It's time for the final consumer unit for the house. Electrician said get the largest available, but even I think a 29 way unit is overkill 🙂

 

So, on the basis of future proofing (PV and battery, external feed to garage, and other unforeseen SWMBO requirements), my thoughts are that a 20 way would be enough.

 

I have seen recommendations on here for Hager (expensive end of the price range?) and to stay away from MK.

 

Our local electrical wholesaler stocks

• Hager
• Lewden
• Fusebox
• CGD
• Elucian
• Schneider Electric
• Crabtree
• BG (none with enough ways at this wholesaler)
• Luceco
• Scolmore
• Eaton

Which of these should I consider (and which should be avoided)?

 

Thanks

Edited January 1, 20251 yr by BotusBuild

I would do as big as you can, we added more solar, battery, ASHP all after build, so spare space in CUbis good.

 

The electrician is certifying, and you let him specify make models.

If you get the largest you can fit in, then you have room for monitoring gear.

You cannot beat analysis your energy usage on a rainy New Year's Day.

 

Get the prettiest, or most space age looking one. All your Buildhub friends will want to see it when you have the 'completion certificate party'.

Then we can all bitch behind your back about bad choices.

Consider sub boards in the kitchen and garage/shed/outbuilding. 

 

Don't be reliant on multiple long cable runs. 

 

I've seen kitchens fed with a ring and 6 radials, all dragged through the house to a tiny space under the stairs, just whack a sub board in the kitchen and keep the runs short, it also allows for much easier renovations and additions in the future. 

Is a flush mounted 48 way Hager legal in the UK?

 

https://www.eltido.lt/lt/katalogas/skydai/ileidziami-skydeliai/skydelis-48-mod-ip30-vu48-volta-hager.htm

 

Plenty of space for subsequent faffery that you've not thought of yet.

 

Sub board for kitchen or utility/plant room not a daft shout if the cable routes don't need RCD protection and you're not worried about tripping all the sockets/lights etc simulatenously?

We went Hager which was expensive but the sparky said it was for the best. 
 

17 minutes ago, FuerteStu said:

Consider sub boards

Cables already run to kitchen.

Will have a sub board in the garage.

I flush mounted a 20 way Hager in our house, all RCBO.

 

I like Hager, mainly because they don't keep messing about with the design of their mcb's.  you can fit a new Hager MCB or RCBO in the oldest Hager board you can find and it fits and looks the same.  Now try that with Wylex. MK etc 

19 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

You cannot beat analysis your energy usage on a rainy New Year's Day.

Mist coating and plastering was on our list today

11 minutes ago, markocosic said:

Sub board for kitchen or utility/plant room not a daft shout if the cable routes don't need RCD protection and you're not worried about tripping all the sockets/lights etc simulatenously?

 

Even if they do you could fit a 100mA Type S RCDs to supply the sub boards then the sub boards could be all 30mA RCBOs.

 

Bi-directional RCBOs seem to be the thing at the mo. Then of course you'll need to consider AFDDs...

 

 

 

22 minutes ago, BotusBuild said:

Mist coating and plastering was on our list today

So did you got misted and plastered last night.

5 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

misted and plastered last night

I was Des last night

4 hours ago, BotusBuild said:

It's time for the final consumer unit for the house. Electrician said get the largest available, but even I think a 29 way unit is overkill 🙂

 

So, on the basis of future proofing (PV and battery, external feed to garage, and other unforeseen SWMBO requirements), my thoughts are that a 20 way would be enough.

 

I have seen recommendations on here for Hager (expensive end of the price range?) and to stay away from MK.

 

Our local electrical wholesaler stocks

• Hager
• Lewden
• Fusebox
• CGD
• Elucian
• Schneider Electric
• Crabtree
• BG (none with enough ways at this wholesaler)
• Luceco
• Scolmore
• Eaton

Which of these should I consider (and which should be avoided)?

