MK Electric, the UK’s leading manufacturer of wiring devices and accessories, has developed the Sentry range of skeleton units to bring 21st century safety standards and design to social housing. Skeleton boards are spine backplate assemblies that fit within a Mantel or Clifton type enclosure – essentially a kind of metal ‘utilities’ cupboard – that may also contain the meter.
These are particularly prevalent in social housing which is now one of the main areas of activity under the Government’s Decent Homes Initiative, which aims to improve social housing so that 95% is decent by the end of 2010. The Sentry Skeleton range counters all the problems associated with skeleton boards, which are rarely used in new-build and only installed as part of refurbishment programmes, to offer a modern and easily installed unit that meets the highest safety regulations.
The range complies with the IEE Wiring Regulations 17th Edition and has several features that improve ease of installation. The DIN rail is easily removable, as this improves first fix while backed out and captive combi-head screws make for a quicker and easier installation.
Importantly, flexible neutral bar configurations and a floating busbar system (one that can be cut according to the number of devices fitted) enables a wide combination of protected and unprotected circuits; as well as offer configuration flexibility depending on local authority requirements (be it single/dual RCD/all RCBOs).
Sentry skeleton units are available in two types to satisfy the requirements of most installations. The first version (6000s) is suitable for installing a main switch, either a switch disconnector or RCD. The second version is a split-load version (6001s) with a pre-fitted 100A switch disconnector, 63A 30mA RCD and inter-connecting cabling pre-fitted. For contracts where there are quantities of skeleton units of the same design, MK’s Factory Built (FB) scheme can provide the entire unit, including MCBs, pre-assembled and tested in the MK factory.
All Sentry skeleton units comply with the requirements of BS EN 60439-3 and are manufactured in accordance with ISO 9002.
