New consumer unit?? Please please HELP!!

sallyrsm

I hope someone can please help me. I've just had an electrician round (just a chap out of the yellow pages, nobody I knew could recommend anyone) to quote me for replacing my kitchen light fitting as I wasn't sure what wires went where...

I had a new consumer unit 5 years ago, of the split type, with the lighting circuits on the right next to the main circuit breaker and all the other stuff on the other side all fitted with RCD's.

He's told me that I need a new consumer unit as nowadays everything has to be RCD protected and that he can't just change the light fitting as all stuff has to be signed off under part P regs which would include testing the consumer unit.

Is that right? I thought that changing fittings like for like if no new cabling was involved didn't need notification. Pretty much the first words out of his mouth were I need a new consumer unit.

I'm a woman living on my own who obviously knows nothing about electrics which is why I called him in. I've been taken for a mug in the past which is why I'd like to check.
If I need a new one, fair enough, but I'd love to be sure.

Many thanks if anyone can help me...

dld2s

Hi,

To be honest I think he is at it, but to be sure a good place to ask this question is the electricians forum on screwfix, I have usually found the guys on it quite helpful, link below http://www.screwfix.com/talk/forum.jspa?forumID=23

zax47

"Is that right? I thought that changing fittings like for like if no new cabling was involved didn't need notification."

You are partly correct in what you say - speaking as an electrician myself - but the location is the key here. A change such as this (however minor) in a kitchen would, technically, need notifying under Part P - which means meeting the latest 17th edition wiring regs, and RCD protecting all circuits (or the cables must be buried more than 50mm in the fabric of the building or have some other mechanical protection).

This would apply in bathroom, kitchen or outside, but nowhere else (lounge, hall bedroom!) where like for like changes of fittings/sockets/switches do NOT require him to make any changes to your CU at all. If the installation met the regs in force when it was installed and no NEW circuits are added then that's fine, status quo exists. In most cases, it's only when changes/additions are made to the actual circuits themselves that things must then meet 17th edition wiring regs.

There is a way to do this WITHOUT changing the CU and that is to replace the lighting MCB (circuit breaker) with an RCBO, this is a MCB and RCD combined and is designed for just this situation, where adding RCD protection to a circuit would otherwise mean changing the whole CU. Depending on the maker of your existing CU, these cost between £12 and £45 (typically around £25) but it's a 10 minute job for an electrician to fit and a damn site cheaper than a CU change

He's trying it on if he hasn't even suggested this option!!

Can you not change the fitting yourself? There is a very good guide here - it really isn't that difficult!

wallbash

I had a new consumer unit 5 years ago,

Its more recent than mine ,if he started to talk about having to change the consumer
unit he would get told to go.

replacing my kitchen light fitting

:rolleyes:

I don't know the latest regs .... mainly because I don't want to .

Waiting for the Health and Safety brigade to shout!

Good advice , well put byzax47

Chippy_Minton_2

I thought but I may be wrong. All work in a kitchen or bathroom done by a spark and you need the latest 17th Gen consumer unit.

zax47

dld2s wrote: »

Hi,

To be honest I think he is at it, but to be sure a good place to ask this question is the electricians forum on screwfix, I have usually found the guys on it quite helpful, link below http://www.screwfix.com/talk/forum.jspa?forumID=23

Sorry, but IMO the Screwfix forums suck - big time. Too many people there with their own agenda and quick to take the mick out of the poor DIYer.(and I'm a professional!)

Better bet is Ultimate Handy Man;

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/forum1/index.php

dld2s

ZAX47, I have seen some people get the mick taken out of them there, but it's never happened to me, maybe I just haven't asked stupid questions :rotfl: not that it matters now anyway, you seem to have answered the question.


just to make things clear, I don't think OP's question is stupid

zax47

{IMO} The Screwfix electrical forum is full of "professionals" who have been banned from the 3 or 4 true professional electricians forums and taken up residence there. In general their response to any question is to take the p*** or just say "get an electrician" and never actually provide an answer, to say they have an attitude is an understatement - lots of little cliques and in-jokes amongst themselves. Helpful they are NOT! Makes me ashamed to be in the same trade.

For your average DIYer, the people at UHM are a much more helpful (and friendly) lot.

sallyrsm

the problem I've got is that I cut down the old fitting (couldn't see how to get it down without cutting the wire) and didn't make a note of what went where... it was a halogen one, the new one isn't.

Now I've got two black wires coming down (which the sparky told me were both neutrals and should go together) and one with a red sleeve, and another one with a green sleeve.

the light fitting only has two holes in it, live and neutral. I don't know whether the red one and the green one need to both go in the live, with the two black ones in the neutral.

Believe me, if my wiring had looked exactly like what I was expecting, I'd have done it myself.

zax47

Have a look at the link I suggested - it tells you ALL this.

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/diy/electrics/light_fitting/changing_light_fitting.htm

DO NOT CONNECT THE RED TO THE GREEN. Red is live, green or green/yellow is earth!

sallyrsm

Ah right. What happens to the green one, then?? Does it want an end piece and some tape like those two red ones on the ultimate handyman site??
I don't like the idea of just leaving it hanging/poking up in the ceiling on its own...

:rolleyes: