House Re-Wire to 17th edition or not?

garethiandavies

Hi,

I need a complete house rewire, i have already had two quotes which have been quite substantially different for similar work (£1600). I will be getting one quote amended as some items are not quite right which will probably reduce the difference a little.

That said, one quote has allowed for installing a new consumer unit "not 17th edition, which has 2 rccd's to trip the entice mob, not individual circuits".

This surprised me, i would have assumed if 17th edition is now standard they would have to install to this spec? Would this difference allow for as much as £1000 extra work?

I will probably end up with another quote but are there any electricians out there that could enlighten me?

Thanks

2013yearofthehouse

I paid £350 for a new 17th edition CU and full EICR. I would have thought that if you're going to update then you may as well do so to the latest edition and difference in cost shouldn't be huge.

garethiandavies

That is what i expected. they have already costed for a non 17th edition so can't be more than a £150 extra for that. I guess its just an expensive quote all round.

newbie1980

2 rcd boards are 17th edition compliant even though ive always read the regs as each circuit should have individual rcbos

Risteard

There is no such thing as a 17th Edition distribution board. The installation must comply with BS 7671:2008 (2013) unless it was designed to a previous amendment or edition before the cut-off date (which is unlikely in your case I would imagine).

Two RCCBs controlling presumably all circuits means that an earth fault will cause a loss of supply to half of the installation. RCD protection for individual circuits (i.e. RCBOs) would mean that only the affected circuit loses power, unless there is a neutral-earth fault and an upfront RCCB (e.g. a time-delayed setup for a TT earthing system) which would still cause a loss of supply to the entire installation.

Risk assessment would be the best way to determine whether the cost versus the potential inconvenience was acceptable or unacceptable.