Does replacing an ancient fusebox force you to have the house rewired?

cashferret

My elderly mother lives in a house that was built about 60 years ago and which has never been rewired. The fusebox is ancient - when I was visiting her a fuse blew and we had to get fusewire out and rewire some sort of ceramic thing.

She'd like to get the fusebox replaced but she's scared that if an electrician comes to do it, it will somehow force her to get the house rewired if he thinks the wiring is unfit.

She can't face having the house rewired because of the upheaval of having the whole place redecorated (she wouldn't want the wires enclosed in those plastic strips).

Is she right that she can't get the fusebox replaced without setting off this cascade of events?

ellie99

I was in exactly the same situation as your mother (although house was about 45 years old), part of my fuse box was melting.
I had a local electrician replace the fuse box, no mention made of rewiring the house.

Can you get a reliable electrician to look at it, and be there with your mother to discuss it?

macman

There's no requirement to update the circuit wiring when replacing a CU unless it's found to be dangerous.
For your mother's own safety, you should get a sparky to inspect and test the whole system and then discuss his recommendations.
But it's inevitable that on a 60 year old system a) the no. of sockets will be quite inadequate, b) the lighting circuits will not be earthed, and c) the cabling may have deteriorated. If it's the old rubber sheathed stuff, it's time to get it updated.
You can possibly replace the old fuseholders with plug in MCB's, so she can reset blown fuses herself, but that's really only a stopgap-she needs a modern CU with RCD protection on it.

cashferret

ellie99 wrote: »

I was in exactly the same situation as your mother (although house was about 45 years old), part of my fuse box was melting.
I had a local electrician replace the fuse box, no mention made of rewiring the house.

Can you get a reliable electrician to look at it, and be there with your mother to discuss it?

Thanks, Ellie - I live a long way away but my sister is local and could do that.

Prothet_of_Doom

No. I don't think that legally a professional can fit a new fuse box without bringing the rest up to standard.

It is a pain, we needed to redecorate the whole house, but I do feel alot safer.

After the rewire, they couldn't get the earth leakage trip to stay closed circuit, and they tracked it to the heating system pump, which was faulty. Now that was a fire waiting to happen.

Mallotum_X

If its 60 years old then it needs doing.

Rather than think of ways to avoid rewiring start planning on having it done and being safe.

When the spark replaces the fuseboard he is in effect taking responsibility for the safety of the installation. If the existing wiring is ancient he wont be able to correctly install it or then test and sign off.

Get it rewired and bring the wiring up to a modern and safe standard.

macman

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

No. I don't think that legally a professional can fit a new fuse box without bringing the rest up to standard.

It is a pain, we needed to redecorate the whole house, but I do feel alot safer.

After the rewire, they couldn't get the earth leakage trip to stay closed circuit, and they tracked it to the heating system pump, which was faulty. Now that was a fire waiting to happen.

Yes he can. None of the rest of the entire 60-year old system will match current standards, nor does it have to. It doubtless complied with the standards in 1953 when installed. But if the inspection shows it to be unsafe, he will refuse to bodge it and leave it in an unsafe condition. For example, if the circuit cabling is beginning to decay, as it may well be.
Factors such as earthing the lighting circuits are not required just because the CU is replaced-although it would be advisable.
No one can say if it is unsafe without an inspection.

AndyPK

Normal thing is to do a test before hand to see if the wirings safe.

fluffpot

The best course of action would be to have and EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) carried out PRIOR to the fuse board upgrade. This is a thorough test and inspect of all the circuits and will probably take about a day. This will tell you exactly what (if anything) needs to be rewired before the board is changed.

The problem with not dong this is that the new board will be much more sensitive than the old one and faults that are not detected at the moment will cause tripping....and then have to be fixed anyway

If the EICR tells you that you need a rewire at least you can think about it beforehand

Hope this helps

Fluff

martinsurrey

if its 60 years old the lighting will not be earthed.

Building regulations state that existing installations do not need to be upgraded if they meet certain conditions.

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/partp/approved#Download

Section1.7.

"the existing electrical installation should be checked to ensure that the following conditions are satisfied...

c. the earthing and equipotential bonding arrangements are satisfactory"

Sorry but if the wiring in the system is that old, if any notifiable work is done, its a full rewire (or at least partial), and mess in unavoidable.

If the sparky doesn’t know this or follow this, I would be wary of him.

cashferret

Thanks for all this advice - I'm thinking I should advise her to get it looked at for safety reasons. I hadn't realised that old wiring could be unsafe - I just thought it might be unreliable.