Fuse box advice

Street

Street

Street

Soldato
Joined
17 Jan 2005
Posts
8,678
Location
Liverpool
I got my new house this week and one of the things that was flagged up was the age of the fuse box.

To me, the wiring all looks fairly decent around the house, however the actual box looks antiquated.

tPqEUhml.jpg

Obviously I plan on getting it changed at some point, but having spent out a hell of a lot on other things at the moment, I'd rather wait if it isn't urgent. I can't imagine the house would need a full rewire as there was an extension built around 20 years ago and the wiring I can see around looks OK from my untrained eye.

Any sparkies got any advice?
Ta.
 
You need a decent spark to come out do an 'electrical installation condition report' and see where you go from there.

Already it's not compliant as it lacks any RCD protection, rewireable fuses also haven't complied for a while. Impossible to tell about the condition inside the house with picture alone but at the age it must be (that cut out is probably older than me) it's a given that work will likely be required.

You might be lucky and get away with just a new consumer unit.

All speculation though...
 
Pretty much waht Lumeycom said,

That board is 70's at the latest,

There is a possibility that you may have issues such as

Inadeuate numbers of sock outlets
No earth on the lighting (if pre 1966)
Lack of main prtective bonding
etc

An EICR is required to estabish the condition before you re-decorate, I would not be supprised if a rewire was necessary. The fuse board here was a lightly newer version of that one (mine was white) and I am having to re-wire as I decorate, mostly due o DIY bodges everywhere

The cutout (green item on the incomming cable) could have DP fusing, I would phone the DNO and say that you have an old style cutout and you think you have double pole fusing.... they are required to replace them (they are hampered though... by the fact that they dont know where they are until reported)
 
I still have that type in, i replaced all of fuses with new Type B fuses just to tie it over. I will be getting a 17th edition box in and the cost is around 300-600 for a new unit to be fitted. That's a Wylex type unit.

There might be three types of fuses (As you can see dots Red, Blue and White). You can upgrade them safely to the next amp available from screw fix.

06 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-6a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/48030)
16 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-16a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/34544)
20 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-20a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/80070)
32 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-32a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/87979)
40 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-40a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/77992)
 
Last edited:
I've phoned my sparky to come out and have a look, unfortunately he can't come out till after Christmas, thats the problem with getting a house around Christmas time!

I'm hoping I don't need a full rewire as I could do without the added expense at the moment. From what I can see, the wiring all looks like it is grey plastic shielded cabling in good condition. I've pulled a few floor boards up and it all looks OK under there, it might have been updated when the extension was put in. My only concern is any DIY bodges he may have done and as I will probably be drawing a hell of a lot more power than two old people it may cause problems.

Next on to the roofer to get the hole in the roof sorted! Why did I buy this house..
 
Last edited:
We just had ours redone, well worth doing before decorating if you have any questions as to it being suitable for the future. It really didn't cost that much way less than we expected.
New CU, all new wiring except shower and kitchen, as its tiled. Loads of new sockets and all well split off into multiple rings.
 
mrbell1984 said:
I still have that type in, i replaced all of fuses with new Type B fuses just to tie it over. I will be getting a 17th edition box in and the cost is around 300-600 for a new unit to be fitted. That's a Wylex type unit.

There might be three types of fuses (As you can see dots Red, Blue and White). You can upgrade them safely to the next amp available from screw fix.

06 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-6a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/48030)
16 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-16a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/34544)
20 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-20a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/80070)
32 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-32a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/87979)
40 AMP - (http://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-40a-sp-type-b-curve-mcb/77992)
Click to expand...

A new unit should be cheaper than you think :)

A large 10 way dual RCD (complete) board by Wylex (if they are you preferred brand) is £59.99 at Screwfix right now. This is less than a days work even for a very slow electrician assuming that you dont need it moved.

When getting a trade in you always need to work back from the parts cost, and then factor in a day rate. A consumer unit change should be sitting at around £200-300 with a Wylex 10 way board and assuming a full days labour.
 
Last year I did some work on my garage and ended up getting my main fusebox replaced.

Mine was like yours is now.

(see linked thread, page 2 near the end for details)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18675262&highlight=Syla5&page=2

You can see I also had the main fuse, and fuse carrier to the house replaced. and the tails (cables out of the fuse in to the meter) replaced. All of this stuff is the responsibility of the power network (not your provider, but the company that maintains the network its self). I also got the energy company to put in a self isolator so that the electrician could turn off the mains without the need to contact the power company.

