As an American electrician this panel not just being a box full of blatantly exposed death metal is mind blowing.

It is a pleasure to look at a DIN rail based British panel. I cry every time I look inside a Canadian panel. Thank you for keeping the Queen safe from shock.

Nice bubble level to keep the electrons from falling out.

I’ve been installing electrical panels in both Europe and USA. I really like how breakers just snap on without tools in American panels and bus bars are integrated. That makes an installation with 30-50 branches clean and easy. On other hand, I don’t remember having more than 10 breakers at once in an European panel. I think 220v system allows much more load per a branch. Also, European apartments are tiny - no need for many branches.

I'd like to see a comparison with a modern German distribution panel (3 phase). Always seemed like a good idea instead of single-phase distribution. I'd also like to see a discussion of the UK "ring mains" system.

Compared to the usual panel in the USA, that one is elegant and straightforward.

These videos have been quite helpful for a fellow in the translation industry who has precious few contacts in the UK electrical field. Thank you, Clive!

I been retired for several years now. I forgot how much I loved my careers. This is ELECTRICIAN Pr0n. Thanks so damn much.

Reading the comments takes longer than watching the video. You have a global and knowledgeable audience.

I love this series, i'm just beginning to get my head around the likes of ring circuits and fused spurs.....it's such a different electrical distribution design than in the US. you and Thomas Nagy are amperage ambassadors. keep teaching us.

I look forward to the continuance of this series on wiring and household circuitry. I don't understand it much now, but from this video (and previous) I am sure it will help. I have recently added solar panels, storage and an electric vehicle. So it is important for me to understand this better. Many thanks for a great channel.

Absolutely spot-on about accidently putting the bus-bar tag up behind the screw-clamp. I find that you have to hold the bus-bar up then tighten, say the right-most rcd screw. Then see if it is likely to fall down, but don’t actually let it fall. Then loosen the screw and move to the next screw, to the left, mcb screw, and tighten that, and see if the bus-bar is likely to fall. Then loosen that screw and move to the next mcb screw. Etc. Then, when you’re satisfied that all the tags on the bus-bar are in fact forward in the mcb and rcd clamps, actually tighten them all up. Bit of a pain doing this but, as you say, better safe than sorry. Couldn’t they be designed in such a way as to ensure that it isn’t possible to put the bus-bar tags in behind the clamp, do you think? Nice videos, very helpful.

