Hi guys, i need to mount a consumer unit on a large board. What do you favour as a mounting board, could I use a large peice of MDF or is this classed as combustible. I was considering using some of the aqua board stuff that you can get. Any replies would be much appreciated.
Mount it on whatever you like, plywood, chipboard, mdf, plasterboard etc. You're not expecting to get flames out of the back of your c/unit are you! Personaly I prefer to attach them straight onto the wall.
It is an accessory just like your sockets and switches and can be mounted on what ever you want. I too prefer direct to the wall. Older consumer units such as the old wylexs used to have an open back and hard wood wooden frame. You could get a thin plastic panel for the rear if you were mounting it on a combustable surface.
About 25 years ago I did about 20 odd properties, a stable block conversion & the mains were mostly in walk in cupboards with consumer units mounted at eye level & consisted of 2 consumer units, contactors & on & off peak heating (the on peak being on a dual clock). I mounted the lot on an MDF or chipboard back which went up to ceiling level. All cables came down the back & through the back of the board. Not a cable showing including the meter tails. It looked rather neat, even cut to the slope of the ceiling/stars.
Hmmmm will have to agree with that 100%..its what I use and always will. Sometimes I run it on batons..
I often use plastic trunking because it cannot be eaten by anything, or conduct anything, AND means you can bring everything in the back of the board, hence you maintain the IP rating of the board and customers cannot drop things in it!
Wood poses a very low risk of combustion and therefore meets the ignitability requirements of BS 7671 but some varnishes and polishes on antique accessories are combustible and therefore not appropriate. Always a contensous issue this, if it was me I would use fire resistant MDF if i had to mount on wood.
What sort of heat is generated by a DB in normal operation? Any old lump of wood is suitable tbqh but 18mm MDF does give a nice flat surface to mount the DB on. Lets face facts half the cases of misaligned and scrunged badly fitting lids/cases is caused by mounting onto an lets just say an irregular wall.