Meter tails out of the bottom of exterior surface mounted meter box.

[pod]

Hi,

I'm about to have my supply moved a bit.

The new location for the cut out and meter will be in a surface mounted meter box on the side wall outside my house.

The plan is for the CU to be in more or less the same place on the inside of that wall.

The blurb from Northern Powergrid (and I think also the spec i've read on meter boxes) is that the tails (from meter to CU) aren't allowed to be go out the back of the meter box and they're meant to go out of a knock out in the bottom.
I'm assuming meter tails aren't meant to be out in the fresh air like this so I'm trying to picture what the options are.
Some sort of very short section of trunking then drill them out the back of that and through to the inside of the house where they can go up into the CU? I guess they're not right bendy though?

What might you all do?

Thanks,

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The new location for the cut out and meter will be in a surface mounted meter box on the side wall outside my house.

The plan is for the CU to be in more or less the same place on the inside of that wall.

Can you not set the box, into the outer leaf of the cavity wall? The tails can then drop out the bottom, up the cavity, then into the rear of the CU.

 

[pod]

Cheers but i decided to go down the surface mount route.
Installing the meter box if for me to do according to NP and I decided I didn't fancy all that cutting of hole in stone wall and bedding it in and sealing the edges and apparently putting a DPC behind it and stuff, although a sunken one would have been nicer and neater.
So i figure there must be a standard procedure for how tails exit a surface mounted box?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Through the back would certainly be better.

Are you sure you have read it correctly?

 

[JohnW2]

Hi,

I'm assuming meter tails aren't meant to be out in the fresh air like this ...

Why do you assume that?

The cables of the overhead supply to my house are very much "out in the fresh air" (for tens of metres), so why do you perceive a problem with a very short bit of cable on the other side of the meter?

Kind Regards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Why do you assume that?

The cables of the overhead supply to my house are very much "out in the fresh air" (for tens of metres), so why do you perceive a problem with a very short bit of cable on the other side of the meter?

PVC, exposed to UV out of doors?

 

[pod]

Yeah i was thinking it'd be the same as with the grey PVC stuff.

The box has been delivered today so I'll check what it looks like and says with that when i get home.

 

[Murdochcat]

Are you rewiring or extending all the existing cables ?

 

[JohnW2]

PVC, exposed to UV out of doors?

In theory, I suppose, but it's presumably going to be a very short length of cable, never likely to be significantly 'disturbed', and probably largely shaded from direct sunlight by the box. If anyone were really worried about the UV, they could paint the cables, since susceptibility to UV is really the only significant issue with outdoor PVC.

What material is the sheathing of the (black) singles feeding my house, I wonder?

 

[JohnW2]

Yeah i was thinking it'd be the same as with the grey PVC stuff.

See my reply to Harry. I would add that even the 'grey PVC stuff' usually lasts for decades 'exposed to the elements' without any significant deterioration.

 

[Murdochcat]

So double insulated tails exposed outside.

Not a good idea imho and something I certainly would not do.

This is where common sense and BS7671 have little or no common ground

 

[davelx]

https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/1722314-electric-meter-box-hockey-stick ?

 

[pod]

So the meter box arrived yesterday (Mitras one from TLC) and it turned out to have a knock out at the back (half way up the right hand side) as well as the two out of the bottom. Not much in the way of instructions but I guess if there's a knock out there then it must be OK to exit the tails that way (it'll be up to my sparky ultimately anyway). The diagram from NP saying they had to exit through the base was actually for an inset box so maybe it didn't apply to me anyway.
The box did, however, arrive damaged and I wasn't impressed by the quality of the latch so might try to one from CEF instead. and I was a bit disappointed to find the the '170cm' hockey stick that arrived yesterday was only 170cm if measured round its bend.
Cheers for everyone's input though.

 

[SUNRAY]

.

 

[ebee]

170cm if measured round its bend.
Cheers for everyone's input though.

you mean rather than on the centre axis which would have made it a bit less?