This is a very interesting video. Reading the comments, I've seen a some of them that say that since the UK uses 240 volts, they get more power for their 60 or 100 amp electrical service than the US (or Canada) does for an equivalent size service. That is simply not true for single phase service. So I thought a little information on how US/Canada split phase electric service works might be helpful for anyone who is interested. US/Canadian electrical services are also 240 volts. But in the US the transformer has a center tap, which also provides 120 volts from the center tap (which is called the neutral and is grounded/earthed) to either of the 'hot' legs that are on each side of this center tap. This is called a split phase service. It is NOT a 2 phase service! But a house with 3 phase service in the EU with a 60 or 100 amp service will get 173 percent of the power than a house with a similar size single phase service. So a house in the EU with 100 amp 3 phase service will have about 40,000 watts available, almost the same amount of power that a US house with a 200 amp single phase service will have. In the US higher loads like electric stoves, ovens, air conditioning, electric heating, water heaters, clothes dryers, etc., usually run on 240 volt circuits. But I have a newer Miele heat pump dryer that runs on 120 volts. What IS true, is that lighting circuits and circuits for receptacles for things that "plug in" are usually 120 volts. These have only 1/2 the power for the same number of amps, therefore the 120 volt branch circuits require thicker copper wire for the same amount of power, and these circuits are usually either 15 amps 14 AWG (1.63 mm) and 20 amps 12 AWG (2.06 mm) size wire. The key to understanding how split phase electrical service works requires one to understand that all the 120 volt loads on leg A are essentially in series with all the 120 volt circuits on leg B, and are therefore wired across the 240 volt output of the transformer and that only the difference current between the loads on leg A and leg B flows back to the transformer on the neutral. On a well balanced installation, very little current flows back on the neutral. US houses usually have larger electrical services than in the UK because homes tend to be bigger in the US, as well most of the US is hotter than Europe, so air conditioning is used a lot more. Where I live in SE FL we run the air conditioning most of the year, only have a few weeks, usually in January, where we don't use it. The common household service for most houses in the US is usually 200 amps, with some smaller houses wired for 150 amps. Older houses that have not been upgraded can have 60 or 100 amp service. In the US the "consumer unit", called a breaker panel in the US, tend to have a lot more circuit breakers. A typical 2000 s.f. house in the US will have 240 volt breakers (which take two positions) for the range, water heater, air conditioner/heat pump, air handler/electric heat, clothes dryer, and possibly other things like a hot tub, pool pump, separate oven, etc. 120 volt breakers are required for circuits to the kitchen counters (2 20 amp circuits required for the counter(s)), dishwasher, microwave oven, refrigerator, garage, bathroom(s), and 10 or more circuits for lighting and receptacles around the house. Larger houses can have many more circuits. Therefore in the US breaker panels tend to have from 30 to 40 positions for an average size house. 200 amps at 240 volts is capable of delivering 48,000 watts. Larger houses have 400 amp services, and I have seen 7,500 s.f. houses with 600 and even larger houses with 800 amp services, almost always single phase. Usually a service larger than 200 amps will be split into multiple 200 amp panels -- for example a house with a 600 amp service will have the service split into 3 200 amp breaker panels, often with sub-panels connected to them. I have only seen a few mansions that have 3 phase service in the US. Electricity is cheaper in the US than in the UK and EU. Where I live, the cost is about $0.14 to $0.15 (US$) per KWH including taxes and fees. Probably soon to go higher considering the current situation. Another interesting thing about US electrical service: there are no power company provided fuses for the service to a house. The transformer contains a fuse, but that fuse is only there in case of catestrophic failure. Normally it does not protect the wiring to or in a house, even if the circuit is severely overloaded. But the transformer fuse will usually blow if there is a bolted fault. If it doesn't, the wire between the transformer and bolted failure will quickly melt. There is a main fuse or more often a main circuit breaker that is part of the electrical equipment that is installed by whoever wires the house. This can be contained in the breaker panel or be a breaker that is separate from the breaker panel. The latest US electrical code requires a main disconnect (which can also be the main over current protection device) to be located on the outside of a single family house to enable fire fighters to easily disconnect the electricity. In the EU and UK, almost all distribution transformers provide ~400/230 volt 3 phase power, so each transformer can serve a much larger area. For the same load and size/type of wire, a three phase distribution circuit can be more than 5 times longer than in the US with the same percentage of voltage drop. For example, after only 300 feet, 48,000 watts of power at 240 volt single phase, will have a 5% voltage drop with 4/0 AL wire. The same amount of power at 400 volts three phase can run for 1,660 feet (5% voltage drop). These calculations assume a power factor of 100. In the US the size of the wire used in overhead low voltage distribution is based on voltage drop, not the National Electric Code. You may see a #2 AL overhead wire connected to a 4/0 CU wire where it connects to a home's lead in wire. It is common in the US that a single phase distribution transformer serve from just a single house in a rural area to several houses in suburban areas to perhaps 10 or more single family houses in an urban area. Common sizes of distribution transformers used for single family house residential areas in the US range from 10 kva to 100 kva, with the most common sizes being 25, 37.5 and 50 kva. Some believe the US system is safer because the highest potential to ground from any residential circuit is 120 volts. If you have any questions this video explains split phase electrical service perfectly: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nLCVhcSTu5vMfok.html

A wonderful description in the tone of reading a Haynes manual for a consumer unit. The BS7671 wizards are not gonna like you calling it 'Live' instead of 'Line' but hey..your soothing voice will trick them.

Excellent, informative video. Looking forward to the entire series on domestic wiring. Thanks Clive.

In re fireproof enclosures: when this house was rewired in the 1960s they installed a 3-phase system to drive the storage heaters and water heater via a timer using off-peak electricity. A few years ago this failed, and when the electricians opened the switch box they found that the switch gear had caught fire - but it was so well contained in the metal box that nobody knew about it while it was closed.

Just started watching the Thomas Nagy channel and noticed that you also replied a few times there as well. Love the videos with this kind of stuff in there!!!

