Do I really need a new fuse box?

Voyager2002

It is many years since my house was re-wired (by previous owner). The fuse-box seems fine, and once when something got overloaded it tripped without problems.

Anyway, I have arranged with an electrician to fit a new extractor fan in my bathroom. Firstly he pointed out that the bathroom light is not sealed and so is against safety regulations, and so I agreed that he would replace it with an approved light-fitting (light and extractor fan are controlled by the same switch, so he would be breaking the law if he did the one without doing the other). Now he says that he cannot give me a safety certificate for the work unless the fuse box is also replaced with a modern one.

How should I respond?

Le73Uq86Uv

Ask him to put it back as it was.

Then report him for breaking the law.

After all if he can't certricate his own work why would you trust it?

googler

Ask him what aspect of the current one prevents the issue of the cert.

Ask him why he can't leave the current consumer unit in place and fit a separate, single-MCB unit in parallel to the current one, the new one dedicated to the new wiring. Any competent electrician should be able to do this.

Ask him why he didn't figure this out before starting the job.

Voyager2002

Just to make everything clear, he has not started. He had a look before he went on holiday and explained why a new light fitting was necessary, and that since the light is part of the extractor fan (same switch and circuit) he could not legally do the fan without dealing with the light. Fine: I agreed that the light fitting should be changed.

He also pointed out that the fuse box is out-of-date and said that no electrician could issue a safety certificate for the house unless it was replaced. That would be a problem if I ever wanted to let the house, but I don't have any immediate plans to do so. Now he has telephoned saying that if I leave the fuse box unchanged then he would not be able to provide the certification for the work on the bathroom.

jbainbridge

Your consumer unit may be _out of date_ but I don't think there is any requirement to update it. Same with the light in the bathroom ... though that probably is a sensible suggestion.

Replacing the consumer unit might be something to consider in the long run - and having a RCD may make the wiring safer - though this may open up a can of worms with the rest of the wiring.

How did you find your electrician? I'd be looking for a recommedation from neighbours. Maybe get someone else in for a quote.

dil1976

The only thing the electrician you are employing has too do is ensure any works he carries out to BS7671 (wiring regulations). As this is work in a bathroom it has too be RCD protected at the origing of the ciruit, so he could install either a suitable RCBo for your exisiting one or install a small one next to the exisiting one if he can not obtain one.

The only problem could be that the RCd will trip and he will have to sort out these faults before he can energise the circuits, which may cost money.

fluffpot

He only needs to make sure the circuit he is working on meets current regs. So he would need to fit RCD protection to the bathroom lighting circuit -which could be done with an RCD fused switch near the fuse board. He would need to test this circuit also and issue a minor works certificate.
If the main bonds (earthing) is not in place to gas and water pipes then this needs to be done too.

That's it. So unless there's smoke coming out of your fuse board I can't see any reason why it has to be changed (oh, unless he's short of work of course!). Get another quote!


good luck

cyclonebri1

googler wrote: »

Ask him what aspect of the current one prevents the issue of the cert.

Ask him why he can't leave the current consumer unit in place and fit a separate, single-MCB unit in parallel to the current one, the new one dedicated to the new wiring. Any competent electrician should be able to do this.

Ask him why he didn't figure this out before starting the job.

Hmm think you nailed this one :T:T

vaio

is this a new fan or a replacement for an existing one?

fluffpot

it says new in the OP.

vaio

yep, but the OP's next post includes........

Voyager2002 wrote: »

......He had a look before he went on holiday and explained why a new light fitting was necessary, and that since the light is part of the extractor fan (same switch and circuit) he could not legally do the fan without dealing with the light.....

and that's certainly a replacement for an existing one, I was wondering if the "new" fan is also a replacement