Fitting our Surge Devices into traditional manufacturers mains units

This is a question that will crop up quite a lot this year, especially as Surge Protection gains popularity through the 18th edition of the wiring regulations. We have been asked time and time again over the years about whether contractors are allowed to install our Surge Protection Device into a traditional manufacturers mains unit. We hope this short blog article will clear things up for you.

Most consumer unit manufacturers, quite rightly, won’t guarantee their boards if another manufacturers MCB’s or RCBO’s are fitted inside it. This is generally because the MCB’s are specifically designed to align with their own unique busbar systems and a badly fitting MCB might create a hot spot with a poorly aligned busbar connection.

However, a free standing din-rail mounted device, such as a surge arrester or timer etc. is not connected to the busbar system, it is only wired by the installer with cables, therefore such problems can’t exist.

If the consumer unit manufacturer insists you use their own surge arrerster, this is purely for commercial reasons, as the installer you can decide to fit our surge arrester in any manufacturers board and we will guarantee it for 10 years. Or you can fit our surge arrester in a separate enclosure directly adjacent to the consumer unit. Even with the separate enclosure added, our prices will still be well below the cost of a surge arrester from the traditional manufacturers.

If you would like any more info on this matter please call our dedicated team on 01484 851 747.