Any Sparky's in the house

[dinny_g]

I asked this before when I bought the house but can't find the response.

Our place has a fuse wire set-up, rather than Trip Switches (which I think is odd as the house was only built in 1986 but hey ho) and I'd like to get it changed. So far, touch wood, we haven't had any go but I'd sooner have a simple set-up to re-set if there's a surge etc.

Does anyone know if changing over is a relatively simple job of "Take old one off, fit new one and test" or is it more involved ? I just don't want to waste local tradies time getting a quote if it's a "several thousand pounds" job as we can't stretch to that at the moment

Cheers

[Jimexpl]

I asked this before when I bought the house but can't find the response.

Our place has a fuse wire set-up, rather than Trip Switches (which I think is odd as the house was only built in 1986 but hey ho) and I'd like to get it changed. So far, touch wood, we haven't had any go but I'd sooner have a simple set-up to re-set if there's a surge etc.

Does anyone know if changing over is a relatively simple job of "Take old one off, fit new one and test" or is it more involved ? I just don't want to waste local tradies time getting a quote if it's a "several thousand pounds" job as we can't stretch to that at the moment

Cheers

Can you post a photo of the board as it is now?

[dinny_g]

I don't know what image sharing sites still work in the UK but try this link to Amazon Photos...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/F ... f0AnRNLAeu

[Jimexpl]

I don't know what image sharing sites still work in the UK but try this link to Amazon Photos...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/F ... f0AnRNLAeu

Unfortunately you'll have to bin that whole board and start again.

[dinny_g]

Ok but would there be any major re-wiring etc or would it be limited to work in/around the board/box only??

Cheers Jim - really appreciate the expertise

[simon_g]

Get an EICR done for £200 or so, which will test the rest of the wiring in the house too and most electricians will want before changing it anyway. If that all checks out then replacing the consumer unit is a straightforward job.

Should be well under £1000 for both unless there's some other remedial work needed.

[dinny_g]

That's great lads - 100% answers my question and tells me everything I need.

We've been here for 4+ years and we haven't had an issue and despite the fact I have all of the necessary spare fuse wires, I really don't ever want to have to do that because... well... look who's asking the question... I'll leave it at that...

[Matty]

Mine was similar when I moved in - got an electrician in to replace it, ended up condemning the whole house and completely rewiring...so, be prepared for that £1500 all in though, as I'd gutted the house anyway back to brick so easy done. Alas, this was nearly 15 years ago, so probably more now!

[jamcg]

Ok but would there be any major re-wiring etc or would it be limited to work in/around the board/box only??

Cheers Jim - really appreciate the expertise

Depends on your wiring. It’s really common to find houses with this type of board don’t have any earth wiring in the lighting circuits.

As others have said an electrician will be able to test the wiring in the house and the readings will tell them what needs doing- if the readings are off, and you fit an rcd to the wiring, it’ll just trip all the time- plus if there’s no earth in the lights you can’t fit an rcd without any earths

[dinny_g]

Ok cheers Jim

[Jimexpl]

Ok but would there be any major re-wiring etc or would it be limited to work in/around the board/box only??

Cheers Jim - really appreciate the expertise

Depends on your wiring. It’s really common to find houses with this type of board don’t have any earth wiring in the lighting circuits.

As others have said an electrician will be able to test the wiring in the house and the readings will tell them what needs doing- if the readings are off, and you fit an rcd to the wiring, it’ll just trip all the time- plus if there’s no earth in the lights you can’t fit an rcd without any earths

Exactly this - we subcontract 90% of our electrical work out to a partner, as we focus on the fun stuff, but it's very common in London on rental properties to find that a poor electrician has updated the board on a landlord check/service, then the tenant moves in and it trips out all of the time because they didn't test the earths properly.
Or you get really unlucky and there's aluminium rather than copper wiring!

[dinny_g]

Given that it's due for an inspection in 2026, that's probably the right opportunity to answer some of these questions.

The house isn't the best build so it wouldn't surprise me of there are gremlins in system The extensions looks like it was built by David Kelly...

[unzippy]

To tag on to this:

My consumer unit was beeping this morning, 3 short beeps repeated a few then then stopped - what does that mean?

It's a Crabtree Starbreaker if that helps

[jamcg]

Unusual for a consumer unit to have anything that beeps. Do you have any CO alarms or smoke alarms nearby? Sounds more like something battery powered is dying

[unzippy]

Unusual for a consumer unit to have anything that beeps. Do you have any CO alarms or smoke alarms nearby? Sounds more like something battery powered is dying

I thought so too!

Smoke alarm and C02 are in a different room.
However it was 0515H and I wasn't fully with it! I'll see if it happens again tomorrow.

Ta.

[unzippy]

Definitely sounds like a battery dieing but also definitely coming from the consumer unit.
Flipped each breaker one by one but no change.

[jamcg]

Can’t see anything there that would have a buzzer inside. Have those dark marks been checked? Looks like scorching from a hot spot inside the board?

[unzippy]

Can’t see anything there that would have a buzzer inside. Have those dark marks been checked? Looks like scorching from a hot spot inside the board?

They're sticky, suspected residue from a plugin air freshener type thing to mask the smell of weed - not round to cleaning up hat high yet!