Case Study
Service Head Cabinet for Electric Center
Electric Center approached Ritherdon for help designing a Service Head Cabinet for its customer an Electrical Contractor in charge of a BNO connection.
Project
Service Head CabinetMulti-occupancy building used for self-storage units and apartments.
Connecting the BNO network to a new supply, over 100 Amps, including CT metering within a Prewired Cabinet.
Customer
Electric Center, builders merchants and their customer JR Revell Electrical Contractors, in charge of the BNO connection.
Ritherdon Products Used
Ritherdon CT Chamber and Wiring Service.
What was the issue?
The Service Head needed to split the incoming supply into two metered, 400A supplies for this multi-occupancy building.
Steve Bennett, Branch Manager of Electric Center, Southend and his customer, had identified several potential ways of doing this, however Steve was not having much luck in finding someone who could help him finalise the design until he called us at Ritherdon.
We put Steve in touch with our Technical Support team to discuss his issue. His customer, an Electrical Contractor, needed a Service Head Cabinet for his end-user: a Building Network Operator (BNO) installing a split 800A supply into a new-build being divided into self-storage units and apartments.
Electric Center and their customer, the Contractor in charge of the BNO connection, opted to house the customer installation in a free standing housing outside of the new build.
More about BNO Connections
The BNO is responsible for the electricity in a multiple occupancy building, between the intake position or service head and the customer installation.
The customer installation, usually consists of distribution board and point of isolation. A BNO connection must meet the requirements of the energy provider (owner of the meters) and the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) for the new energy supply.
What was the solution?
After some back and forth on the layout (which had to line up with the supply and outgoing cables through the base of the cabinet, with as much room as possible at the base for manipulating the large cables) we settled on the following configuration:
Supply into an 800A triple pole + neutral isolator to make the service head split into two 400A main switches then into two, UKPN-approved CT Chambers: one for each section of the building. This was all housed in an electrically-insulated, plastic kiosk, ready for the electricity provider to install and commission their meters.
Once we had confirmed that the design was going to do everything that Steve’s customer needed it to do and once the proposed installation had got local planning approval, we were ready to put this Service Head Cabinet into production.
At Ritherdon, we combine our manufacturing expertise with a technical team of designers, mechanical and electrical engineers, we can provide the best all round customer support and products.
Conclusions -
Steve from Electric Center was able to come to Ritherdon and get a prewired Service Head Cabinet made to his customer’s specification.
Ritherdon Technical Design Team helped with the layout and electrical design and our Wiring and Assembly team did the rest.
Ritherdon sourced all the switchgear, cabling and other components, including the Ritherdon CT Chamber, complete with high accuracy CTs (05.s metering class).
Once everything was fitted to the backboard, the Ritherdon team arranged dedicated transport to deliver the prewired cabinet direct to site safely.
With most of the work completed off-site, the Electric Contractor saved a lot of time during installation.
When they were ready to energise the site, they were confident that the Service Head Cabinet would meet all DNO requirements for the new connection.
The DNO connected the power supply and the energy supplier fitted the meters, (UKPN and NPower) without any costly delays.
Meter installation was made even easier with the prewired test terminal included in the CT Chamber.
The Service Head Cabinet is now installed and energising the new commercial building. The choice to use a Prewired Cabinet simplified the installation process, resulting in significant time and cost savings for the customer.
References:
Find out more about BNO connections to multi occupied buildings and access the UKPN BNO guide.
