The number of household appliances in the apartment is constantly growing. Switching on electrical appliances at the same time creates problems with connections and overloading the power grid. To protect against overload, it is necessary to separate the control into circuits. To do this, you should correctly install the electrical panel for the house. To do it yourself, you need to understand its internal structure, wiring diagrams and connections, installation rules.
In addition, you must have electrical installation skills.
Requirements for electrical panels
The safety and comfort of residents depends on how correctly the choice is made and the installation of the electrical panel in the apartment.
The rules and requirements for installing the shield are as follows.
- The allowable number of protective devices and their rated current are indicated in the technical documentation for the device.
- The body is made of materials that do not support combustion and do not pass electric current. To do this, use metal with a special coating orpolymer.
- The rated voltage must be marked on the case.
- The wires to be connected must be marked with the designation of the group of devices to be connected. Tags are used for this.
- Metal case and doors are grounded.
- One wire is connected to the PE and N blocks for each terminal. They are taken with a margin of at least 5%, so that there is an additional reserve.
- When buying a shield, a technical passport must be available, which indicates the following: its type, manufacturer, certification, standard number, rated voltage, current, frequency, breaking capacity, degree of protection, class, installation rules, weight, dimensions, main characteristics of RCD devices.
After the installation of the electrical panel in the house is done, it should be handed over to the housing office specialist.
In addition, you need to provide the electrical circuit of the device. It is usually pasted on the door for ease of use.
Choosing an electrical panel
Don't buy a cheap plastic shield. Over time, it becomes brittle and begins to break off. Modern plastic boxes look spectacular and stylish. Metal structures with a good coating are stronger and more reliable, but have a high cost. They are installed if it is necessary to create mechanical protection from external influences.
The dimensions of the shield depend on the number of switching equipment.
Electrical diagram of the shield
The scheme is needed primarily in order tomake electrical installation. It is necessary when carrying out work on the repair or modernization of the apartment electrical network. Without it, the electrician will not accept the installation work. The wiring diagram of the electrical panel is drawn by hand or using a special program.
The electrical panel is installed at the very last stage, when all the wires in groups are connected from the premises to the selected place. This approach has a lot of advantages. Saves materials and simplifies installation work.
For each group of electrical wiring, the load is calculated and the type of machines is selected. As a result, the total power consumption of the system will be known. If necessary, it must be replaced. Usually a copper solid conductor is taken.
Mounting the shield
Installation of an electrical panel in an apartment is usually done in a niche near the front door. In the absence of a prepared place, you can hollow out an opening or hang an external shield on the wall. This method is the fastest and easiest. It is used when laying outdoor wiring. It can be hidden under a false wall. If fastening is made on drywall, embedded elements are installed under it to increase the bearing capacity. It would be better to pre-make a niche from a metal profile with an allowance of 2-3 cm.
The installation of the switchboard is done in such a way that access and its maintenance are convenient. The distance from its bottom edge to the floor is usually 1.4-1.7 m. The top row of machine guns should be no higher than eye level.
When it is required to install the electrical panel inwooden house, hanging devices with protection against dust and moisture are usually selected.
The circuit breaker for short-circuit protection must be at least class C.
It is desirable that the shield has a lock that can be closed from children.
Flap assembly
The necessary machines are selected for each group of wires. You should always have a wiring diagram of the electrical panel at hand. It must be constantly checked and, if necessary, amended. The central main switch, which connects all circuits at the same time, should be slightly less powerful than the external one. It is located as close as possible to the incoming power cable. In addition, 2-3 spare bags should be added so that they can be used to turn on powerful consumers, such as an electric boiler or electric oven. Appliances over 5 kW have their own fuses.
How to install an apartment electrical panel and properly connect the ground, you should consult a specialist. Mounting brackets are placed in the shield housing for mounting equipment. First, zero and ground tires are installed on them. In the photo below, they are shown from above and can be supplied with a shield.
It should be checked that they match the power of the main switch. After that, the body and doors of the shield are connected to the N bus. In a private house, the ground wire is inserted from a special circuit,mounted outside according to all the rules.