In Spain we still use plastic boxes. Normally it is used 40A General braker, 10A lighting, 16A for sockets, 32A for the oven and 20A if there are higher loads like washing machines, water heaters and drying machines. The norm is a bit old because in the past we used fuses in every outlet and light switch so maybe the 20A circuit could make sense to have more power in one circuit, but nowadays sockets with fuses are not available since everything is Schuko and common Schukos allow 16A maximum so the 20A braker is not suitable to protect a circuit with schukos.

I do mostly house bashing nowa days and to have big Clive explain it all is great fun for me and at the end of these videos anything I didn't know about domestic electrics will be filled in.... thank you clive

Great stuff. Watched a lot of stuff on this, this is best by far. Looking forward to the rest of the series

I live in western NC in the US way out in the sticks, my wife (of 31 years) owns a couple of horses, (she owns everything of value ;-), and she put up a 40x40 barn about 450' from her home. I ran 450' of #2 aluminum wire down (4' U/G, she also owns a tractor with a back hoe attachment), to it and installed a 40 amp box at the barn (in case she ever makes me move out I'll be able to watch Clive ;-) Interesting to see how you folks "across the pond" do things :-) Not sure I'm in favor of that ring circuit, way to many incompetent electricians over here for that!!! Interesting video, thank you Mr Clive :-)

A Good informative video, especially with the info about making sure the breakers are correctly fitted on to the busbar.

Strangely in Australia, although we are generally more nanny state regulated than even the UK we don't have a standardised home electric panel, there are stendard breakers that have to be there but there's no standard configuration & no off the shelf modular system, it's just a steel (sometimes even wooden) fabricated box with a false panel on the inside with the meter & the required standard breakers & then behind that is any number of fuses. My house has two electrical boxes for some reason, both quite large, only one has the meter & beakers in it.

concise and informative video, thanks, incredible that the tails gland requires drilled rather than providing a correct sized KO! my theory on the increase of consumer unit fires is the increase to a min of 25mm in tails. some of the old plastic boards were made to be asthetically pleasing, slimline , not enough room for the tails be shaped and enter the DP switch terminals without being over bent and stressing the terminal connections

"Now called ring final circuits, a new name invented by the department of paperwork." Yes Clive, I once heard the 17th Edition Regs. described as "the domestic electricians guide to insanity". So, frustratingly true!!!

Capacity is pretty much in line with US consumer panels, in that common electrical services are 240V (line to line)/120V (line to neutral) at either 100A (smaller houses) or more typically 200A. Most panels (except for empty breaker positions) are designed with the two line bus bars behind occupied breaker positions so they're not completely exposed in the open. Neutral and ground bars are both connected to the metal housing via the tabs that hold the bars in the panel and the ground bar being positively connected to the housing via a bolt or lug. Biggest differences are that most US panels have space for typically 30-40 circuits and are sized so that they can be mounted cover flush with the wall in an available framing cavity or mounted on the surface and that the main breaker is only used when used as a main panel, with sub panels being protected by the sub-feed breaker at the main panel.

Fantastic idea for a mini series, nice one Clive x

I remember a long while back replacing a wooden consumer unit which had re-wire fuses. It was also obvious that some fuses had popped in their time by the black scorch marks on the ceramic holders, and there were little melted balls of copper in the base. Fire risk or what! It’s great that standards have improved.😀

Of course your on a TT system - it's the Isle of Man :)

Being in the US, I had to mentally double most of the amperages. My furnace and water heater are each on a 50A breaker. The main one is 200A.

Great explanation Clive. I’ve always wanted to know how to connect one up. I use an intumescent sealant to fill the void left in the rear of the knockouts. Very interesting going to ring hilti to find out about the toxic fumes given off when curing.

I remember my grandmothers old control box, back when it was all putting bits of fuse wire into slots, she only got a full RCD fuse box in the very late 90s.

It’s a really strange system to us - here in NL we do everything with double poles, because it is required to isolate both sides of the circuit when you turn it off. So the RCDs are basically the same, but you get double busbars coming out of them (L+N) going through breakers with two inputs and to two outputs. Often these days, you get like plastic thingies that include both busbars in a single unit, or you get a busbar unit that’s integrated in the din rail, and the breakers have plugs on them that just plug into the proprietary rail (the rail then has wires coming out that you can wire into the output of the RCD).

Clive, would be awesome to show us the double cutter technique! It’s a great trick which I use myself, though I’m guessing not everyone would know about it...

