't worry too much about where the supplies are. I know it's not quite the same but we recently removed a single phase supply to our house and had 3-phase connected. SPEN came out with some kind of detector to find the single phase cable, dug up the road, disconnected and then put in the new one. All I did was ask them to do it.
That black box is the cut out. The power co own the cable up to and including the very big fuse inside the black box.
whether it’s the main incomer for the whole building or the one meter, difficult to say.
A mess is what that is! It’s a 3phase head, so there’s 3 fuses in there and 2 cables going out the top of each fuse to somewhere, maybe the 6 meters. Only the DNO are supposed to pull those fuses to allow work to be carried out
I agree that’s a mess. If you’re open to speculation, and you must be since you’ve asked the internet, I’d say that’s the incomer for the whole property since it’s a 3 phase cutout with 6 live tails coming out. Left to right brown (old live colour) grey (with an L stamped in to indicate line/live), 4 more red tails. So that’s 6 live tails, presumably going to 6 meters. (Tail is simply the term for the wire that goes from the cutout ((big fuse owned by DNO)) to the meter). The final black wires coming from the cutout are all the neutrals.
Glad that’s the meter being removed, as the tails from the meter to the consumer unit (we don’t call them fuse boxes anymore) are frikkin tiny.
Anyway, the electricity supplier will take care of the meter removal/disconnection. The DNO owns the cutout. After the meter it’s the homeowner responsibility. Any concerns in that latter part, I’d recommend getting an electrician round for an EICR - basically a test and inspect.
Ok thanks.thatbmeter/consumer unit only has 4 lights and associated switches on it. It's for a stairwell.
Would the supplier (or whoever) remove the fuses/stop the supply here or would there still be a dig and cut somewhere else? After that the consumer units would be removed I assume.
Your supplier, thats who you pay the electric bill to, can remove the 3 phase meter,and fit a single phase meter in its place. They will remove any redundant cables, no need to remove the three phase cut out, as it could come in useful in the future.
Would the supplier (or whoever) remove the fuses/stop the supply here or would there still be a dig and cut somewhere else?
you/they need to speak to the electricity supply company that you/they pay the bill to for that meter. The electricity company own that meter. They will remove it, disconnecting it from the cutout we discussed earlier.
The cutout is owned by the DNO - distribution network operator. National grid but your local version. You don’t need to speak to them, but the electricity supplier may co-ordinate with them to facilitate removal of the meter. There will be no digging or cutting because the cutout will remain to supply the remaining properties.
I am not an electrician btw, but an electronic engineer and DIYer.
Your supplier, thats who you pay the electric bill to, can remove the 3 phase meter,and fit a single phase meter in its place.
Alan, you posted same time as me. Correct on the supplier being the right people to talk to. But that’s not a 3 phase meter in the pic. That’s a single phase meter fitted to one of the phases of the cutout. There’ll be another 5 meters somewhere, all connected to that 3 phase cutout. Which will be left alone. That meter can be removed if desired by calling the people who bill for it.
Ok thanks.thatbmeter/consumer unit only has 4 lights and associated switches on it. It’s for a stairwell.
Final point (god, I do go on don’t I 😂)
Those skinny tails are likely a fire risk. It’s not the load that’s important, it’s the upstream fuse that’s important. At a guess there’s a 60 or 100A fuse in the cutout supplying those tiny tails. Damage one of those tails so they short and you’ve got 100A in a tiny wire. Wire won’t conduct enough for fuse to blow. Wire will be on fire. Electrical fires are leading cause of death by fire.
So get rid or get sorted by an electrician if not.
IAMNAE but I do design fire detectors.
Looking at the pic again that meter looks like one that has an isolator switch under the right hand cover that allowed us poor electricians to safely isolate a fuse board with the need to be fleeced by the DNO call-out to pull the fuse. They didn’t fit many of them…