Wiring Meter Utility Box to Distribution Panel

A1: Fuses in neutrals are prohibited under British Standard 7671 on safety grounds. What is the equivalent Indian Standard and what does it say?

A2: No response.

A3: Not if it isn't correctly protected against short circuit. Not if it involves breaking the seal on the supply company's incoming terminals. Is it such an inconvenience to rely on the indication provided by appliances downstream of the distribution board (rhetorical question)? If the indicator were provided and were out, what additional benefit would it convey (rhetorical question)?

A4: It depends on the earthing requirements imposed by the supply company.

Presumably this installation will be inspected and certified correct and safe by a third party before being energised?

The utility meter around here once in place belongs to the utility company. To tamper with it to make changes may cause you a fine. Most have seals on them to show if they have been removed. The person that reads the meter will take notice. Even if you have the new electronic type that sends the information down the line they are serialized for identification. Don't know if that is the case in your neck of the woods but I would find out before hand. Once you get them looking the may look deeper into what you have done that may have required a licensed electrician.

For your sake and the sake of your family get an electrician to have a look at the set up.

You can not more the utility companies equipment. The use of metal containment for the equipment carries other risks.

If I had found a quality electrician around my place, I would not have come to google and subsequently to this website at all. this website would remain unknown to me.

for proof please read the following:-

its a new building construction and as per local supply company, home owners are supposed to get the wiring done from the nearest supply company pole to my meter box. The person from supply company who came to install the meter for my home suggested to get the wiring done by an electrician whom he knows very well. I did so, he used 16-4 cable to draw electricity from the supply pole to my meter and he was the one who installed 32A, 240v/415v fuse on the neutral wire coming out from the meter.

I usually do minor repairs at home like replacing damaged switches or sockets, hence iam aware of phase, neutral and earth wires. however I went ahead to google search for professional information about the three wires. Also I had enquired with few other local electricians and everybody said fuse not to be installed on neutral wire. so in order to confirm i posted my question in this website.

Also my intention is not upgrade the wiring for by self instead i wanted to know the correct way of wiring for my situation so that I can discuss with the electrician who woud do the upgrading for me. just to be on safe side

for example had i left the existing wiring at meter board, it would have created problem for me sometime or the other. Only because iam aware of the phase, neutral and earth wires and also with the information available on the internet, i was clear that neutral wire must not be fused. hence, at least for time being, i think that i avoided an electric accident. However I will get it rectified. But my another problem persists-:

I have two MCB panels, one located at ground floor the other located at first floor and being single phase connection i have only one live/phase wire. how to run it to ground floor and first floor MCB panel without splitting it into two wires. one way that i think is possible apart from the way i mentioned in my previous post is to first take the live wire to one of the MCB panel and then loop it to the other MCB panel. but one of the local electrician here said that that way the load on the MCB will become heavy and instead suggested to take two live wires from the single output socket of the main MCB and use one wire for one MCB panel and the other for another MCB panel.

Is it correct? if yes, is there any other clarity method of such installation.

The reason for me to get into all this is because the existing wiring in my MCB panel is cluttered as all the neutral wires are taped and i wish to de-clutter it by installing a neutral link/bar. hence if getting that done , then i thought let me also get the live/phase wire de-cluttered.

Thank you.

Any connection onto the incoming breaker must be sized according to the maximum short-circuit current that the installation can withstand without damage. Once that has been done it matters not whether the connection is split or whether it is looped-in, for the cable size will be the same in both cases.

British Standard 7671 is a good reference, though the installation really ought to be carried out to the latest edition of the Indian equivalent, which is why the question has been asked earlier [see #1 above].

If the electrician carrying out the work has been assessed as competent to the latest Indian standard, then the installation should be right first time; anything else will make the property's owner very unpopular with its fire insurance company.

Thank you, so now i will hire the same electrician who did it first and will also ask about the fuse on neutral wire and will update the thread.

Dear Sir,

Before I reply your question, I want you to hire an electrician from your locality for the job to be completed. You should not attempt to wire your power supply yourself as tempering with meter seal is crime.

1) In the meter box, you should have preferably two pole MCB of at least 40A capacity.

I would suggest you to instal a 40A, RCCB or ELCB with a sensitivity of 30mA. You can retain your fuse setup for additional safety. No fuse is required on neutral wire.

2) Install a MCB box inside your home and split supply in the MCB box by using two MCBs of suitable rating (In your case 16A) for ground & first floor. You can not have both poles of DPN MCB with phase in meter box.

3) You can use Neon indicators for supply indication. However, you can not connect the indicator to meter link. You should connect the same to output of DPN MCB only.

4) Earth wire should not be connected to neutral of supply. It is required for safety of installations & user. Best is to use an ELCB (Earth leakage circuit breaker ) for safety.

I hope the above help with your requirement.

what should be the breaking capacity of the MCB used in the MCB box to split the phase wire for ground floor and the first floor MCB Box, 6KA/10KA?

the breaking capacity of the other MCBs for circuits in both the MCB box is 6KA as mentioned in my first post. and the breaking capacity of the MAin DP MCB in the Meter Box is 10000 which is think it means 10KA.

Thank you

I got this para from a pdf on the web.
1)6.2.2 Fuses shall be HRC Cartridge type conforming to I.S.2208 with abreaking capacity corresponding to system fault level. Fuses shall belink type with visible indication. Screw type fuses are not acceptablefor any ratings. Fuses shall be provided only in the phase conductorseven in case of double pole switches, Neutral, wherever provided,shall have suitable links only.
2)2.7.4 On the main switch gear, where the conductors include earthconductor of a 2 wire system or on earthed neutral conductor of amulti wire system or a conductor which is to be connected thereto, thepermanent indication shall be provided to identify the earthed neutralconductor ( Rule 32 (i) of Indian Electricity Rules 1956 refers).

Rule 31 of Indian Electricity Rules 1956:-

Rule 31: Cut-out on consumer's premises:

1. The supplier shall provide a suitable cut-out in each conductor of every service line other than an earthed or earthed neutral conductor or the earthed external conductor of a concentric cable within a consumer's premises, in an accessible position. Such cut-out shall be contained within an adequately enclosed fireproof receptacle.
   
   Where more than one consumer is supplied through a common service line, each such consumer shall be provided with an independent cut-out at the point of junction to the common service.
2. Every electric supply line other than the earthed or earthed neutral conductor of any system or the earthed external conductor of a concentric cable shall be protected by a suitable cut-out by its owner.

Dear Sir,

The HRC fuse in the supply was old method. Now, MCB are replacing fuses in domestic power supplies and in the main circuit 10KA rating is fine. 6A MCB is generally used for light and fan circuit of one loop of max. two rooms. Generally one MCB per room light & Fan is preferred. For power circuit of Geyser & AC independent 16A MCB is used. The DP MCB in mains should be of almost 1.5 times of total of all distribution MCBs.

I hope this clears any doubt of placing MCB & DP MCB in mains board. However, for safety, an ELCB or RCCB is preferred in mains supply apart from mains fuse provided by power supply agency.