The most helpful video of its kind, thank you Clive!

Thank you. Looming forward to this series

In the U.S., breaker boxes are oriented in two vertical rows, with the breakers turned on their side.

everybody in the comments seem to know what he's talking about, I'm just here because the video was in my recommended at 3AM

I’m currently teaching new electricians and I used to build test stands for large HVAC equipment that was shipped around the world. I’ve always been interested systems i. Other countries. Thanks for the good explanation. I was in London a few years ago and enjoyed rummaging through the electrical equipment in the apartment we rented. I think the small wiring is very efficient. It’s probably not quite large enough for he average American home, HVAC and expandability. Now we’re adding arc fault circuit interrupters and surge protection, so it’s a bit more complicated... very good video. I’m going to add it to the video list for my class. I think it’s important for students to understand systems in other countries, especially those who may work in manufacturing where we install equipment from around the world. This would be a great idea for a new KZfaq channel...

One phase solutions are rare here in Sweden as well in new constructions. Most cooking ranges are 3-phase. I upgraded from the classic fuses to the RCDO (as you state) several years ago and it was really worth it - only breaks a limited section instead of the whole apartment.

You panels always look so nice and easy, our panels here in the states with our goofy 110v split phase system is such a pain in the ass. I have been wiring yachts for years and the worst is trying to set them up for US and Canada electricity. 230/240v 50hz is so much easier....

interessting. In germany we usually get 3 phases 63A. And in new Instalations our distribution boards are way bigger. At least 5 rows of 12 division units each(one standard breaker is one division unit). We usually use B16 amp breakers for normal use and B10 amp breakers für lighting circuits. Each room should be on its own fuse. lights and electrical sockets on seperate rcds. Common component brands are hager and ABB. Bipolar breakers are very uncommon. I personally have never seen one installed or even for sale here. The main isolator is an SLS (selective Circuit breaker). It is installed in front of the consumption meter which is also installed in the distribution cabinet. The enclousure is made of metal but the covers are plastic. Of course older installations can be quite different. oh, and no ring circuits in germany.

I'm really excited for this series!

Clive, great idea for a series, please do!

Heh... I got a plastic one. Figured it's fire resistant pvc. Joke on me, it's 100% polystirene. Tested burning a punch-out piece and just started laughing and crying at the same time...

ring mains! Australia and Aotearoa use star or chain distribution rather than ring. Ring seems weird. Also, some numpty wired the distro board in my house upside down. It has confused everyone. But it is a *very* old board, from the days whena sheet of asbestos board and a wooden box was all you needed. Complete with old school cast iron main fuse... well, until I got solar and the guys had a fit because those were supposed to be replaced years ago due to their slight tendency to catch fire. 60A is low... Australia seems to be 80 or 100 in most places, more where McMansions have 30kW aircon units to go with their black tile roofs.

Thats really a trip seeing how different the deployment is vs here in the US.

Intresting! Looks quite similar to the ones we have in Sweden - except that we use to have 3 phase to all houses and even most apartments. Quite cool to see those thick cables as well as 32 and 40 A fuses in an "home panel". That's not very usual here. But that's because there is only one phase but still distributes the same power. Things like stoves and water heaters, electrical central heating and big heat pumps uses 3 phase here - most common is 3 x 16 A or 3 x 10 A. Common main fuses are 3 x 20 A (wich gives the same power as 60 A single phase). Usually most houses (except for a few old ones) can get up to 3 x 25 A without any rewiring (wich is like having 75 A single phase).

One more item of note - This box is NOT connected to the mains ;-)

I know that you know what you're doing. I was raised to believe that (electricity wise) if it's shiny, don't touch. You got me all creeped out, touching everything. :)

That looks so much better than even most of the new units in Australia it is Interesting how different they are considering we work on the same voltages etc. My home one is a bunch of what used to be fencing wire “fuses” (I think the electrician who replaced them referred to them as 600 amp slow blow) now circuit breaking RCDs screwed into some chipboard, wires stuck in directly and the whole thing stuck on the outside of the house

Would love to see a series of UK components like this as I'm just starting out in electrical engineering and I'd appreciate your views/wisdom on these kinda things!

