In this product group, you will find apartment electrical panels, which are designed for the installation of automatic fuses and replace the old fuse panels. They are conditionally called apartment panels, since they are also used in houses.
In the apartment electrical panel, electrical automatic fuses of the corresponding class of operation and power, residual current protection with a certain operating current, relays, contactors and possibly a modular electricity meter are installed and connected. The electrical apartment panel consists of a box (for built-in or external installation), a bus for fastening the fuses (DIN bus), a neutral bus, a ground bus and fasteners. According to the electrical connection diagram, the necessary fuses and other equipment are added, without changing the values and parameters from those provided for in the project.
Apartment electrical panels supply power to all circuits in the home. They house the circuit breakers and residual current devices, which are increasingly becoming a part of modern construction.
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE BOARD NEEDS TO BE REPLACED?
Apartment electrical panels, as well as all other electrical panels, are damaged and depreciated over time. In the case of fuses, the materials age. The contact plates and current-carrying parts oxidize and burn, which reduces electrical conductivity and creates the prerequisites for overheating and carbon deposits on the cables. In electrical panels that do not work normally, higher losses of electrical energy occur. All this requires replacing the electrical panel.
Here are some signs that you can tell that your panel needs to be replaced: a burning smell; smoke on the wall above the electrical panel; crackling or buzzing in the panel; hot fuses; frequent main fuse trips.
SAFE ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION AT HOME
An electrical installation is safe when it is designed in such a way that there is no danger of a current greater than 30 mA flowing through the human body. This is considered to be the threshold of safe current that can flow through the body without causing permanent damage. Starting from this point, protection, circuit breaker, earthing values, etc. are calculated when building the installation.
Residual current circuit breakers are placed in the switchboard and sum the current flowing in the relevant circuit through the neutral and through the phase. If the difference between these currents is more than 30 mA (normally 30 mA residual current circuit breakers are used), then the circuit breaker trips.
If there are high values, this means that current from somewhere (from zero or from phase) is not closing through the circuit through which it should be closed. The circuit breaker reacts to this malfunction by disconnecting the corresponding circuit (circuit). These circuit breakers must be installed at the outlets for all wet rooms.
Circuit breakers with residual current protection combine the functions of a residual current protection and a miniature circuit breaker in one device. Circuit breakers with residual current protection must provide: control and disconnection of electrical circuits; protection of users against direct and indirect contact; protection of the electrical installation against insulation breakdown.
CONTACT CIRCUITS AND LAMP CIRCUITS
In most cases, the cable for the contact current circuits usually has a core cross-section of 4 mm2, very rarely 6 mm2. After the cable is pulled to the room, branching is made to the contact outlets corresponding to the project using junction boxes.
Branches are usually made with a wire with a cross-section of 2.5 mm2. A 4 mm2 wire can be used, but installation in the socket is quite difficult and there is a high probability that the socket will break when trying to connect the wires inside. It is normal to connect 3 to 5 sockets on one circuit - the sockets in one room for example.
The exception is circuits that are designed for higher loads. Most often in a home, these are circuits designed to connect a stove, electric water heater, or some other electrical appliance with higher electricity consumption.
In these cases, the contact outlets to these electrical appliances are made on a separate circuit for each of them. For example, a wire is pulled from the apartment panel to the stove with a 4 mm2 wire, without making any deviations for other contact outlets. The fuse to which the cable is connected is calculated according to the specification of the given appliance and is responsible only for it.
The construction of lamp circuits in a home is similar to that of contact circuits. The differences are that we work with lower powers needed for lighting compared to the powers of electrical appliances. The power wire from the apartment panel can be 2.5 mm2, but best 1.5 mm2.
The deviations from the distribution box to the lamp outlets themselves, as well as to the lighting switches, do not need to have a cross-section greater than 1.5 mm2. A wire with a cross-section smaller than 1.5 mm2 is not recommended for mechanical reasons and difficulties in connecting to the terminals of the lighting fixture.
Most often, in an apartment, the lighting is on one circuit, although it is preferable to have two. All the cable cross-sections and number of circuits mentioned so far are conditional. They depend on a number of factors, such as the power of the consumers, for which there are specific calculation tables, the protective equipment, cascading, etc. Another factor may be the individual requirements of the residents of the home.
