Consumer units (also known as fuse boxes or fuse boards) are the first line of defense of electrical safety within your property and can potentially be life saving. A check up on the condition of your fuse box can verify if its capable of preventing electrocution should an unfortunate incident arise.

If you’re thinking you may need some work done to your consumer unit, it is essential you only use a registered and qualified electrician for the work.

Have you recently had an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) and are a bit unsure of the codes written?
Any defects (from minor to urgent) will have been assigned codes of severity of whether an electrical installation is deemed safe for continued use by an electrician.

They range starting from C1-C3 and F1 and can be explained as follows:

Are you a homeowner in Scotland? Following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower in London, the government sought to understand and prevent accidents happening in the future by forming a committee. After publishing their finding, they have made recent changes to the law are coming into force that mandate all home properties require an interlinked smoke and fire detection system in place.

If you’ve got a system in place already, it may not be suitable under the law unless it matches the criteria below:

Read the full article directly from the Scottish Government here.

An EICR is short for Electrical Installation Condition Report.
Previously these were known as PIR’s (Periodic Inspection Reports), but the name has been updated to clarify and standardized with related certificates.
An EICR is an assessment of the property – once it has been undertaken, it is produced as a formal document to detail the specifications of the installation, any defects (from minor to urgent) and whether an electrical installation is deemed safe for continued use by a professional. It must be carried out by an experienced qualified electrician or an approved contractor.

Commonly, these are undertaken in a domestic premises either every 10 years, or during an occupancy change. In rental properties, this timescale is reduced to 5 years OR every change in tenancy.
Having an EICR carried out before purchasing a property is commonplace as it is an inexpensive way to inspect the install and workmanship in the property before purchasing.

Works carried out during an EICR

• testing of all fixed cabling circuitry and recording values
• investigating fuse box and earthing arrangement
• checking for any damage or wear and tear to components
• looking for anything that may cause overheating or is a risk of causing an electric shock
• find any parts of the installation that don’t conform to the latest IET wiring regulations
• provide a report detailing findings and a recommendations for works/future inspections
• and many more if applicable

Any defects or potential issues are logged and issued with recommendation codes on the EICR – varying by level of severity.

In the same way boilers are tested regularly for maintenance, EICR’s are recommended to be undertaken at regular intervals to verify the installation is safe. By keeping on top of regular checks, it ensures small issues can be rectified early before they turn into costly ones.