Consumer Unit Change Electrician Q's

visibleman

visibleman

visibleman

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Hi all,

Looking to get our 70s fused consumer unit replaced and i'm now wondering what i should be on the lookout for when getting electricians in for quotes.

Am i right in thinking all CU's now need to be metal/steel/non-combustible rather than plastic (18th edition etc)?

What certification or paperwork should i receive upon completion of the CU change?
From reading around i should receive at least an EIC (Electrical Installation Certificate) although i have seen others mention an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) should be done before/afterwards and if that happens, there will be a EICR cert. as well.

Does the local authority/council (in England) need to be notified and if so, who does that?

If they are registered (i'm guessing that means they're a Part P member and/or part of a scheme?), what is the process?
I've seen some mixed answers on this whilst doing a Google but some mention that upon completion, they (electrician) should(?) notify their scheme/membership of the work who will issue the EIC cert. and notify the local authority - is that the case?

If they're not registered and the electrician does provide an EIC, what happens thereafter especially if selling the house?
Am i right in thinking it's then up to me to get it properly "signed-off", which will likely involve getting a third-party in to actual certify it all?

Is there anything else i should ask or check to make sure they aren't a complete cowboy?

Appreciate it :)
 
Before they change it, they’ll do an EICR. That is a test of the existing wiring and installation. It will flag up any issues that need to be resolved before a new consumer unit can be installed.

I’m not an electrician but based on the fact our house (re wired in 2007) needed some remediation work after the EICR before the new CU was installed earlier this year then I seriously doubt 70s wiring is going to be ok. Prepared for a rewire if the wiring is as old as the CU.

Modern CU will be metal. Ours is made by Fusebox and seems well rated.
Breakers are RCBOs. I asked for extra space for future upgrades (AC).
If you are considering plug in solar, as for unidirectional RCBOs on those circuits.

I can’t remember the acronym but there’s some anti arcing protection that you might want.

You’ll get an EICR certificate and installation certificate. It’s notifiable and the electrician should do that.
 
visibleman said:
Is there anything else i should ask or check to make sure they aren't a complete cowboy?
Click to expand...

Ask local people and builders for recommendations.

When I search for "registered electricians" there is also this website:

NICEIC | UK Electrical Certification and Training

NICEIC is the leading certification body for the electrical contracting industry in the UK. We help you stay safe and get the most from your installations.
niceic.com niceic.com

I think electricians have to pay to join that site. I believe it's something different to the qualifications they get from college and elsewhere.

I'm not sure if there are other websites for checking qualifications but there may be.
 
Cheers guys and appreciate it.

GeX said:
It’s notifiable and the electrician should do that.
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So the local authority/council should definitely be notified of a CU change?

We have others lined up so will see what they say but one has been in to quote and whilst he is registered and seemed ok, i did query about notification and he mentioned everything above meters is "ours" and there isn't a requirement to notify anyone of the work/CU change.
He also said an EICR wouldn't be required and, if needed, any fault finding would occur after the CU is changed.
 
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Depends on the condition of the rest of the installation, you will receive a full EIC after the install of a new board (with any remedial work carried out from the initial EICR on the condition of the rest of the installation). Things like socket heights and light switch heights may be flagged up but it’s your call to strip all the existing out as well as the board.

Entirely up to the customer but you will definitely get an enclosed metal distribution unit, with the number of ways up to you (and the space available)

RCD/RCBO and Surge Protection I think will be a minimum.

Arc fault detection (AFDDs) aren’t mandated for a domestic property, they may suggest you have them but in all honesty I wouldn’t see the cost benefit the risk.

Everything else is bespoke to you, as in do you want external feeds, security feeds, fire alarms mains operated, EV feeds etc etc
 
It is definitely notifiable but the system the electrician uses to issue the cert probably does it all automatically if he is using an off the shelf system and registered with some accredited scheme.

EICR is a relatively new bandwagon that I've seen a particular you tuber talk about. If your current wiring is ok the new board probably will be too and if it isn't it will trip the RCBOs at which point the electrician will have to fault find.
 
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Cheers again for the info, it's helping massively to determine whats needed and what they should be doing.

We've currently have 9 circuits spread across 4 fused CU's and we're wanting to try and get that consolidated to a single CU (if doable) with some spare capacity for the future.
This is definitely a "how long is a piece of string" question but out of interest and whilst i wait for the first quote, what's the rough ballpark (south England) for CU replacement/change like this?
I've seen pricing from as low as £500+VAT, to over £1000+VAT; would i be right in assuming that's the sort of price i'm looking at?

danlightbulb said:
It is definitely notifiable but the system the electrician uses to issue the cert probably does it all automatically if he is using an off the shelf system and registered with some accredited scheme.
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As you say it may just be a case that whatever that guy uses to issue the EIC does the notification side of things. But it gives me something to question the next one.

lemonkettaz said:
Also when selling the house, most people don’t know enough to care if the sparky signing the test sheet is a sparky associated with an approved body, or the random bloke who does cables and driveways cash in hand
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You're probably right and i may be overthinking it but anything to mitigate any possible future headaches if/when we do decide to sell up wouldn't be a bad thing.
 