You're right about your comments about the poor certification regime. We needed to rewire my house last year, and could not find a good electrician for love nor money. Finally, my builder found one. Well, he said he was an electrician and he knew how to put a channel in a wall and pull some cables through. It was the small things that let him down. For start, he was so inexperienced that he grossly underquoted for the work. He didn't remove all the old wiring (worth quite bit for scrap) so we have tens of kilos of unnecessary weight on the floor joists. Some of the back boxes were not properly bedded in (granite block walls) and the consumer unit rather vaguely labelled. Pairs of switches and sockets were not lined up. The consumer unit was flapping in the breeze (only two screws at only one end). My husband and I rewired our house together years ago (before regulations stopped that); we'd done our research and knew a little. Neither of us are really comfortable with the job this guy did. It's all quite safe, but some of the things he did are strange. (Strange is OK on something that's grown organically over the years, but not on a new installation.) Since he's been I've had to have repairs done (flooring nails through cables) and the (enormously expensive) real electrician I hired to sort this out has been seen scratching his head at times.

I work with industrial automation, and so I am familiar with DIN equipment despite being on the US West Coast, but boy, when I wire a house, give me a giant clunky metal 40/80 space buss bar panel! I like home runs, I like seperate circuits per room, multiple per room to be specific, (you never know which bedroom you will want to run a table saw and a microwave in at the same time! Lol), and I like being able to choose what breakers I use. I also don't like having to wire each breaker to the power, as opposed to just popping it on the buss bar, and I like having per circuit AFCI/GFCI protection! I am thinking that one of the reasons that you are allowed to wire and install like you are is because of all the old stone and brick buildings your ancient and not earthquake prone country has, and recognizing the need to be able to surface mount and snake cables around stuff, and also not have lots of home runs, but be able to fit more on a single 220 cable. And while I have often wished that I could get a DIN breaker for Home Depot prices for special applications, (they are pretty expensive over here, because they are only used in control systems and such), I think our panels and wiring methods work a lot better for our culture and way of doing things, kind of like how US Customary Units work better than Metric for us lol

Looks so different than fuse panels uses in Poland, we use also 3x230/400 Volts for many residential, our boxes are always 4x DIN for 16 breakers in some houses and usually few RCDs for light circuits, socket circuits and high power circuit three phase or single phases for washing machines, stoves etc. Our panels usually are fire retardant plastic

That is very well built and organized, especially compared to my US domestic panel installed in the '70s.

Totally different from the US, thanks for sharing!

We moved into a house a few weeks ago and had a burning smell from the consumer unit. Our electrician found three breakers not tightly attached to the buss bar just as you described!

Holy smokes, it's so much more organized than my breaker box. Wish mine was this nice.

Looks quite nice. Same breakers as in industrial panels. Nice to work with IMO.

Your system seems to be wired by task whereas here in the US the breakers are usually wired by room except for the really big high power devices like the dryer, stove, etc, which get their own breaker.

In Malaysia , we are using British wiring standards and plug.

Wow. This seems quite minimalist when compared to panels used here in the USA. My home panel has approximately two dozen breakers, and the main breakers. But, it has no RCD. We use GFCI wall plates in water prone areas. I also use them around my repair bench, and at the metal lathe and bench grinder.

Perfect desciption Clive big man, Thanks very much x

Nice vid, i use a dentist mirror to check if the bus bar is properly in :)

any chance of a tear down of a meter? always wanted to see the insides of one.

YESSSS!! Been waiting for you to make a video on this :) Thank you sir!

So much more elegant then the North American solution. I like the italian way where they divide load into two main breakers: critical power (i.e. refrigerators) and phantom power with the meter incorporated. Usually located at your front door so easy to switch off phantom loads when you leave your home. Also nice to have the GFIs at the box end. I also like that you have three phase coming into your standard house - makes wiring the lathe in your kitchen so much simpler. Thanks Clive - great content

Hey Clive, I got my 18th Edition a few months ago and I couldn't have done it without your help. Your videos are awesome and genuinely enjoyable. I'm a pump engineer and can get my hands on some pretty interesting industrial kit. If you'd like some old pumps, control panels, transducers, float switches etc, let me know your email and I'd be happy to help out the channel. All the best 👍

Clive would you like an American “Breaker Box” I have several 100 amp panels i could send you one?

