Upside down henley blocks

[Mr Blobby]

For some reason the sparks brought the main 3-phase cable down from the ceiling, to the bottom of the plant room then back up to the isolator and Henley blocks and then into the two consumer units.

 

This layout is a bit crap.  Bringing the cable in at the bottom wastes loads of space needed for other bits yet to be installed, but what triggers my OCD is that all the henley blocks are upside down.  And one cover is broken because the blocks are too close together for the cover to fit.

 

I know that in theory the henley blocks shouldn't be installed like this but is it worth complaining about and telling the sparks to relocate the mains isolator to feed the henley blocks from the top?

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 21:15 by Mr Blobby

[ProDave]

There is no technical reason not to mount them like this.  Just that the writing is the wrong way up.

 

What don't you like?  The writing the wrong way up?  Or the layout of the cables?

 

 

[Mr Blobby]

57 minutes ago, ProDave said:

There is no technical reason not to mount them like this.  Just that the writing is the wrong way up.

 

What don't you like?  The writing the wrong way up?  Or the layout of the cables?

 

 

I think I read somewhere that they shouldn't be upside down because there is risk of stuff falling into the top, but afaics the top and bottom are the same.  But if they are not directional, then why install them upside down? 

 

They've been installed like this for a few months so I'm not losing any sleep over this, it just is, like do many other things, a bit sub optimal. 😏

 

The layout is generally terrible.  There is a second consumer unit to the top left that will run cables down and to the right. 🤦 

Drives me mental. 

 

Rant over.

Edited Thursday at 22:29 by Mr Blobby

[markc]

Good practice to put any cable that comes from outside or could form condensation (due to exposed length) into the bottom of any box, and as @ProDave says, no reason for any orientation on a Henley block. If they are double entry both ends then yes I would have the writing the right way up, but yours may be double one end and single the other so orientation is to suit the cable layout.

[ProDave]

Usually there are up to 3 cable entries on one side and 2 on the other (the side with the fixing screw for the lid) so in this case could be either way ip.

 

A neater way to do all this lot would have been neatly installed trunking.

[Onoff]

Don't sweat it. They have top and bottom entries anyway.

 

 

[Spinny]

Things can often get installed to suit the convenience of the tradesman and minimise effort. Routing cables and pipework in an ideal way can be a surprisingly tricky planning problem rather like completing a puzzle. Some do a good job of planning 'in their head' based on years of experience or possibly just do it the same way every time. But without recognising the issue up front and having a sketched layout done - which may need redrawing a couple of times to resolve conflicts - it is difficult to control. When do you ever see a tradesman spending half a man day sketching layouts or routing plans ? Most would consider that money down the drain on a fixed quote. And always seems to be a race between plumber and sparky to use any readily available apertures.

 

Builders get construction drawings (most of the time) but domestically it seems no-one ever has a wiring or plumbing plan beyond where they want the end points.

 

You can't get domestic architects interested in planning service voids either.

[Nickfromwales]

On 19/09/2026 at 12:08, Spinny said:

When do you ever see a tradesman spending half a man day sketching layouts or routing plans ?

When the client is clever and pragmatic enough to ask them to do so, and to be happy to pay them to do it .

 

Anything else is wishful thinking and short-sightedness on the clients side.

 

Pay people to take time to plan and discuss, and they will, which is why I am flat out busy working for self builders who want something better / more robust than making daft assumptions that “it’s all going to go well”…. . Not aimed at you @Mr Blobby, just a point to consider moving forwards, to help you get what you thought you’d be getting. 

 

Half a days wages would have likely mitigated this type of misunderstanding / faux-pas out, but you as the client also need to be present, often, and with some time to invest, if you really want to influence things and bolster the outcome. 

How many car journeys do you set out on, wearing a blindfold?