Landlords electric question-busbars and distribution boards

marc3

Landlord of an older property-try to keep it in good condition, and definitely do not risk any safety related items.
Obviously get annual gas safety certificate ,and about every 3 years have a full electrical safety assessment-even though not required by law.

I am no electrical expert, so need a bit of input please : last check says that the distribution board (think in past times we used to call it the fuse box !!) needs replacing because it is not a metal casing and there is no internal busbar cover (all a different language to me and no idea what a busbar is/does )

.my gut feel is that is all a bit exaggerated and maybe its a recommendation- but not illegal ? i imagine many of us have lived our lives without a busbar cover .

i simply do not know however,but it looks a modern unit-and again, my gut feel is that its not a major issue .
Frankly-i am reluctant to spend the money on this item, but if it is strictly illegal ,and a safety risk i would naturally get it done .

can anyone with knowledge of this advise the true facts,and maybe provide a bit more info.
many thanks

anselld

Metal consumer units only came in recently and the requirement is not retrospective.
Bus-bar cover is internal to the consumer unit so it not an issue for the end-user.
The bottom line is does the report say "satisfactory" with some recommendations or does it say "unsatisfactory"?

kilby_007

marc3 wrote: »

Landlord of an older property-try to keep it in good condition, and definitely do not risk any safety related items.
Obviously get annual gas safety certificate ,and about every 3 years have a full electrical safety assessment-even though not required by law.

I am no electrical expert, so need a bit of input please : last check says that the distribution board (think in past times we used to call it the fuse box !!) needs replacing because it is not a metal casing and there is no internal busbar cover (all a different language to me and no idea what a busbar is/does )

.my gut feel is that is all a bit exaggerated and maybe its a recommendation- but not illegal ? i imagine many of us have lived our lives without a busbar cover .

i simply do not know however,but it looks a modern unit-and again, my gut feel is that its not a major issue .
Frankly-i am reluctant to spend the money on this item, but if it is strictly illegal ,and a safety risk i would naturally get it done .

can anyone with knowledge of this advise the true facts,and maybe provide a bit more info.
many thanks

I'm not an electrician, but I have heard about the new requirement for metal consumer units, as some plastic ones had set fire, so the legistlation has changed in relation to this, but it was my understanding that it was only applicable where a new circuit was being installed that you would need to change the box.

I do think that a busbar cover (that's a piece of insulated plastic that stops fingers touching the metal neutral/live termination points) is and has been mandatory for a long time (the ingress protection standard in relation to this is IP2X which ensures that a "standard finger" size cannot touch the metal parts) so that's potentially why the box needs changing, if the box itself is missing the appropriate covers? If it's just an internal cover, then perhaps the report is a recommendation and not a mandatory requirement.

Hopefully a domsetic electrician can advise. I only do small volts! But pictures might be helpful...

davidmcn

marc3 wrote: »

I am no electrical expert, so need a bit of input please

Wouldn't it make more sense for you to seek this from the electrical expert you've employed? They may well not change the certificate, but they should at least be able to give you some further explanation and some informal advice about whether you need to worry about it.

G_M

I would post your query over on this forum:

Electrics UK

Lots of electricians over there...

But I suggest you give greater detail eg

* quote exact wording of the report
* specify the make/model of the consumer unit and/or
* attach a photo
* and make clear you are a landlord


Like this forum sometimes, they can give short-shrift to vague queries which cannot be fully answered for lack of informatio!

booksurr

coffeehound wrote: »

Doesn't the guy that you employed to do the safety assessment know the True Facts? Why bother getting an assessment if you're going to avoid the findings. Landlords...

that is an uncalled for comment

OP has not unreasonably questioned whether the report is "recommending" work that is legally required or is merely the "inspector" trying to drum up some extra work for themselves by over egging a non issue, ie that the current installation is perfectly safe but does not meet current regulations, regulations which are not retrospective and do not require work to be done to "bring them up to date"

I could equally make the fatuous comment: if tenants had a brain and used it?

Mutton_Geoff

When asked to do an inspection, all the "inspectors" can do is work to current regs, hence the metal box thing. There are millions of plastic consumer units in place so I wouldn't worry about changing it. As for the lack of a cover on the bus bar, this is common but of no consequence to the tenant since they won't be taking the cover off. The easiest fix is a strip of red insulation tape over the copper bus bar. Job done. This is to minimise the risk of the electrician brushing his hand on a live bus bar when checking the internals of the consumer unit. The plastic covers often don't get fitted or get lost. The strip of tape is a common fix and does the same job.

MobileSaver

marc3 wrote: »

needs replacing because it is not a metal casing and there is no internal busbar cover

The report is exaggerating the situation; there is no need to replace the consumer unit based on the reasons given.

A metal (well actually any 'non-combustible') consumer unit is only a requirement for new installations and (as anselld said) is not retrospective.

For the busbar, the clue is "internal"; some consumer units never had a busbar cover and even if yours did originally and an electrician forgot to fit it, any potential danger is inside a sealed unit. A tool of some sort is required to remove the consumer unit cover which will always reveal a whole raft of exposed potentially live surfaces anyway. There is no requirement in "The Regs" for internal busbars to be covered.

tacpot12

Just bear in mind that the "busbar cover" may have been misdescribed in the report and what the electrician meant was that the board was missing some blanking plates for un-used ways. This would allow a tenant to stick their finger inside the board, but the OP should have seen this themselves if this is the case.

JP1978

tacpot12 wrote: »

Just bear in mind that the "busbar cover" may have been misdescribed in the report and what the electrician meant was that the board was missing some blanking plates for un-used ways. This would allow a tenant to stick their finger inside the board, but the OP should have seen this themselves if this is the case.

And if an electrician doing an assessment had misdescribed busbar cover instead of 'mcb blank' they wouldn't be an electrician would they?

G_M

JP1978 wrote: »

And if an electrician doing an assessment had misdescribed busbar cover instead of 'mcb blank' they wouldn't be an electrician would they?

Depends whether the definition of an electrician is

* someone who works with electrics, or

* someone who understands electrics

:rotfl: