The 1st of January has been and gone and now in compliance with regulation 421.1.201 in Amendment 3 to BS7671 IET Wiring Regulations, it is required to fit consumer units manufactured from non-combustible materials in domestic premises.
Professional Electrician & Installer product tester Gary Fisher go acquainted with Contactum’s Defender range of metal consumer units. What did he have to say?
“There are some good metal consumer units on the market, and one that I have found particularly pleasant to work with is the new range from Contactum.
The first thing you notice is they look good. The Defender range is off-white, plain and subtle”
As with all metal consumer units Gary was concerned about how he was going to position the cables. However as he found out “the Defender has a number of cable entry knockouts located along the top and bottom edge as well as a couple of larger knockouts to either side, which are handy for bringing in the main tail. Cable entry from the rear is covered by three substantial knockout points.
Inside there is plenty of room for all the cables to be terminated, with PC’s and neutrals all nicely situated along the top edge. Clear identification is also easy to achieve with plenty of room beneath the circuit ways to provide all the necessary labels.
Overall, when the Defender is completely installed, it looks really smart. It’s great to see such an easy install, British made range in such a wide variety of sizes.”
Read the full article at Professional Electrician & Installer website
