Just bought a house, should I rewire?

GrimsbyLAD said:
Im a sparky and current regulations (Im on 17th but no ammendments) don't require you to change anything as its a privately owned house not rented, You will have black/red wiring and no earths but again there is no set requirement to change these. Personally id get a new consumer unit put in and just have all the wiring checked out by a sparky quickly easy enough job. As above, 500 if its good and no rewire work.
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Any recommendations for the 'best bang for buck' consumer unit?
 
Personal preference to crabtree consumer units with RCD's :) But Wylex are good too, Theres no best bang for buck in consumer units really you buy what you need, circuits wise and if you need a full rcd board or not. There all white and look same
 
Jakeee said:
Any recommendations for the 'best bang for buck' consumer unit?
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You mean a good brand for the parts??

The spark who fits would normally choose unless you say you have any preference.

I would say don't go down the route of saving a few quid now on a no-name CU, will be lower quality and spare parts might be harder to find.

If you look on various sparks forums you will probably find a lot of argument on the best CU brand from all points of view, like ease of fitting and other factors, by as a customer you just need the best quality, reliability and availability of spare parts should they be needed.

Hager would be my choice, although their 6A MCBs seem to fail in my experience (probably no more than other brands tho).

You want to spec at least 10% spare ways in the CU so if you have 10 Circuits get a 12 way CU or bigger, wont cost much more but saves hassle in future.

Spark needs to take cover off to check number of circuits, to make sure they aren't already doubled up and separate them, so may not just be you have 10 fuses now so need 10 on the new CU etc.

Also if you want to be extra future proof buy a couple of extra MCBs and RCD's if you think availability might be a problem in the next 10-15 years or be prepared for a whole new CU if parts not available etc.

Shouldn't be a problem with the big name brands but its does happen, they change the fittings so their new parts don't fit the old boards etc.
 
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