URGENT help required

[Cpd]

So the lights have started to flicker and on investigation I have found a nasty short circuit buzzing / cracking sound from a box near the consumer unit, the wire from this box is warm ! 
it’s the dark brown box on the right hand side, it’s the very first thing the main cable goes into from the pole outside. 
is it SSE or local electrician that I contact. 
thanks cpd  

[Jeremy Harris]

That's the main incoming fuse and cable termination.  Call the DNO now, using their emergency number, and tell them you believe that there is a fire hazard from a defective main fuse that is running hot.

 

Turn off the supply at the switch on the consumer unit (they will probably tell you to do this anyway).

 

I hope they can get someone out to you quickly.  They usually do, but I believe you're in a remote location, so I'm not sure if they will have someone out there or not.  It's definitely not something that you can DIY, I'm afraid.

 

 

[Onoff]

SSE, in that the brown box and grey is "theirs". 

 

Don't go touching or rattling those grey cables any more between the brown and grey box either in case loose or something. 

[Cpd]

Thanks chaps, got onto sse and they are going to send someone out ASAP 

will follow advise and limit load to lighting and monitor 

[ProDave]

Just for anyone else reading this. the important thing is to report it to the emergency number as a "dangerous condition" to ensure they come out immediately.

 

And just to reinforce what has been said, anything before the meter is the responsibility of the DNO and electricians can't touch it. All we would be able to do is turn off your consumer unit to remove the load.

[Cpd]

Amazingly quick response from sse after I said the correct words as advised above. They were able to get a team out and to the ferry within 20 min and have now completed the work and heading of on the next ferry. The guys said it was totally buggered and unusual to see one in such bad shape ! A loose wire that must have been shorting for quite some time..... because the switch  is in a shed that’s attached to the house right by a door that is open 24 hrs a day it has gone unnoticed.......  all sorted now. Thanks gents. 

[Jeremy Harris]

Good result!  Great to see the DNO respond so quickly, given the remoteness of your location and the present circumstances.  They usually do try to come out quickly for something like this, as they may have been a real risk of it causing a fire.

[Onoff]

?100A fuse carrier too. Nice if there's a 100A fuse in there. 

 

The backboard looks to have got a bit scorched perhaps looking at that black mark?

[ProDave]

That's pretty much the standard SSE supply head in use now. And note (to make a lot of electricians jealous) he has a meter with a built in isolator switch, which are common in SSE land.

[Jeremy Harris]

Same meter we had until we switched to E7.  The E7 meter didn't have the isolator, so I added one alongside the meter.  With hindsight I should have done this when we first put the supply in, but at that time I knew we were going to get a meter with an isolator (we're also in SSE land here) so I didn't bother.   Luckily I was chatting to the meter fitter when he fitted the E7 meter, spotted the lack of an in-built isolator and somehow he must have forgotten to fully crimp the fuse seal, and accidentally dropped a couple of seals and wires in the bottom of the box . . .