New Consumer Units and BS7671:2008 Amendment 3
I was in a well know electrical wholesalers today and overheard the lad behind the counter say to a customer “No mate, plastic boards are illegal. Everything has to be metal”.
Had to bite my tongue a bit as this is not true and looking around some of the electrical forums it seems as though a lot of electricians are under this impression as well.
Amendment 3 came into affect 1st July 2015 but implementation is not until 1st January 2016. Basically this means if you have stock or wholesalers have stock then it can still be used up until this time. It would be prudent though to start using metal as soon as you can but don't go throwing out your old stock, just use it up before 1st January 2016.
Here's the exact wording from the IET web page that specifically deals with the new amendment concerning consumer units:
Implementation date
As stated in Note 2 to the new regulation, the implementation date for the regulation is 1 January 2016. This is six months later than the effective date of Amendment 3 as a whole.
The purpose of the delay in implementation is to allow a period of co-existence of both metal- and plastic-enclosed consumer units and to allow time for manufacturers to work existing and new products through their supply chains. Nevertheless, as is also indicated in Note 2, the delayed implementation does not preclude compliance with the regulation prior to 1 January 2016.
Why Metal or Non-combustible Consumer Units?
This new amendment is supposed to stop the spread of fire if something is not terminated correctly in a consumer unit. Personally I think this is not adressing the root cause of the problem and that is poor workmanship.
I think the rise in fires caused by loose terminations and sloppy work has been a direct result of too many people going on a 6 week course to become ‘Part P' and then claiming they are an electrician. Very few of these ‘6 week wonders' have site experience or the knowledge on exactly how a consumer unit should be terminated.
Whilst the governing bodies allow this to continue we will just see more sloppy work, more fires and potentially more deaths. Changing consumer units to metal is not going to solve the problem. What's next, mandatory metal switches & socket? Self extinguishing junction boxes? Tackle the root problem and get these cowboys off site!
Obsolete Bill, MEM and Delta Circuit Breakers
Bill Switchgear was probably one the oldest British electrical brands and was especially known for bigger switching devices like triple pole fuse switches and switch fuses and LV panelboards. The company was aquired by Delta in 1973 who also owned another well known brand, MEM.
Delta decided to keep the brands MEM and Bill separate until 1998 when they finally phased out the Bill brand. What most people don't realise is that all the products that were manufactured were identical in both brands. Delta manufactured the products and either labelled them MEM or Bill.
However, just to add a little confusion, some MCB's were discontinued whilst under the MEM brand but due to complaints from customers, specifiers and electrical wholesalers the company had to start manufacturing again. Some of these products are branded Delta and from 2003 some of these products are branded Eaton when they company was bought out yet again.
Confused? Well it gets worse because by the time that Delta/Eaton decided that they needed to manufacturer some of the older products to keep the peace with customers the British Standard BS3871 had changed. Previously all MCB's had been marked with a ‘Type' (either 1,2,3 or 4) but BS3871 had changed so that Type 1 MCB's were no longer used and Types 2,3 & 4 were now Types B,C & D.
So now you have a range of circuit breakers that are either branded MEM,Delta,Bill or Eaton. They may me marked either Type 2,3,4 or Type B,C,D. Some have a printed wrap around label and some have silk screen printing direct on the MCB.
Long and short of it is this. All brands, no matter what Type, colour or creed are interchangeable with each other. So if you are stuck for a Bill MCB, then a MEM, Eaton or Delta will still fit. Likewise if you can't find a particular MEM version then Bill MCB will be a direct replacement.
Moulded Case Circuit Breakers (MCCB's)
Fortunately the situation with Bill and MEM MCCB's is not as confusing. Firstly MCCB's are made to a different standard to MCB's, BS60947-2. Whilst that standard has been updated to allow for new technologies it still remains as the current British Standard.
As with MCB's all MCCB's were manufactured by Delta and either branded MEM or Bill. They are identical apart from the logo and and a slight difference in the part number. You won't find any branded Delta, they never used that branding on any moulded case breakers.
All MCCB's in MEM's Memshield 2 range or Bill's Talisman Plus range are branded as such. Even though Eaton bought out Delta in 2003 they maintained the old branding until they came out with the latest range, Memshield 3. Even though they are using the Memshield brand all breakers are now marked as Eaton.
Still Confused?
If you are still stuck for an obsolete Bill or MEM circuit breaker and this has just confused you even more then please get in touch via our contact page and we will be only too glad to help out.