Before a flat is handed over to the owner, FMG Electrical team ensures a proper electricity management system in it.
The electricity meter is in the flat floor’s electrical shaft. For safety, this shaft is kept locked, under control of the Tower security. There is also a TP&N (Triple Pole and Neutral) 63 amps whereby MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker) protection is given to all 3 phases as well as neutral.
The electricity supply is routed from this TP&N to the MCB Board located in the flat.
The Home MCB board comprises 4 rows. The top 3 rows consist of an ELCB (Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker) and MCBs connecting to different rooms. The bottom row has a TP&N 63 amps MCB.
This Home MCB Board keeps our appliances safe by tripping (the MCB fuse switch falls) due to any short circuit in a particular line.
Residents must take care of the maintenance cost of the meter, meter TP&N and MCB board. As responsible residents, we can prevent short circuits in our homes by ensuring the following aspects:
- Annual checking of Home & Meter MCB Boards by a good electrician
a. With time, connection points loosen, leading to sparking. These points must be checked and tightened, wherever required.
b. If AC has been serviced, the plug & socket points connecting the outdoor unit should be re-checked. Improper fixing of this, after servicing, leads to short circuiting instances. - Avoid self-repair and adopting shortcuts/ jugaads!
a. In some electricity-related fire incidents, it has been observed that residents had by-passed the TPN in Home & Meter MCB boards. If circuit breakers are by-passed, the initiation of short circuiting in a wire has a cascading effect to the sub main meter panel.
In the photo, a red wire is seen by-passing the TP&N thus increasing danger of short circuit damage at Meter level as well as the connected appliances.
b. In case of a particular MCB fuse tripping, it is easy to just flip up the switch to restore current to the affected line. But if the tripping is frequent, please lodge a complaint on Jaypee Help Desk App for a root cause analysis. - Supervise the work being done by your Electrical Contractor
a. Good quality plug sockets, wires and switch panels should be installed.
b. During Interior work, e.g., adding cove lights or power points, at times, the electrical contractor, instead of passing additional wires through a conduit pipe, does a short-cut of laying wire by chipping a grove in wall directly and covering up with POP.
In the long run, such jugaad wires insulation gets damaged, leading to current leakage in wall. Though ELCB prevents such instances by tripping, the danger is always there.
Awareness of electricity safety features, saves. It is easier to stop something happening in the first place than to repair the damage later. Let us not put ourselves and our fellow residents in jeopardy and practice safe electricity management in our homes.
by Nikhil Chaudhary (Imperial Tower 1)