 

Thanks

Used Hager on our previous build 

Expensive 

Our Electrician works for an electrical company that have multi million pound housing association contracts all over the UK and only use Fusebox 

Im sure he said made in Scotland Someone will probably correct me shortly In any case he said it’s the availability of bits and reliability that they want 

Time will tell 

A fraction of the cost of Hager 

27 minutes ago, nod said:

Our Electrician works for an electrical company that have multi million pound housing association contracts all over the UK

I’m probably overly cynical but surely this sort of contract is all about the bottom line rather than quality of materials?

 

Not saying Fusebox is bad but to blanket suggest that just because the contracts are worth multi-million pounds everything that’s done on them is top notch seems misleading. 
 

that’s the beauty of self-building. We can choose the products and materials we want rather than what others who may have ulterior motives decide upon. 

'housing association contracts' 

 

So the cheapest materials available quickest.. 

 

Ok so I work on the industrial side of things, mainly 3 phase. 

 

But the schneider acti9 isobar gear is the ultimate in reliability and safety for my 2p. 

The 3 phase boards have a link kit so they can be converted to single phase. So an 8 way board becomes 24 ways

 

It's pricey though. But I guess you get what you pay for. Hager are fair, but unless you keep all the breakers perfectly square, the fronts are a bugger to get on and off without tripping breakers.... (but we all shouldn't be taking covers off live anyways) 

 

 

Edited January 1, 20251 yr by FuerteStu

46 minutes ago, FuerteStu said:

But the schneider acti9 isobar gear is the ultimate in reliability and safety for my 2p. 

 

Is that the new stuff with incomers that like plug in on springy clips? Saw a brand new board burnt out.

8 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

Is that the new stuff with incomers that like plug in on springy clips? Saw a brand new board burnt out.

I liked the old square D QOE boards because you could hot swap the clip in MCB's to save shutting down a whole office block.  Not that I would admit to doing that.

The thing for me is the sliders, it makes the bus bar teeth safe when disengaged, and covers the breaker terminal when engaged. 

 

The breakers clip into the board and don't need a neutral or earth fly lead for their rcbo's

 

I've only ever seen one board with a failure, and that was due to terminals being loosely tightened. The metal and plastic seems much better quality than other brands

6 hours ago, FuerteStu said:

The thing for me is the sliders, it makes the bus bar teeth safe when disengaged, and covers the breaker terminal when engaged. 

 

The breakers clip into the board and don't need a neutral or earth fly lead for their rcbo's

 

I've only ever seen one board with a failure, and that was due to terminals being loosely tightened. The metal and plastic seems much better quality than other brands

 

The one I saw was burned out on one of the theoretically maintenance free connections, the sliders, on the DP switch. Assembly fault, spring tension issue etc ???

 

It went straight back to the supplier and was exchanged. 

 

Might have a pic somewhere.

6 hours ago, ProDave said:

I liked the old square D QOE boards because you could hot swap the clip in MCB's to save shutting down a whole office block.  Not that I would admit to doing that.

 

Best done with the MCB in the OFF position...

16 hours ago, BotusBuild said:

So, on the basis of future proofing (PV and battery, external feed to garage, and other unforeseen SWMBO requirements)

Have you got ducts in place to handle all of this or will you need to do major works to get the cables in and around?

We fitted two consumer boards, only one is supported by the battery during a Power Cut.

The heat pump , treatment plant towel rails etc are all on the unsupported on.

Ensures the battery is not drained too quickly ,leaving power for Fridge /Freezer, lighting, hub and other essentials.

The cooker and all sockets have battery back up so still needs a bit of care during power cuts.

On 02/01/2025 at 09:20, MikeSharp01 said:

On 01/01/2025 at 16:28, BotusBuild said:

So, on the basis of future proofing (PV and battery, external feed to garage, and other unforeseen SWMBO requirements)

Have you got ducts in place to handle all of this or will you need to do major works to get the cables in and around?

Ducts already in 😀

The best the lLlocal wholesaler could was a Fusebox 20 way.

Hope its not a housing association cheapo nightmare