Electric regs and kitchen mods.

getmore4less

We are planning stage of a kitchen refit and if we include certain things it will require moving some electrics in our kitchen, sockets and DP switches.

Are there any regs that would require us to update anything else.

eg. we have a 20yo consumer unit(cart fuses) split load 6+2(with space).

We probably should upgrade this anyway and have a full check, I see the fully populated CU come in at £50-£100, what would the likely cost be to have this done?

fluffpot

Any cables buried in walls and new socket positions will require RCD protection - so I suspect that this means your kitchen circuits - lights, sockets and oven if separate, will require it

Not clear from your description if there is RCD protection already in your consumer unit. can you post a pic? If there is no RCD, it might be possible to retrofit, but it will depend on the make and age of the board

If you do got for a board upgrade, get your electrician to supply it - I wouldn't be too keen on fitting a £50 one....

In terms of how long will it take - well I carry out a full test and inspect of all circuits before the unit change to find out (and correct) if there are any underlying faults , then do the changeover. Generally this will be about 2 days of work depending on the number of faults

A consumer unit change is part P (Building Regs) notifiable - changes to the kitchen circuits are now not notifiable

Hope this helps

SB

Quiet_Spark

fluffpot wrote: »

Not clear from your description if there is RCD protection already in your consumer unit.

The OP said they have cartridge fuses, so the presence of an RCD is unlikely.

getmore4less wrote: »

I see the fully populated CU come in at £50-£100, what would the likely cost be to have this done?

Depends on where you are and what CU you have fitted.
I recently supplied and fitted a 12 way Wylex CU and charged £350 which included testing, certification, and upgrading the earth supply in Farnborough (Hampshire).

As Fluffpot has already said, a fully populated £50 CU isn't something I'd be overly keen on using.

fluffpot

OP did say split load though.... I have seen foreign (Italian, maybe?) makes of CU's with RCD's and cartridge fuses before now

Quiet_Spark

fluffpot wrote: »

OP did say split load though....

The OP did also say it was a 20 year old 8 way board with spare ways being available, I reckon it's an old Crabtree or Wylex based on the OP's description.
If there is an RCD in place, my money says it's only to protect a shower that may have been added at some point.

I'll have a gentlemen's bet with you whilst we wait for them to post a confirmation pic