If your fuse board is like mine it will only be rated to 60amp, and if your main fuse (the green thing) is anything like mine it will only be a 60amp as well. Get in touch with your energy provider and ask them about who you need to contact to get the fuse carrier and fuse replaced. Then get in touch with them to book the change and fuse upgrade, they should stick in a 100amp main fuse if you ask nicely. (I had to contact UK Power Networks, very good customer service)

Once the main fuse and carrier has been replaced get back in touch with your energy provider and say you want a "self isolator" putting in (also free to you, and at the energy companies cost). This will mean that an electrician wont need to contact the power company and can just flick the mains power off themselves. I know most probably don't bother and just cut the fuse tags and pull the fuse, but with a self isolator they are not breaching any regulations and so it makes things smoother.

After that a replacement fuse box should be somewhere in the region of £200 to £300 give or take and is a relatively basic job as long as your wiring is up to standard and doesn't cause the new RCD board to trip (residual current detector - trips out much faster then a standard breaker fuse) .

To save time on all this I booked in the main fuse carrier replacement and as soon as that was booked in I booked in the energy provider to do the self isolator within the same week. Doing this saved me 3 weeks of waiting between the fuse/carrier and self isolator being done.
 
Last edited:
Syla5 said:
After that a replacement fuse box should be somewhere in the region of £200 to £300 give or take and is a relatively basic job as long as your wiring is up to standard and doesn't cause the new RCD board to trip (residual current detector - trips out much faster then a standard breaker fuse) .
Click to expand...

RCDs do a completely different job to MCBs and are not required on all circuits.
Good practice to not put freezers on an RCD as well.
 
Thanks for the advice, I've spoken to SP Energy and they're going to come out and inspect the cut out. From my description the woman said "that does sound like a very old one".

Just had the alarm company out too and his first words were, "you are going to replace that lot aren't you?" when he saw the fuse box!

And result on the roof too, "only" going to be £290 to get it sorted.
 
What are you having repaired on the roof?
I really would consider a full rewire if its even remotely possible it will ever need doing as its a shed load of mess, best to get it out of the way.
 
I was up there doing some network cable runs on Saturday and could hear dripping on the inside. The guy came round today and confirmed what I thought, the flashing has gone around the chimney so it's leaking through on the inside.

Although a full rewire would be ideal, if I can get away with just changing the consumer unit though that would be preferable as I've had to spend out on a few unexpected things recently and use money that was earmarked for the house. I'll get a quote for it anyway and see how much it would be.
 
That sounds expensive for just the flashing done on the chimney, we had leaks and had all the ridge tiles rebedded, chimney pointed and capped for £310.

Had the place rewired as well, £1,500 for everything done bar the shower which was fine as it was new, just had him put plain light fittings in MK logic switches throughout, and a few separate circuits that i wanted splitting off from the normal ones.
Only thing left is to plaster and tidy up.
 
Last edited:
Forgot he said he'd repoint the chimney in that as well as it looks like it needs doing. £1500 is pretty good, I assumed somewhere around the £4k mark.
 
My fuse box is the same but all mine are rewireable fuses and not the press button replacement trips. Cut out is newer but still 30+ years old.

Just because fuses and wiring doesn't meet the latest standards, it doesn't mean it is not compliant. It would have been compliant when it was first installed, apart from any later bodges that may have been done.

Anyway, what I want to know is how do they not get electrocuted when the DNO change the cut out? Obviously the cable into the house will be live unless they switch off the whole street or something.
 
I've still got that box in my house. I am a sparky and as long as it's safe there's zero need to update it.

I don't know how anyone can say that earth is undersized from this picture.

Erm as for the DNO changing the main fuse location I've only ever seen one done and he basically just put on a tabard and full arm rubber gloves and did it live. Not sure if that's the accepted practise or not though.
 
Last edited:
LeeUK said:
Anyway, what I want to know is how do they not get electrocuted when the DNO change the cut out? Obviously the cable into the house will be live unless they switch off the whole street or something.
Click to expand...

Assuming your talking about when they replace the main fuse carrier (like my job?)

The old chaps that did it were just very careful! shocking(no pun intended) I know..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom