Just to add to the confusion, last year I was wiring a motor and inverter up (not something I'm familiar with), but looking through the specs of inverter it had a leakage current to earth of around 20ma. Odds are that it would trip an RCD.
If this saw was originally 3 phase, and has been converted to run off a single phase via an inverter, there's a reasonable chance that it is 'earth leaky' by design and no amount of faffing with RCDs will make any difference.
Slogo, why are you pretending you know about electrics when you don't appear to know any more than I do?
I've posted pictures of what I've got above, so explain to me which bit is going to catch fire.
Thanks to rwamartin and others for the knowledgeable replies.
To cover some of the points raised;
I know a 63A RCD downstream of a 30A bakelite fuse doesn't make sense, but I've got no way of isolating the bakelite fuse, so that's what I'm stuck with. I've got a 16A MCB downstream of that anyway.
What I'm starting with has probably been there way over 50 years. tacking a modern consumer unit on has got to make it safer.
I've got no mains water, so there's no earth connection there.
The earth connections from the existing fuse boxes to the incoming overhead cables look very thin. I'd guess one is 1mm and the other 6mm.
There's no main earth to the CU because there's nothing I could connect it to at the moment.
As far as I can tell, the incoming cables haven't got armouring. I'm not going to start scraping insulation off to check and the box where the earth cables connect to the incoming cable is sealed.
Without knowing that, I can't be sure if it's TN-S or TN-C-S
Is it normal for individual overhead cables to be armoured?
I'm doing some major repairs to the bungalow and the wall that it's all fixed to will be coming down, that's why I'm just running temporary sockets on spurs at the moment.
You've all convinced me that I should make this a priority now, so I'll fix a suitable board to the new wall and get the MEB or a qualified contractor to move the meter and get everything to comply with modern standards.
The saw works fine now. Maybe the old 13A plug in RCD was faulty, but it hasn't tripped the new 16A MCB or 63A 30mA RCD yet.
NVR switch and belt and blade guards are next on my To Do list.
"I wouldn't bother with house insurance either. its void"
Orly.
MTG if you want all the regs, I can send you a link to to download some PDFs, just drop me an email.
I've fitted my own consumer units / pulled apart the incoming supply - it's all pretty straightforward.
If you want a pro who is very good and charges fair rates, try alanl (on here), he has done a load of work on the wife's rental property for us. He's Leicester based IIRC.
Thanks Footflaps.
Once I start getting a bit further on with the bungalow, I'll be doing as much of the wiring as I can myself, so it would be helpful to have all the information.
I'm in Worcestershire, so I don't suppose it would be cost effective to pay someone to travel from Leicestershire. Thanks for the recommendation anyway.
Going back the earlier warnings, the only thing that I can see that is actually dangerous or a fire risk, is that 1mm earth cable from the grey fuse box, top left, to the black incoming neutral connection, centre right.
It's probably been there since before I was born and hasn't melted yet.
Keep plugging away MTG if you feel confident in your work, I personally would get it checked over as is just for piece of mind. However, I personally think the most dangerous thing you've got with the whole set up is that ****ing saw, it'll have your fingers off in a jiffy!
Split the problem in half.
Try hanging another large appliance that you know DOESN'T cause an issue off the extension. If it still trips, it's the wiring, if it doesn't it's the device.
I guess it's the device, with slightly degraded insulation, myself. If it sits around in the damp, it could well be a circa 30mA leakage. Heck, the RCD may well be more sensitive than you think.
Have you tried taking a multimeter [M?] to the earth>live end of the cabling, and the same with the thing plugged in? And for the neutral>earth connections?
It's probably been there since before I was born and hasn't melted yet
Er.. You know how it's meant to work, don't you? You won't find out if it's too small until you have a fault, and then it might be too late... Doesn't make a difference how long it's been there does it?
I did have a fault when the mice chewed through the original wiring. That's why I cut back to just a double socket mounted on the fuseboard itself and extension leads from there.
The earth cable is too small by current standards, but obviously did it's job at the time.
And gofasterstripes, keep up at the back. 😛
The saw is working now.
I studied Marine electrics and have been a fully qualified marine electrical/engineer for 10 years. I don't touch houses.
I'm the Chief Engineer on a 108ft super yacht and a few smaller boats with in the company i work for.
Enjoy fixing your shitty electrics!
keep up at the back
I pride myself in not knowing what's going on.
Slogo - it's the weekend, mate. Put your feet up and set fire to the end of a 9-skinner. You clearly need to chill out.
Well, I'm Chief Engineer [i]and[/i] Captain on a 9ft tandem. [img] 
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Going back the earlier warnings, the only thing that I can see that is actually dangerous or a fire risk, is that 1mm earth cable from the grey fuse box, top left, to the black incoming neutral connection, centre right.
It's probably been there since before I was born and hasn't melted yet
Pretty standard, the original earth wire on our distribution board probably couldn't take the >100A load required to blow the service fuse (see photo). I added an additional wire and compression clamp (not really suitable as it can crush the paper insulation if done up too tight). I recently got a [url= http://www.sicame.co.uk/sicame_electrical_developments-products?category=310 ]proper Earth clamp[/url] from alanl which I'll fit. NB With the addition of RCDs the earth no longer needs to blow the main fuse as hopefully the 30mA RCD will trip long before a 100A load is put through the earth.
[url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5476/12415057325_c9b46ed1ac_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5476/12415057325_c9b46ed1ac_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/jV5q1v ]TN-S Earth Bonding[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/75003318@N00/ ]brf[/url], on Flickr
Ive seen worse consumer units. But I've seen better ones burn houses/boats down!
Wouldn't kill you to rewire it with the cables cut to the right lengths and with 90 degree bends. It does the job now but in 5 years time when you have more stuff hanging off it you'll deeply regret not starting with a tidy job.
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Inside Flaps' Fusebox 😉
