How are these electrics??

Reue

Looking at buying a house but no idea if the electrics are new/old/safe/unsafe.

Is anyone able to tell me much from the photo:

Myser

It difficult to say just looking at the consumer unit (fuse box) what the condition of the rest of the electrics is in the house.

Most of the old re-wireable fuses have been replaced with retrofit mini circuit-breakers (MCBs). There is one re-wireable fuse remaining (black body with blue dots).

You don't have any room for expansion on that consumer unit so you wouldn't be able to add any additional circuits - for instance an electric shower.

I'd be wary of that grey cable that is taped up and dangling in the air!

Modern consumer units come with RCDs (Residual Current Devices) which is added protection. You don't have to upgrade the consumer unit to meet current standards.

Reue

So would you see an update is needed or would it be fine to continue using the electrics as they are?

AndyPK

It's not new that's for sure.
It could do with an rcd fitting really.
I would knock off at least £350 if it were me.

googler

There's nothing that suggests to me that it's unsafe, but a wider shot to show the bottom half would help. It would also help to know what the grey cable with black insulating tape in lower middle is doing .....

You have MCBs, that's good. The only minor thing is the grey cables on the right not being secured to the woodwork with cable clips or similar, but they don't look as though anyone's moving them around very much....

Previous poster says there's no room to expand on the current unit to add shower, for instance, but it's perfectly possible to add another consumer unit in parallel with this one if you want ...

fluffpot

No RCD protection, so if it's a house it would fail the a test and inspect. The main earth looks a bit undersized to me.

There should be covers over the trip switches, but these won't fit now as they stick out more than the old fuses. It is possible to stick a small finger/pen etc in the gap onto the live parts, so if you have any small children, keep them away!

If you are thinking about getting any new work done eg new sockets, kitchen etc, then it will need to be upgraded

Reue

fluffpot wrote: »

If you are thinking about getting any new work done eg new sockets, kitchen etc, then it will need to be upgraded

May be looking at getting this done. Any idea roughly how much it would cost to upgrade? I've read that having RCDs is pretty important so would like to get that added at least.

fluffpot

You can't fit RCD's or rcbo's to that board, you'll need a new one

The price will depend on many things - but I would strongly recommend getting an electrician who will do it in 2 stages - test all circuits first, provide list of remedial works (if any) before fuse board change, then change board (and do any remedials). That way you don't get suprised with a load of extra costs part way through the board change if there are problems with the circuits.....

get some prices and post back so we can take a look

I_have_spoken

It's better than mine!

ValHaller

fluffpot wrote: »

No RCD protection, so if it's a house it would fail the a test and inspect.

Nope. Although RCD's are a good idea and almost mandatory to comply with modern standards, a Periodic Inspection should not fail an installation for merely failing to meet modern standards.

vaio

googler wrote: »

.......It would also help to know what the grey cable with black insulating tape in lower middle is doing .......

I'd guess it's an old dual tariff board and the taped up cable is part of the decommissioned E7 subsection although why they wouldn't disconnect and remove the second pair of tails is beyond me!! Probably happened when the meter man removed the time clock & white meter

googler wrote: »

.......Previous poster says there's no room to expand on the current unit to add shower, for instance, but it's perfectly possible to add another consumer unit in parallel with this one if you want ...

you could even think about bring the E7 side back into use if you needed extra capacity but for the hassle involved I'd be tempted to replace the whole lot