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Can’t comment on pricing as it’s mainly dependant on the property really and any remedial work elsewhere that is required.

But yeh 100% do you due diligence in getting experienced well reviewed electricians in that are registered to an approved body in some shape; shouldn’t be an issue to legit contractors.

All documentation will be provided like test sheets etcs.

Quality of work is just luck of the draw; some are cheap for a reason, others are expensive for no reason.

If I was renovating the electrical set up though, my view would be future proof as much as possible now, as in as many spare ways as you can and as many additional feeds as you can (external power, EV, fire alarms etc etc not an exhaustive list) otherwise you won’t get any benefit on changing the boards.

This is easier said purely on cost I get it.
 
majority of external future proof cabling can be installed with it just being put as a temp junction box towards the utilisation point.

So if you think you might want en external garage supply in the future, install the capacity at the main board now along with its distribution cabling to an isolation point… ready to be a garage supply in future. Just an example, just means all the cabling is all done and dusted internally ahead of time saving cost and upheaval in the future
 
Got British Gas to do my new metalic Fusebox branded consumer unit recently, took him a good 6hrs to do the checking, fitting and wiring. No leccy in entire house so family had to make do with the tablet/phones.

The sparky did say they only install metalic ones now since they are fire rated and now safe. I should be getting the certs via email in 3-4 weeks time. British Gas is much more pricey though, I don't have the exact numbers since I had lots of other work done, but it probably was 1.4k-1.7 off top of my head. They wanted a £800+ for day rate alone but he did split it across 2 days, and with 2 man job so it was worth while perhaps.

I have had few other quotes from other sparkies from the electrical competent list here, and had few quotes but they were all similar around 900-1k for metalic consumer box+fuses/wiring and 1 or 2 man installation job. This is in London though so it may vary from location. You maybe better off getting a few quotes via email, get it in writing and ask them what certs do I get etc, if its in writing its your proof after all.
 
visibleman said:
Cheers guys and appreciate it.


So the local authority/council should definitely be notified of a CU change?

We have others lined up so will see what they say but one has been in to quote and whilst he is registered and seemed ok, i did query about notification and he mentioned everything above meters is "ours" and there isn't a requirement to notify anyone of the work/CU change.
He also said an EICR wouldn't be required and, if needed, any fault finding would occur after the CU is changed.
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I’d not use this person.

Inspecting and repairing the existing installation should absolutely be done before the CU is changed. It doesn’t need to be an EICR but that’s the an existing way to prove that the installation is safe. Then the new CU goes in and that can be tested with the knowledge that the existing wiring is up to code.

If I was buying a house and the CU was new but there was no record of change recorded then I’d be extremely concerned, maybe a DIY job?

Our EICR was £195, then there was around £400 of fault tracing and remedial work.

The CU install was then around £750.

This was part of other work being done in the house (new kitchen and outside circuits). Initially the quote was to add a second CU for the new circuits only and he explained that the reason for that is that he can’t replace the existing CU without certifying the existing installation. That can lead to further cost so often people don’t want to (I was of the opinion that if there’s a fault in the wiring then I to know and it be fixed!).
 
I think the salient point here is that if its a 1970s "fusebox" then the house wiring will likewise be 1970s (or earlier).

Its very unlikely to pass insulation tests amongst other issues which will be flagged up on the EICR. Once the EICR has been generated then any renter/buyer will have the right to see it.

If its the start of the 1970s then the mains wiring will mainly be stranded rather than solid and the insulation will be brittle in places. It'll be underspecced for power upstairs & might even have upstairs/downstairs sockets on the same circuit.

Its basically going to be a rewire - probably a partial rewire even if is late 70s/early 80s.
 
GeX said:
I’m not an electrician but based on the fact our house (re wired in 2007) needed some remediation work after the EICR before the new CU was installed earlier this year then I seriously doubt 70s wiring is going to be ok. Prepared for a rewire if the wiring is as old as the CU.
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Indeed
 
Cheers again all. I'll see what happens when the others pop over this week to quote.

@aaronyuri - Really appreciate the offer, i'll see what these other electricians are like but will keep it in mind.

Vestas said:
If its the start of the 1970s then the mains wiring will mainly be stranded rather than solid and the insulation will be brittle in places. It'll be underspecced for power upstairs & might even have upstairs/downstairs sockets on the same circuit.
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It's late 70s but so far, having looked at a few handful of sockets and switches around the house, it all seems to be solid core cabling and there's definitely different circuits for upstairs and downstairs (pulled fuses etc).
I'll see what the other electricians make of it and if they plan to do am EICR or similar whilst doing the CU.
 
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