Houses and Small Installations Distribution Boards

Houses and Small Installations Distribution Boards Points : houses and small installations distribution boards If a house or small installation does not contain relatively high current consuming appliances, such as electric cookers, air-conditioners etc., only a single phase supply will be brought in. Usually, in this case, the lighting and power will be metered separately, so separate main switches are required leading to main lighting and power distribution boards.

The location of the meters and control gear in a house is seldom done with any regard to safety. Switchfuses are installed haphazardly around a house at any height on a wall. Control gear is installed in gloomy junk cupboards under the starirs and often fuses are inaccessible. Fasteners on distribution fuse boards are easy to undo, if there is a fastening means at all, and installations have been seen where a switchfuse was fixed near the front door and was used as a coat hook. Obviously all this is extremely bad practice and does the installation engineer no credit at all. Meters and control gear should be installed in a cupboard or recess used only for that purpose, and it should be out of reach and inaccessible to children.

All distribution fuseboards and switchfuse should be marked with a letter or number or both. Preferably the prefix ‘L’ for lighting and ‘P’ for power should be used. It is good practice to provide each distribution board with a list giving details of each circuit it controls and the relevant fuse positions. A margin of 10 to 20% should be left as spare ways on every distribution board.