New Zealand Wiring Infomation please?

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Flylead

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Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but I hope someone can help, please?

I'm a retired electrical surveyor I worked on industrial, commercial, healthcare, educational and loads of blocks of flats.

My son is considering buy a house in New Zealand and has sent me the report to have a look at.

The one electrical photo shows about 10 porcelain re-wireable fuses 6 Wylex type push-in type b/2 mcbs fixed to a board without cover or enclosure, no cables are visible.

The building inspector describes the installation as modern.

My question is; Is this what passes for a modern installation or is the inspector being "enthusiastic"?

The other thing is that I've been trying to get a look at the equivalent of BS7671 so's I can see what sort of things are required, but so far I've not been able to find anything, is there someone who can point me in the right direction, please?

Thanks in anticipation...

 
Flylead,

Welcome to the forum.

I am guessing that you are in the UK, going by your reference to BS7671?

The Australian/New Zealand equivalent is AS/NZS 3000:2007 with the 2nd Amd in 2012.

These are also based on IEC 60364, like BS7671, however, Oz & NZ joined the harmonisation process later than the UK I believe, (not sure, just what I think).

As far as what's what, I can't help, I've never worked nor travelled there.

I think, that we have a couple of members who have both travelled to Oz & NZ & worked there, perhaps they can help with experience of the installs.

 
I have been to Aus and was not particularly impressed with their wiring, it all seems very basic compared to what we do.  But I wouldn't expect to see porcalein fuse holders in a "modern" installation.  Do you want to post the pictures for us to have a look at.

I do admire the Australian common sense approach. They routinely have sockets in a bathroom next to the shower with the washing machine and a hairdryer plugged in. When I told my Australian BIL that we are not allowed to do that his reply was "if you are bloody stupid enough to take the hairdryer into the shower with the water running then you bloody well deserve to die"

 
Thanks everyone for their interest,

There's not much to show from a photo (there's only one and it's not great), which with any luck you can now see.

I have managed to find a link to the Aus/NZ wiring regs which is http://r.b5z.net/i/u/10115377/f/Australian Standards/AS_NZSv3000-2007_incl_amdt_1.pdf

but it's quite a big download and 9 years old (time for the UK lot to have sold another few hundreds of thousand pounds worth slightly differently worded and cover coloured copies, with amendments, of the Regs) so it must have been updated since then, has it?

FuseboardNZ.jpg

 
My BIL has one very much like that in his house, but his house is a wooden "Queenslander" over 100 years old.  The thing that staggered me about it, is to open it, the board with all the fuses and mcb's on it hinges, which means every time you open it, all the wires connected to it flex.  I would want to replace it.
 

 
I am an NZ registered spark. Not holding a current practicing licence as I no longer live there although I am a permanent resident. That looks fairly typical TBH. When you arrive in NZ you turn your watch back at least 30 years. last time I wired a property was 2001. Boards were a bit more like you would expect to see here albeit without RCDs. Never ever saw anyone test anything.

Sockets were protected by having an RCD socket on a radial that also provided 'downstream' protection to other sockets on the radial. 

Neutral and earth joined in the CU and no neutrals were ever broken. So no DP switching anywhere, every house has an earth rod. 

I would be more interested to see the cabling. Houses are typically timber framed and rats in the walls and roof are not uncommon so cable damage is a possibility. The type of accessories (ie sockets and switches) fitted would give a more precise indication. From the look of the distribution it could be anything from 20 - 50 years old!

 
Thanks gents for your interest and replies.

I've got another photo of the back of the board showing installed cables the neutral and earth rails strapped together (hiding under the neutrals), looks like the earths are double insulated too. You're right the front of the board hinges and flexes the cabling every time the door's opened.

The only RCD I can see is the one on the top of the DB, one of the socket outlets has an RCD incorporated in it so I guess the one at the board isn't doing the socket outlets?

Can't see a live rail though?

No pictures of any installed wiring, doesn't appear to be any visible anywhere.

All a bit difficult getting info' on something half a world away!

DistboardBetterRed1.jpg

DistboardRearRed.jpg

DistboardNeutEartStrap.jpg

 
N and E busbars linked out in the DB I see. No DP switching allowed, every house a mixture of TT and TNC earthing arrangements. Another strange thing is the hot water cylinder feed goes through a remote relay and the supply authority can remotely switch off everyones hot water supply to save power in times of peak demand.

 
Hi I've been living in Australia for the last five years and like previously stated, same regs in Aus as NZ. That is a fairly typical installation on an older domestic and tbh quite neat compared to some I've seen! The rcd at the top will probably cover a couple of fuses below covering any sockets. Looks like all the out going circuits have an earth which is always a good sign. Not uncommon for all the earths to be solderd together, which is ridiculous in my opinion. From the main switch it will just be looped from fuse to fuse or multiple cables coming from the main switch. This is definitely not modern and I would personally upgrade to a new board and give everything RCD protection. If you google AS300, you should find a PDF file you can have a look through. I hope this helps a little, if you have an specific questions feel free to ask

 
I know it's been a long time but just to try to draw thread to a close I thought I'd say what I'd found in NZ, although it was very difficult to get inside anyones installation to have a really good poke about.

As it was said, this installation is pretty typical of a lot of installations in older houses, the earth and neutral are strapped together at the DB and there is a live rail with all the circuits looped off it to separate fuses (no ring mains). In the photo, previous post, the live rail is inside the bakelite box at the top right hand corner adjacent to the RCD (which did cover a few circuits). All the domestic wiring I saw was TW&E with an insulated earth conductor.

I never got to the bottom of the position with supplies to water heaters, it has been suggested that these are separately wired with remote switching to allow the supplier to load shed if required, but, it was also suggested that this pratice has now discontinued?

It seems, from poking my nose into some newer installations, that the configuration was pretty much the same as any modern DB found in the UK. The Aus/NZ wiring rules are all based on IEC60364 like BS7671.

I was told, although no opportunity to find out, that in more remote areas 'single wire earth return supplies' are still used. OK for New Zealand where it rains a lot but how that works in some of the arid areas of Australia I've got no idea.

So that's it gents, thank you all for your interest and to eveyone that replied, I'm grateful for your time, input and trouble.

 
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