Ev charger into consumer unit, possible?
Ev charger into consumer unit, possible?
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Discussion

Sheetmaself

Original Poster:

5,996 posts

216 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
As above, everyone i have contacted wants to connect my charger directly to my meter.

However, my meter is on rhs of my property a my consumer unit and driveway is on the lhs.

I want someone who will connect into the consumer unit, aware it will need to be a double pole 40a protected sour but i can sort this.

Does anyone know of a company in east mids who will do this?

kambites

69,988 posts

239 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Legally, yes it's allowed as long as your current CU has enough spare ways and meets current safety standards.

Sheetmaself

Original Poster:

5,996 posts

216 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Ah good at least that is the battle half won. Starting to think i may need to get a local electrician as opposed to a company to fit it as it appears to be a computer system no issue.

kambites

69,988 posts

239 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Sheetmaself said:
Ah good at least that is the battle half won. Starting to think i may need to get a local electrician as opposed to a company to fit it as it appears to be a computer system no issue.
I suspect it's more a "training says no". Installing directly to the meter is a completely... standalone process; it doesn't require inspection of any existing wiring or components (except the main fuse); it doesn't require making any mess inside the house which the consumer might complain about;... I wouldn't be surprised if you have to pay more to use the existing unit not because it's harder, but because it's different.

Evanivitch

25,000 posts

140 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Sheetmaself said:
Ah good at least that is the battle half won. Starting to think i may need to get a local electrician as opposed to a company to fit it as it appears to be a computer system no issue.
How old is your CU?

Sheepshanks

38,014 posts

137 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Is the existing CU metal and does it have surge protection?

I had ours provisioned for it when the house was refurbed 3yrs ago, with 6mm cable to where the charger will go. Not had a charger installed yet though and I’m expected something to have changed and there to be much sucking through teeth.

Had an install at daughter’s house late last year - needed it quickly and have heard horror stories about the big firms messing about so used a local electrician who is all over the local Facebook specialising in EV charger installs.

Sheetmaself

Original Poster:

5,996 posts

216 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Evanivitch said:
How old is your CU?
2022 its a metal one




Will just need to create a new 2 way spur but may have this outside with a fused spur to it to protect the cable. Reason for this is i have a spare empty meter box on the house next to the driveway that it can sit in.

Edited by Sheetmaself on Wednesday 27th August 08:36

ashenfie

1,719 posts

64 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
The installer will not want to do an installation that has the consumer unit more than 3m away from the meter box as this would involve extra work, devices and contacting the DNO (delays). It is perfectly doable it's simple the DNO fuse is only designed for up to 3m of tails (wires meter to consumer unit) and most installers want to have a separate mini consumer unit to feed the charger. Ideally the existing consumer unit (cu) would be used, but this runs into issues of cost (typically £1k) as often cu's need up grading.

Edited by ashenfie on Wednesday 27th August 09:36

Sheetmaself

Original Poster:

5,996 posts

216 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
I agree with you up to a point, the connection between the meter is protected by a fused isolator. I have a 100a main fuse instead of the normal 80a but an 80a fused isolator to protect the cable as over the unprotected limit of 3m

Cut out is a series 8 100a rated cut out. All up to current spec. The problem has arisen as when my house was due to be connected the dno realised that the mains cable had not been connected in front of my property and goes to 2 pot ends instead of a link box! My supply therefore came from the live cable outside my neighbours house (separate not a looped supply) this however meant that the service run was too great for eli purposes so the supply went on the opposite side of the house than the usual spec.

Edited by Sheetmaself on Wednesday 27th August 09:27

skinnyman

1,799 posts

111 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Sorry to jump on your thread, but we have a similar issue, sort of. Our meters & consuming unit is on the left of the house, but the driveway is on the right. Is there any way to have an EV charger installed on the driveway side that doesn't involve running a massive cable across the front of the house?

kambites

69,988 posts

239 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
skinnyman said:
Sorry to jump on your thread, but we have a similar issue, sort of. Our meters & consuming unit is on the left of the house, but the driveway is on the right. Is there any way to have an EV charger installed on the driveway side that doesn't involve running a massive cable across the front of the house?
Well you could maybe take up the floors and run the cable under the house, or run it up and through the loft, but one way or another you need to get a new cable from either the meter or the consumer unit to the charger.

