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re-wire or new fuse box??

jillie1974
jillie1974 Posts: 6,997 Forumite
in Energy
we have had a problem with lights in our bathroom,which has been sorted. (luckily- as apparently the house could have gone on fire!!) the electrician who came to sort the problem said that we need a new fuse box as our current one does not have any circuit breakers.
he gave us a rough estimate of £500 + vat for this
is this an accurate price?
would we be better to have the whole house re-wired as well
and if so what would be an expected price for that

thanks
'Children are not things to be moulded, but are people to be unfolded'

Comments

  • Premier_2
    Premier_2 Posts: 15,141 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    How much? :eek:

    A new consumer box with all the circuit breakers costs about £100 (or less if you shop around!)

    Installing this in place of an older consumer box with fuses is not such a big job - I would have thought a couple of hours at most including the usual tea-break!

    To be honest, there's no real reason to change it if you have a fuse box, other than to keep up with latest safety regulations.

    There are still many properties that don't even have a consumer box at all. (although updating would be recommended then and would need more work!)


    A complete re-wire would probably cost somewhere between £2500 & £5000 and would be a lot of work & disruption.
    "Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 2010
  • spiro
    spiro Posts: 6,405 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Screwfix are currently doing a new unit complete with 10 MCBs for £49.99 inc VAT (was £65.87). This means you are paying £457+VAT labour assuming nothing else needs doing. From memory when I had this done it only took a day tops so unless he is doing other work this sounds a little high.
    IT Consultant in the utilities industry specialising in the retail electricity market.

    4 Credit Card and 1 Loan PPI claims settled for £26k, 1 rejected (Opus).
  • darkcloudi
    darkcloudi Posts: 573 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I'm sure they will be additional work like earth bonding to gas and mains water pipe. Is this also included in your quote?

    The quote does seem expensive. Try getting at least 3 quotes.
  • onejontwo
    onejontwo Posts: 1,089 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    Have you considered replacing the fuses with individual circuit breakers at a fraction of the cost?
    A simple pull out push in job.
  • jillie1974
    jillie1974 Posts: 6,997 Forumite
    i wasnt there when he gave the price. it was my mum so am going to check that it was defo £500..
    will try some electricians first.
    thanks guys
    'Children are not things to be moulded, but are people to be unfolded'
  • danyool
    danyool Posts: 2 Newbie
    These do not do the same job as a new consumer unit. They do not provide the RCD protection so are nowhere near as good.
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