How to connect grounding
In old houses, the TN-C grounding system was used according to the old state standards, where the neutral and ground wires are combined. For a modern house, the TN-S and TN-C-S systems are used. 3 phases go to the floor board and separately zero (N) and ground (PE) wires.
Often, some "craftsmen" connect the neutral wire and ground. In the event of a burnout of the neutral wire in the shield, 220 V can enter the body of the electrical appliance. The correct solution will be if you create a separate ground loop, which is very problematic in multi-storey buildings.
Connecting the power cable
The power cable has three cores of different colors. The phase is connected to the input of the circuit breaker. It can be white, red or brown. The blue zero is connected to the corresponding bus, and the yellow with a green stripe goes to the ground terminal block. A similar operation is done with wires in the premises. Only the phase wire is connected to the bottom of the circuit breaker corresponding to this group.
Do-it-yourself installation of a switchboard is much easier if all the machines on the upper side of the phase are connected to each other by busbars. They are called combs, and when choosing, you should pay attention to the cross section, which should not be less than 10 mm2. Some manufacturers sell them cheaply by reducing the thickness of the core.
They are more reliable than the pieces of wire used before.
Protection from defeatelectric shock
To protect a person from the action of current in case of unexpected contact with a bare conductor and the body of an electrical appliance, a residual current device (RCD) is installed in the shield. When touching the phase wire and the grounded conductive housing at the same time, the power supply is turned off. For an apartment, the operation current is selected 30 mA. It is not dangerous to humans, although it causes unpleasant pain. It doesn't work on a short circuit. Therefore, in the electrical circuit, an automatic machine must be connected with it. If you use a differential machine, it performs the function of both devices, responding not only to a short circuit, but also to current leakage.
Wet rooms and powerful consumers are supplied with separate RCDs or difavtomatami. In a humid environment in wooden structures, even a current of 30 mA can cause a fire. In such areas, wiring requires special attention and protection.
Connecting to appliances
It is convenient when there is a separate machine on each circuit. You can always disable it if necessary. The preferred breakdown of connection points is:
- grouping outlets in each room;
- lighting by room;
- individual connection to washing machine, boiler, electric stove, dishwasher.
The most powerful machines are installed closer to the main one.
The electrical connection of the assembled switchboard equipment is as follows. The output terminals of the meter are connected to the input of the main switch. wire from himit is connected by a loop to differential switches, and from them it is diverted to energy consumers. Between themselves, the machines are connected from above by a connecting comb. It is more reliable than wire jumpers.
Electrical appliances are supplied with their own means of protection, ranging from the simplest fuses to electronic ones. The circuit breakers are mainly used to protect the wiring.
Installation of a three-phase switchboard
There is an introductory machine at the input, and a three-phase meter and a dif-machine are installed behind it, after which the power is evenly distributed along the load circuits.
Three-phase connection has some differences. If the total power is 15 kW, then it is divided by 3. Each phase will have 5 kW. The machine is installed 3 or 4-pole. If the current on one of them is exceeded, everything turns off.
They try to distribute the load evenly, but this is not always possible. No one at the moment can say for sure what is included in a particular outlet. But distribution still needs to be done. In this case, you should leave a margin of power.
The use of RCDs in a multi-phase version creates problems and is only advisable in case of a very limited budget. Here it is better to immediately install difavtomatov, which makes the system more expensive. But with subsequent switching to change the scheme, there will be no difficulties.
Do-it-yourself installation of a three-phase switchboard requires special knowledge and skills. When changing connection schemes and introducing new circuits, it is necessary to maintain load uniformity on each phase. Competentthe installation involves the use of a cross-module, which is a busbar in an insulated closed box. Phases and a neutral wire are connected to them, and then the necessary branches are made. For one input, you can connect several outputs to consumers. The device is securely fastened to the bar and significantly saves wiring work. On top is a transparent cover for visual control.
Conclusion
For a modern energy-saturated life in an apartment, an electrical panel is needed. It is designed to distribute electricity throughout the apartment and protect a person from electric shock.
Having specific skills, you can do the installation of the electrical panel with your own hands.
