Changing an old style fuse box

juneyjuney · 3 April 2012 at 12:43PM

we have an old style fuse box, the kind with actual fuse wire rather than switches.

We have been quoted £220 to replace this. Does this sound reasonable/too good to be true?

fluffpot · 3 April 2012 at 3:25PM

Don't know the size of your property, but it sounds a bit cheap to me - a good make of fuse board with circuit breakers plus new tails is going to be nearly £100 (esp if earthing to gas and water pipes is required) - so that means £120 labour.... If they do it properly with all the tests and fault rectification plus the certificates it's going to be a minimum of 1 day I would say, unless you've got a small flat. £120 a day sounds pretty cheap to me.

Is the electrician registered? You can check here
https://www.competentperson.co.uk
Will you be getting certificates? Including a part P cert?

juneyjuney · 3 April 2012 at 5:08PM

Thank you for your reply. We have a two bedroom house. I thought it seemed very cheap.

I had a look on the comptent person website and his business is listed there.

He said pretty much what you said. £100 for the board and £120 for days work. I am confused!

meer53 · 3 April 2012 at 5:17PM

I have an old style fuse box too that needs replacing. £220 sounds a good price, do you know the person who is doing it ? If you do i'd say go ahead, if not, get another quote.

fluffpot · 4 April 2012 at 9:46PM

Well if he's happy with £120 a day before tax then that's fine obv! BUT make sure that you get all the certificates.

To test properly he'll need to get to all sockets and all lights. If you don't see him doing this and he just sits in the fuse board cupboard for 2 hours swapping the board then he's not done it right

Hope all goes well
Fluff

baldelectrician · 4 April 2012 at 10:21PM

I did one today- it was a house I had worked in before and the bonding was in place.
I had installed a new shower circuit before christmas so I know thats fine

We started just before 9am and finished at 12.30- me and apprentice, decent make of consumer unit and new tails.

All in £270 inc paperwork (no part Poo in Scotland)

For £220 I would be asking what make the electrician is using.

I use Hager, I steer clear from Wylex, BG, MK , Volex and Crabtree

jkgray · 12 April 2012 at 10:20AM

I had mine done inc bonding all paperwork, testing etc in Liverpool about a year ago for (I think from memory) £260. We were quoted a lot more by some others but the bloke who did ours said openly that he usually did commercial work and had only recently started doing some domestic work as work was so slow hence why he was willing to do it for that price.

Owain_Moneysaver · 12 April 2012 at 11:04AM

A lot depends on the state of the existing wiring, and how much spare cable there is at the existing fuse box.

Existing wiring in good order, cable long enough to reach new consumer unit terminals, no faults found on testing = happy days.

Cables too short to reach new CU terminals, extend all circuits using crimps or a separate enclosure with DIN rail terminals, low insulation readings on existing wiring, something somewhere the earth continuity is broken = not happy days.

Often you don't know which will apply until the old box is off the wall.

fluffpot · 12 April 2012 at 2:08PM

That's why I always complete a full test and inspect before I do a fuse board upgrade - that way the customer will know exactly how much it will cost as I'll know where the faults are and how short the cables are!

edinburgher · 12 April 2012 at 2:40PM

I was recently quoted £180 for a replacement consumer unit (Scotland), which seems pretty low considering the comments being made here.

The electrician has been out before to carry out a basic job and seemed pretty thorough - are there typically less circuits to check etc. in a flat?

fluffpot · 12 April 2012 at 8:05PM

Yes, no of circuits will affect the price. Typically flats might have 4 circuits. I did a huge house the other week with 26! It was a bit more expensive

Changing an old style fuse box

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