Nice to see the wires nicely terminated in correct bootlaces ferrules. I have come across so many where stranded wire is clamped directly by the pinch screw. Know it's a bit OCD but it really pleases me to have the wiring super neat and tidy in the boxes, does not do anything to alter functionality but it looks good and inspires confidence in my customers, they know you have given a shit about the standard and quality of your workmanship?

Nice! Was wanting to look at one of those.

Being an electrician in the US that looks very strange. However I've worked on industrial machinery from all over Europe so it' s very familiar.

Your Scottish brogue kept me watching the full 18 minutes even though I live in a country with a completely different electrical system.

Thanks Clive. Keep up the good work bud.🍺 💡🔋💥

honestly this looks much better than the one for our house which when the panel is removed looks like hell. i get no other wires have been hooked up to go from the box to the rest of the house but it looks a lot nicer than any box i've seen here at the houses i have lived in.

As a German electrician I would say this is a really cheap panel. The neutral and earth busbars are screwterminals, In Germany you only get (at least from all brands) ones that are isolated and instead of screwing, they have a system working similar to the Wago terminals for solidcore copper wires. So you can connect up to 4° wire to that neutral or earth busbar without screwing. Only the main 10° has to be screwed in. Also for the metal housing, here you can get only ones made out of plastic. even the old ones are made out of plastic or bakelit. Only control cabinets and main distribution boards are made out of metal. The main busbars in Germany are 3 phase, isolated (only saw unisolated ones in a really old board, 40 years +) and they have an O cutout, because they get screwed in directly behind the claming screw from the breaker. The company Hager has even a system, where you only have to push in the busbar and thats it. I was wondering about that DRCBO that you showed, with only 1TE with and that neutral pigtail. In Germany you only get ones with 2TE (like the 2 ones in the Panel) without a pigtail and such For the RCDs, I was wondering why the DRCBO would consume power ? there is no active electronics in it. Only if you have an AFDD (arc fault detection device) or an F ,B or B+ type RCD they consume power, because they use active electronics. The F, B and B+ Type RCDS are really good if you have problems with lightning tripping your normal RCD. The F, B and B+ won´t trip, because they actively looking for faultcurrents, even ones where a normal RCD won´t trip. Like DC or high frequency faults. Momentarly they only get used for inverters and frequency controllers (like motordrivers and solar systems) because they really expencive (about 15 times the cost of a normal 4 pole RCD). Are you allowed to wire up a circuit without an RCD ? In Germany you have to use an RCD with 0.03mA trippingcurrent in a household application, also B- caractaristic breakers. The C caractaristic breakers only get used in industry applications or for big motors. The caractaristic is about the times x the holding current, the moment when the breaker instanly trips due to overcurrent. So a type B breaker trips about 3-5 times the holding current, a B 16 breaker trips instanly due to overcurrent at 80 Amps. a Type C breaker trips really late, at about 10-15 times the holdcurrent, so for a C 16 breaker that makes 240 Amps. But anyway, great video Clive. And maybe we see a comparison to other panels from other countrys ?

I thought that any sealing on latest Consumer unit/ 18th regs, had to be a intumescent?, Ref stop fire spreading, cavity wall?. Nice explanation, and video. Can I print my sustificate now! (Black Country for certificate). Thanks for sharing.

Great Video! Just wanted to point out that I was once dumbstruck trying to troubleshoot a leakage current fault by following somewhat the same procedure that you point out at 12:36. I would start by turning all circuit breakers of the block off as you mention, turn the RCCB on, but then no matter what circuit breaker I would set first it would always trip the RCCB. After much head scratching and pulling wires from the walls I realized the fault was on a neutral lead and since the neutral is shared across all the circuits of the block and not isolated, no matter what circuit breaker I would set first it would fault. You can avoid this problem if you use bipolar CBs instead of unipolar CBs, they will isolate both the neutral and the live leads of a circuit. Of course bipolar CBs use double the space and cost a bit more than unipolar CBs. Also I have tripped RCCBs by accidentally touching ground with a neutral lead (the circuit was isolated, but only the live lead). I not completely sure, I think in TT systems anyway this is true, the neutral lead under normal conditions will always have some voltage difference with respect to ground (I have measured up to 30V) which depending on the faults' impedance will be enough to draw the 30mA necessary to trip the RCCB. Keep up the great content.

