Surely the case fuse would blow first in any event of a problem…
When I say conductor, I should have said the conductor from the Consuter Unit to the sockets. The fuse in the plug top is there to protect the mains lead to the device and the device itself.
@pslosarc If your fuses dont blow, then by all means keep the type B. People with Big power supplies are more likely to have this issue, as the initial draw on current is higher
Ok so let me see if I have any grasp of this at all.
We are about to embark on a new house build. I am meeting my electrician for serious discussion in the next few days. Mrs H has agreed under duress that I can have control of a small part of the budget for a dedicated mains.
So! I want three unswitched sockets side by side in what is euphemistically to be known as my music room. So my I correct I want a separate consumer unit with 32amp or 50 amp type c breakers - so far so good?
I want him to use 10 ml cable and when he freaks I’ll back down and agree to 6 ml - the consensus would seem to be though that 10 ml would be
worth a major fall out?
The earth cable is not to go anywhere near the main consumer unit but to run directly to the metre box.
Should I go for the killer blow by telling him that I want a separate consumer unit for each of the sockets or is that becoming ridiculous?
And finally is it a radial or ring main I’m fighting for?
Any other advice is appreciated.
Definitely get 10mm, it can be done certainly with MK unswitched sockets. And you only do it once so get it done right.
I don’t think there would be an advantage in doing this, yes bit OTT.
Radial. Correct!
I would run a single 10mm2 cable to an unswitched double socket and then use a hydra or mains block.
I wouldn’t. Why would you want to do this?
I just feel when the opportunity is there I should go for the unswitched sockets.
It should give a more cohesive sound than having multiple radials. It’s what Naim recommended to me, so that’s what I did.
A hydra or mains block is basically multiple radials in a pretty box.
You would be better off using another Henley block by the first un-switched socked if you need more than two doubles in my opinion.
And I thought I had it all sorted in my head!
All I can do is pass on what I was advised by Naim. Maybe you know better but I was happy to follow their advice.
Your advice was different from mine then.
We are perhaps splitting hairs now, but I would be inclined to agree with @anon4489532 running one length of 10mm2 should be plenty. It wont be an easy cable to manage - after all how many holes do you want drilled in your joints, etc. Unswitched socket also good. I dont recall ever seeing the recommendation about running earth straight back to meter. The electrician will still need to run an earth to the consumer unit, so I suppose he can run an extra one for that, but not one to fall out over.
Without knowing your precise setup, and how the cable will be run, it’s hard for us to be more precise on detail, so we may all differ slightly. Just see them all as as good options to discuss with your electrician.
Alternatively lets have a big Zoom meeting where you can show us your house, and we can discuss it with the electrician - of course he may run a mile
I could sell tickets!!
The earth thing is about running it from the new consumer unit direct to the meter, rather than daisy chaining off the existing CU. For years I had it daisy chained and when we replaced the old fuse box with a new spec CU I asked for the earth to go direct. It seemed to make as much of a difference as installing the dedicated CU in the first place.
That make perfect sense - thanks
Hi @anon4489532
Interesting what you’re saying about the earthing. I am about to get a dedicated radial but I live in an apartment, so running the new earth from the meter probably won’t be a practical option. Any recommendations? I assume it’s still worth going with a sub optimal strategy of attaching to the main consumer unit earth?
I expect you will still have a thick earth cable coming up to your apartment to a big metal connector block, so you would have to use that
A separate CU is still a good idea. I’m unable to advise on earthing arrangements. I’d ask a qualified electrician. Safety trumps SQ in these scenarios.