Sheepshanks

38,014 posts

137 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Sheetmaself said:
2022 its a metal one




Will just need to create a new 2 way spur but may have this outside with a fused spur to it to protect the cable. Reason for this is i have a spare empty meter box on the house next to the driveway that it can sit in.
Ah, I read your OP as you wanting to put the new RCBO into your existing CU.

Normally the tails between the meter and the CU are broken into and Henley blocks fitted to split them to the old and new EV CU. However the tails to your CU don’t seem to be visible - whether it’s possible to pick up connections at the old CU, I don’t know.

Mahalo

1,039 posts

197 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
I suspect the op's property has a cutout switch to which the meter tails connect which is the normal way of doing this if the Consumer Unit is then situated some distance away. I have a similar setup with 100 Amp DNO fuse, 25mm meter tails less than 3m which connect to a 100AMP cutout switch with 100AMP fuse.

Sheetmaself

Original Poster:

5,996 posts

216 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
I think my main fuse is 100a but the isolator for the cable run is at 80a as my dno only normally provides 80a fuses

Evanivitch

25,000 posts

140 months

Wednesday 27th August
quotequote all
Sheetmaself said:
I think my main fuse is 100a but the isolator for the cable run is at 80a as my dno only normally provides 80a fuses
You like have a 100A fuse holder, but it's not incredibly common for there to be a 100A fuse inside!

ashenfie

1,719 posts

64 months

Thursday 28th August
quotequote all
Sheetmaself said:
I think my main fuse is 100a but the isolator for the cable run is at 80a as my dno only normally provides 80a fuses
Basically as others have said it can hold a 100a fuse but as you don't need 100a its fine you have an 80a fuse in the isolator.

skinnyman

1,799 posts

111 months

Thursday 28th August
quotequote all
kambites said:
Well you could maybe take up the floors and run the cable under the house, or run it up and through the loft, but one way or another you need to get a new cable from either the meter or the consumer unit to the charger.
Stone flooring downstairs, and the idea of an armoured cable running up the side of the house & back down sounds terrible.

Guess we'll not be going EV for a while then, unless there's some way we could run it across the front at ground level, then I'd only need to lift a few of the pathway bricks

RicksAlfas

14,136 posts

262 months

Thursday 28th August
quotequote all
skinnyman said:
kambites said:
Well you could maybe take up the floors and run the cable under the house, or run it up and through the loft, but one way or another you need to get a new cable from either the meter or the consumer unit to the charger.
Stone flooring downstairs, and the idea of an armoured cable running up the side of the house & back down sounds terrible.

Guess we'll not be going EV for a while then, unless there's some way we could run it across the front at ground level, then I'd only need to lift a few of the pathway bricks
We are in the same position. It's common, especially with older houses.
Just because you have a drive doesn't mean it's easy to install a charger!

skinnyman

1,799 posts

111 months

Thursday 28th August
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
We are in the same position. It's common, especially with older houses.
Just because you have a drive doesn't mean it's easy to install a charger!
The thing is our house is only 5yrs old, god knows why the developers put the meters & consumer unit on the opposite side to the driveway!

Having walked around the neighbourhood we seem to be 1 of 3 houses like this, every other house design has the meters on the driveway side. Madness

clockworks

6,885 posts

163 months

Thursday 28th August
quotequote all
My charger was installed at the same time as the heat pump.
1960's bungalow, so no external meter box. Supply comes in overhead, through the soffit, and drops down into the pantry. Wooden board holding the meter, main fuse, and consumer unit. The CU looks to be around 25 years old - plastic, but with "flip breakers", not the older pop-out type.

Electrician swapped the old "breaker" used used for the now redundant immersion tank for a 40A, and ran a cable into the integral garage via the loft.
New metal CU fitted in the garage, supplying the heatpump, unvented tank immersion, and Zappi charger on the outside wall. CT clamp back to the meter tails.