Rewiring

ana8

Hi

Just wondered if anyone had any pearls of wisdom re rewiring a property we just bought. It was last rewired in 1990 and all lights appears to be working fine at the moment. Had homesurvey done (there is no certificate present but the surveyor was not overly concerned?). I was thinking as such the wiring should be fine and we were just looking to add some more double sockets (about 8) and potentially rewire in the next 10 years if we are still in the same house? Does this sound reasonable or should I be more concerned bout the wiring now please?

Thank you in advance

Crinkmeister

I wouldn't be too concerned. What type of CCU (consumer unit/fusebox) do you have?

dexterwolf

I had a mate go into the house and check there electrics. I would get a friend or a soarkie to pop in and check the fuse box etc but I would have thought 5\10 years should be fine before rewire.

paulsad

Yes don't get conned into an unnecessary rewire - electricians can be as bad as any other trade if they need the work - best to go off recommendations - most wiring faults come from diy bodge jobs or even rodent damage. Unless you have ancient fuse box and rubber sheathed wiring I wouldn't worry.

ana8

Thanks for the replies, made me feel better. Someone asked what type of fuse box we have but unfortunately I have no idea, sorry.

Peronihull

we had a rewire done, mainly as we had very old wiring no earthing and not enoough sockets and switches around the place. It did come up on our survey as needing doing to be at "standard" and people have said that should last a good 30 years done well... so if yours was done in 90s still a few years left i'd say...

zaax

Unless your having problems don't. just get the new sockets put in on spurs. If you really want, get the house wiring checked and RCD power box - about £500.

Ectophile

PVC wiring lasts pretty much forever, unless it's overheated or gnawed by vermin. So unless you have some reason to believe there's something wrong with the wiring, it's probably not worth the considerable mess and expense of having it all ripped out and replaced.

If it's a 1990 consumer unit, it probably doesn't have RCDs on all circuits. It's up to you whether or not you consider that important enough to worry about (personally, I don't, but you might).

One possibility is to find a competent registered electrician to carry out an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report). They will go through all the circuits, and write up a big report on what they found. That will, of course cost some money, and if they are any good then you can guarantee that they will find some faults even on a brand new install. Avoid the cheap "drive-by" EICRs much loved by landlords who just want a certificate to present to their insurers and don't actually want anybody finding problems.

nigelpm

No need to rewire unless it's not earthed and that is highly unlikely post 1970.

ana8

Great responses thanks again for explaining this stuff to me

NICHOLAS_2

Why not get it all done now, avoid runing your decoration later down the line, or ruining your kitchen units and tiles etc