Know All About Electrical MCB and Panel Board

Today, all the newly constructed societies are equipped with Miniature Circuit Breaker or the MCB. Earlier, in place of MCB’s a 32 ampere DP switch was provided, that had an on-off switch, and the theory of MCB box didn’t exist as people were unaware of the concept of MCB.

The connection of MCB.

The meter room of the society consists of all the meter boxes that provide current to each and every building separately. The MCB boxes, of the houses, receives current through the wires that are connected to the meter room and these wires and cables are of concealed wiring. Each room in the house in connected via MCB.

Where is MCB installed?

They are installed in the entrance, or the corridor of the flats and their connections are generally concealed in the newly constructed houses. The connections to the MCB board are usually disorganized. There is a logic behind installing MCB boxes in the corridor rather than in the living room. They are:

The distribution box for electric line views unkempt and untidy.

The interior of the living room can be saved from looking sloppy as no homeowner would want that big box drooling inside their living room spoiling.

Panels- Introduction.

Panels V/S MCB

Conceptually both MCB and the panels are the same. The main difference that they have between them is that MCB is fixed for domestic or residential purposes while panels are fixed for commercial purposes. Panels are mainly needed and fixed in places where the heavy current is needed such as offices, hotels, industries, etc. the minor difference between the two is that concealed wiring is done in the case of MCB while the wires in tied in panels.

MCB and Current

The current in MCB is of different categories starting from 6A to 32A. 6A is of no use for both residential and commercial purposes. A minimum of 10A is required for fans and lights and for geysers and other equipment, 20-25A suffices while for AC’s 16A- 25A is used.

32A is of no use in for homeowners. Sometimes the electricians provide the homeowners with 32A wiring stating that both 6A and 32A wiring will cost the same. They give a connection of 32A just for lights and fans; that supplies more current than necessary to the appliances.

Due to using wiring of 32A, which is more than required, it defeats the purpose of MCB i.e. to break the circuit and protect the appliance. The appliance may catch fire. Small things should be taken care of while doing the wiring. The circuit of MCB breaks when excess current is passed through it, and this is very important for safety.

Thus, apt MCB boxes, wires and cables should be installed, or there is no use of fixing them.