Homebuyers report - electrics issues

browneyedbazzi

We've had our homebuyers report back and as expected it has the usual 'we haven't tested the electrics, the house is not new so they aren't up to current standards and may kill you' bits in it. I was wondering if there are any good lay-person guides on what to look for with regard to electrics when buying a house - has anyone come across such a thing?

We're going back to see the house on the weekend to check that appliances are in decent working order and measure up for curtains etc. Before forking out for specialist inspections and delaying the purchase I'd like to have a look at the electrics myself while we're there and see if the surveyor is !!!!! covering or if there's really something to worry about that we need to do further investigations about. So any advice for what to look for? What things would really set warning bells off for you? What would reassure you that although not current, things are probably ok? If you've seen any useful guides about this sort of thing I'd love a link!

woodworm001

Pretty much every home buyers report says the same thing regarding electrics.

I'm not an electrician but I think the surveyor just looks at the fuse box to see if it is a modern design with RCD's etc rather than the old pull out fuses.

Any house over 5 or 6 years old won't be up to current standards (from what I've read on here).

browneyedbazzi

woodworm001 wrote: »

Pretty much every home buyers report says the same thing regarding electrics.

I'm not an electrician but I think the surveyor just looks at the fuse box to see if it is a modern design with RCD's etc rather than the old pull out fuses.

Any house over 5 or 6 years old won't be up to current standards (from what I've read on here).

Indeed - that's why I prefaced my post with 'as expected it has the usual...'

I'm looking for any guidance on what to actually look for to judge for myself if it's ok/a risk worth taking. ie what a decent consumer unit looks like, what should set off alarm bells etc.

cattie

A decent consumer unit will have independent switches so you can turn off lights, sockets, appliances etc. if & when needed or will automatically turn themselves off if a problem occurs.

If instead of a consumer unit you see a black board with just say half a dozen large plug in fuses that need to be wired with fuse wire, then you know the electrics are way outdated.

G_M

as cattie says, the consumer unit is the place to start and a good indication of age of the electrics generally (though it is always possible someone added a modern CU but left 50 year old wiring in place...

Look at sockets and light switches. Again, old fashioned round light switches imply old wiring behind.

Also look for signs of extra sockets wired in on a DIY basis.

If there's an electric cooker, and/or emersion heater for hot water, these should be wired independently, so would have their own fuses/trip switches - again, look at the CU (hopefully switches are helpfully labelled "cooker" etc!)

see pictures:

http://www.the50plus.co.uk/tech_support/UK_fuseboxes-consumer_units.pdf