Really like the little spirit level, helps you keep the panel evenly balanced. ;-)

I had our house updated to all RCBO type breakers for minimal disruption and easy fault finding if a fault occurs. I've not noticed any significant heat from them.

I was at an Airbnb in the UK where a breaker had obviously tripped when we arrived, and it took me hours to find this damn thing cause it was a) white plastic, and b) inside the cupboard where they kept the board games and books?? Even just the fact that it was on the ground floor in a house that had a basement was completely foreign to me.

Very informative, thanks Clive.

Oh the aggravating rising clamp terminal. We have hundreds of them where I work. They are fun getting stranded wire in the proper place inside a cramped control panel. We do have some breakers with shields that stop you from putting wire in wrong but the brand name escapes me right now. Great video. Always interesting to learn how stuff is done in different places. ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ It’s a siemens 5SY4318-7 3 phase we don’t have any single phase in this brand but it’s interesting that it clamps on either side you put wire in. Hard to miss when you have two shots at hitting terminal. I like 👍

Amazing how few breakers are in there . We use a different system here in belgium .way more breakers , 2 fase, 20 amp for outlets , 16 for light . And a 30 and 300 mili amp protection

DIN = Deutsches Institut für Normung = German Institute for Standardization

Very fascinating. I have been following Thomas Nagy for some time, and I'm always interested in the differences between UK and US mains wiring!

I do like that spirit level. Just the ticket for ensuring the base of the enclosure is level so you don't get current leakage out one end.

Hi from BC. Big different from Canada's power panel's, cool vid.

I've got a mixed system part is still on fuses with the kitchen and bathroom on rcd and circuit breakers. I should really get it consolidated into a new consumer unit.

I had an electrician quoting me for a new 18th edition unit to replace my self wiring fuse board very recently. This helped explain a few details he talked about so I'm glad I know he wasn't just baffling me with bs, it makes more sense now.

Nice to see you folks have come to your senses and switched back to metal enclosures.

Interesting to see how other contryes do their main distribution boxes. However i´m personally not keen on your use of single poled breakers. Here in Denmark it is by many electricians (including my self) considered kind of bad workmanship, allthough not illigal to use. The reason You explained yourself around 12'30 on finding the fault by turning the breakers on one by one. Let´s say the fault occurs on the neutral line, the RCD could trip on any of the breaker. The faulty current could potentially run from breaker one, through the load and back via the neutral to the cabinet, and then out throug the next neutral line to the fault point. There by splitting the "return current" between the incomming neutral and the ground fault, tripping the RCD. In Denmark we usually have 3-fased supply from the grid, through a 4-poled RCD and then 1 live and 1 neutral for lighting circuits. We use mainly 10A C-rated breakers (13A is allowed in privat homes), and 3-fased (4-poled) 16A breakers for heavier loads like heating and appliances. And ring connections is banned. Due to new EU legislations, it´s now mandatory to mount at least 2 RCDS in an installation. And i highly agree with You, that 5 days of training is way too little to be allowed to mess around with potentionally lethal things like this.

Earth leakage circuit breaker invented in South Africa by C. J. Fuchs Pty. Ltd. Mr. Fuchs was of course a registered plumber and drainlayer :)

I use a 25A C curve breaker for my electric bike, it pulls 45A for up to a minute and has never tripped. It seems like the best choice as it's not a resistive load and the RMS rating seems more suited for that task. I have seen fuses launched at peoples faces and entire power boards cratered and charred by a single breaker exploding. It showered the whole room in molten metal and set literally the whole laundry alight, so more protection is better in my book 😁

hi Clive, that was interesting. very similar to what we have in israel but we only use separate rcd circuits in industrial installations.. in my home we have an 63a isolator, 63a rsd and than all the breakers. but we use plastic boxes for homes. great video. more more more. very interesting to see what going on on other places

Looks like the electrical panel on a machine. Including the gland.

11:16 Why is it that the automatic bureaucratic response to something like "we need more trained electricians" is NOT to heavily promote apprenticeships (preferably for both the prospective apprentice and the company hiring them) but rather to REDUCE the necessary qualification? How does that make sense? They can proudly announce that they've doubled the pool of electricians but what they've really done is throw an energized electric toaster into that pool :-(

learnt more from this video than college has taught me in 2 years, thank you

So strange to see 1 phase boards like this the simplicity in assembling is fantastic! our households always get 3 phase supplies.