Feeling unsure about the condition of your fuse board, or are having concerns that it might not be safe enough to protect you and your family?
Our team of expertly trained and qualified professional electricians provide a seamless fuse box replacement and installation service to upgrade your home to a modern electrical system.
Installing a brand new consumer unit will not only bring your home up to the latest BS7671 British Safety Standards, but will also be protecting your home for years.
Do I Need A Fuseboard Replacement?
We don’t want to replace your existing unit if it we deem it safe to use – without viewing it in person, it depends – but here’s a few indicators that your current fuse board may be unsafe that you can check for:
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Your fuse box unit does not contain an RCD (Residual Current Device). This is a feature of consumer units after the 17th edition, and trips the power with technology to prevent loss of life or damage due to a fault.
Not sure what this looks like? Check your existing unit for a button with the word ‘TEST’ or ‘T’ somewhere in the frame.
If you can’t find one, then its likely that there is no RCD present. You can read more about RCDs benefits below. -
Has your power been intermittent, cutting out occasionally, lights flickering, switches or sockets not working any longer?
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The fuse board is an old grey style, or cast iron with manually removable fuses, likely with a wooden back to the box. These units can severely compromise electrical safety, especially when additional work has been done over the years to items in the property.
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You can see exposed cables, circuit breakers or fuses and could touch copper parts of the fuse box. Older model boards do not have the acceptable levels of safety standards we see nowadays, and as such can be very dangerous if not operated by a qualified professional.
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I your consumer unit made out of plastic? New regulations mandate metal fuse boards to prevent fires spreading if electrical faults occur
Why Are RCD’s So Important?
The most widely adopted and common form of RCD to have in your home is usually fitted inside the consumer unit, (some larger properties may require more than 1 or RCBO solutions), and it’s sole purpose is reducing the risk of electric shocks and from fire damage starting.
RCD’s (Residual Current Devices) are designed in a specialised way to ensure a high level of protection to protect against electrocution and electrical fires by automatically breaking the electricity to the circuits when it detects a path to earth.
This can occur when a person touches a live or metal conductive part of the electrical installation, such as an exposed cable, running lawnmower cable over, portable appliances overheating, and many more examples.
Other applications of additional RCDs in properties could be fitted directly into sockets, or a portable plug in RCD for using power outside.
Home Fuse Box Install – What Can I Expect?
We advise our clients to undertake an EICR before changing the fuse board, which allows us to inspect and test the existing electrical installation and the wiring for potential existing faults that your outdated fuse box model wouldn’t have been able to pick up on.
After completion of the EICR, we provide you with a detailed list of any issues found, and schedule in to be repaired whilst the fuseboard is being replaced at a later date.
In addition to installing a new fuse board, we undertake full inspection and testing of your existing electrical points, circuits and earthing and bonding to ensure they are working safely.
Once everything is complete, we issue an Electrical Installation Certificate Report.
The installation itself can range depending on many factors but will take typically 4 hours to complete.
We also offer a ‘face-lift’ service:
In addition to the fuse board, we also can replace worn sockets and switches with new plates, replace old worn connector terminals (to prevent fire hazards), cable sleevings, and replacing old lamps with LED lights.
Why Choose Us?
We don’t compromise on safety – all our electricians are fully qualified, expertly trained to carry out works to the latest electrical standards.
Your main electricity comes into your house at the consumer unit, and should be handled with care by professionals.
Don’t sacrifice homes safety for price – this is the central point of electrics in your house and it needs to function correctly and quickly to prevent any faults before they become fires.
We urge you to use qualified professionals: only with experience can you assess a property and take into considerations for priority circuits and future proofing the fuse box install.
Making significant changes to your installation by someone without the certified credentials could invalidate your home insurance!
Our team is experienced in domestic and commercial consumer unit and distribution board repairs, replacements and maintenance.
Contact us today to find if we’re a good fit for you.