Cost of replacement fuse box ?

Legacy_user

The house we have recently moved into, has an old fuse wire fuse box and clearly we need this to be changed to the trip switch type. Has anyone any idea how much this replacement may cost in total please. I have requested an electrician call and give an estimate, but rather than pull in several, if I had a basic idea, I could give them the go ahead to proceed.

debitcardmayhem

I was quoted £150 + Vat 8 years ago, loo here for screwfix prices for consumer units, £40-80 + factor in the labour you can probably expect 250-300 now. Pure guess work mind you

GreenSheep

Using the £80 unit (you get what you pay for) and half a day/day labour (depending on how much of a birds nest it is) at £80/160.

So total £160/240.

Richie-from-the-Boro

GreenSheep wrote: »

Using the £80 unit (you get what you pay for) and half a day/day labour (depending on how much of a birds nest it is) at £80/160.

So total £160/240.

That's about right for a dual & labour [ below ] but if it's an old [ish] house the O/P should be aware that the sensitivity of a new RCD consumer unit will magnify any pre-exising problems with an old fuse box.


http://www.screwfix.com/prods/39585/Electrical-Supplies/Consumer-Units/Volex-Consumer-Units/Volex-10-Way-Fully-Insulated-Dual-RCD-Consumer-Unit

lfc321

You may well find that the old fuse box is symptomatic of the fact that the electrics are all very old. Other work may well need doing to bring it up to current regs etc.

bonzer

Does the house have no trip switch at all? I've got an old wire fuse box but there's an ELCB trip switch near the meter.

You can get trip style fuses that just plug into old style fuse boxes. These are literally just fuses and not ELCBs or RCDs. There's a couple lurking near my fuse box although the previous owner has put the fuse wire carriages back in for some reason.

System

Thanks, I have noted all your replies, will get back toyou.

System

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

That's about right for a dual & labour [ below ] but if it's an old [ish] house the O/P should be aware that the sensitivity of a new RCD consumer unit will magnify any pre-exising problems with an old fuse box.


Tomorrow this work is being done. On a scale of 1-10, what are the chances of this work leading to something else?

Richie-from-the-Boro

islandman wrote: »

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

That's about right for a dual & labour [ below ] but if it's an old [ish] house the O/P should be aware that the sensitivity of a new RCD consumer unit will magnify any pre-exising problems with an old fuse box.


Tomorrow this work is being done. On a scale of 1-10, what are the chances of this work leading to something else?

It's an awful truth islandman that if the installation finds areas of weakness in your wiring the primary purpose of those RCD's [ earth leakage ] is to protect against electrocution, so you are better off knowing .. .. .. than not knowing.

On any scale, I've no idea, it's entirely possible that it will not find any areas of concern, I mentioned it in the fist place because new consumer units measure leakage to [ 30ish ] milliamp's compared to old fuse box's at say 6 amp for a lighting circuit.

Either way you are doing the right thing, best of luck, and let us know the outcome.

System

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

islandman wrote: »

It's an awful truth islandman that if the installation finds areas of weakness in your wiring the primary purpose of those RCD's [ earth leakage ] is to protect against electrocution, so you are better off knowing .. .. .. than not knowing.

On any scale, I've no idea, it's entirely possible that it will not find any areas of concern, I mentioned it in the fist place because new consumer units measure leakage to [ 30ish ] milliamp's compared to old fuse box's at say 6 amp for a lighting circuit.

Either way you are doing the right thing, best of luck, and let us know the outcome.

I am pleased to report that after spending the day with us replacing the fuse box , NO problems arose. A report stating thus is to be issued later today (I think)

Richie-from-the-Boro

islandman wrote: »

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

I am pleased to report that after spending the day with us replacing the fuse box , NO problems arose. A report stating thus is to be issued later today (I think)

- Good work, good outcome !

I'm pleased your sorted and protected.