Currently having discussion with other residents in our 4 unit villa complex in regards to the point of attachment that supplies power to all 4 units. My neighbour is concerned about possible fire risks of old wiring as well as the point of attachment coming off the facia due to dry rot. I've attached pictures of the area in question.
The neighbour seems very keen to go underground for our power but I have some hesitations due to the large costs associated with civil works etc. I'll do my best to explain the situation and the concerns from the neighbour. Hoping to get some advice on wether the neighbours concerns are legitimate or are we best to just stick with the current POA and maybe re-enforce the connection to the facia.
Main concernes from the neighbour -
- Connections are 40amp instead of 63amp, neighbour says that this is a fire danger as if one unit overloads their connection a fire could occur. I was under the impression that provided each unit has it's own switchboard any overload would just trigger the affected switch?
- Cabling from the pole to the POA could snap or disattach due to facia being weak. I hear the neighbours concerns on this, but the POA has been in place for many decades without incident. Would it not be possible to re-enforce the facia with a backing board?
- We can't replace the current POA connection due to it not being compliant with current standards. I have looked around for information on this and can't get much info. According the the neighbour we would have to replace the current connection with a 63amp connection and then re-wire through all of the units as the wiring in the units would also need to meet current standards. Does this sound right?
Basically the argument the neighbour appears to be making is that we have no choice but to go underground which will be a very costly venture. I'm not doubting that the neighbour may be correct but he has also made it clear that he believes the wires are unsightly so I'm a tad worried that this may also be an excuse to get rid of the wires for merely aesthetic reasons.
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
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