Fusebox Replacement

rlb1397

Hi there, need some advice following a quote I have had. We have some problems with electricity in the house where the fusebox often trips out when there are several appliances on in different parts of the house. An electrician has come to look and advised the whole house (3 bedroom with a large garage) is on 1 circuit so it is overloaded. Also an old 16th generation fusebox.
He has told me it will be about £1300-£1500 to replace the fusebox and split the load into 3 sections to sole the problems. He has said there may be wire damage which would then be a lot more but has said for now changing the fusebox should be sufficient, however I have seen lots of prices for this work coming in at around £500 online.
Am I being conned or is the work I need doing likely to include extra costs and his quote is accurate?

Any advice people can give will be greatly appreciated. If you need more information to help then I will do my best.

brightontraveller

rlb1397 wrote: »

Hi there, need some advice following a quote I have had. We have some problems with electricity in the house where the fusebox often trips out when there are several appliances on in different parts of the house. An electrician has come to look and advised the whole house (3 bedroom with a large garage) is on 1 circuit so it is overloaded. Also an old 16th generation fusebox.
He has told me it will be about £1300-£1500 to replace the fusebox and split the load into 3 sections to sole the problems. He has said there may be wire damage which would then be a lot more but has said for now changing the fusebox should be sufficient, however I have seen lots of prices for this work coming in at around £500 online.
Am I being conned or is the work I need doing likely to include extra costs and his quote is accurate?

Any advice people can give will be greatly appreciated. If you need more information to help then I will do my best.

You may well be overloading on some “circuits” but one circuit e.g fuse covering everything bull pure and simple get another electrician in rough cost of CU replacement 500 ish converting rings to radials vice versa adding circuits impossible to say without seeing it doubt it’s a grand though,,,,

fluffpot

One way to know more about the costs is to get and EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) done first. This is basically a full test and inspect of your electrics and it will enable the electrician to know what needs to be done to fix your problems. If you really only have 1 socket circuit (which I sort of doubt) , then this shouldn't take more than 1/2 day. You can then use the report to get other quotes, knowing that they will be on a like for like basis

I would always carry out and EICR before a fuse board change anyway, so I know of any hidden problems.

BTW a 16th edition fuse board doesn't necessarily need to be changed - it might be possible to upgrade some of the circuit breakers to RCBO's to comply.

Post up a pic of your board and we can take a look

Owain_Moneysaver

A 16th Edition consumer unit isn't "old".

brightontraveller

fluffpot wrote: »

One way to know more about the costs is to get and EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) done first. This is basically a full test and inspect of your electrics and it will enable the electrician to know what needs to be done to fix your problems. If you really only have 1 socket circuit (which I sort of doubt) , then this shouldn't take more than 1/2 day. You can then use the report to get other quotes, knowing that they will be on a like for like basis

Not true they can give a indicator but by no means guaranteed of no further cost plenty of things they don’t show,,,,,

fluffpot wrote: »

I would always carry out and EICR before a fuse board change anyway, so I know of any hidden problems.

If your an electrician that'll make you dosh but many hidden problems certainly doesn't show them ,,,,

There not a bad idea for the right reason but if you need a fuse board change there not really worth it if three electricians all come out and say it needs changing chances are it does and CU change most descent electricians when they walk in see socket / switch heights, pendants, cable routing remove the odd faceplate, Cu cover etc will tell them how old wiring is , what the chances of installation passing or not are without the expense of EICR if your doing them as you say to use to get quotes just because it says x doesn't mean other electricians would only do x or even think x is necessary...You can hide, avoid imply a multitude on paperwork that others don't agree with doesn't mean ones right others wrong just open to interpretation ....

rlb1397

fluffpot wrote: »

One way to know more about the costs is to get and EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) done first. This is basically a full test and inspect of your electrics and it will enable the electrician to know what needs to be done to fix your problems. If you really only have 1 socket circuit (which I sort of doubt) , then this shouldn't take more than 1/2 day. You can then use the report to get other quotes, knowing that they will be on a like for like basis

I would always carry out and EICR before a fuse board change anyway, so I know of any hidden problems.

BTW a 16th edition fuse board doesn't necessarily need to be changed - it might be possible to upgrade some of the circuit breakers to RCBO's to comply.

Post up a pic of your board and we can take a look

I will try to get a picture when I go home for lunch but there is definitely only 1 RCD, it was originally a 2 bedroom house which has been extended to include a 3rd bedroom and the previous owner had a workshop with power tools in the garage. There is an electric box in the garage which I believe is some sort of breaker but it is still connected to the main house supply

JP08

One circuit isn't all that uncommon. Our place (slightly bizarrely) has only one mains circuit, but two lighting circuits. The ring main has caused no problems what-so-ever (does slightly make me wonder what you are running to pull all that power ...), wish the same could have been said about the lighting circuit ...

Cost of replacing fusebox (it was the old fashioned thread-the-wire fuses) plus bringing some of the earthing up to standard was £535 a couple of years ago.

I suspect the extra cost on your job is more to do with ferreting around under floorboards to separate the single ring into multiple, than the cost of replacing the box.

brightontraveller

rlb1397 wrote: »

I will try to get a picture when I go home for lunch but there is definitely only 1 RCD, it was originally a 2 bedroom house which has been extended to include a 3rd bedroom and the previous owner had a workshop with power tools in the garage. There is an electric box in the garage which I believe is some sort of breaker but it is still connected to the main house supply

In you first post you’ve said one circuit is that in total one circuit means lights, power, everything on one do you have just power alone on one circuit and another circuit for lighting etc i.e no other fuses in the board or are there other fuses in the board “circuits “a picture would clarify you normally can fit one or two rcbos etc in the board along with adding /removing wiring creating more radials/rings etc ?


That route in most instances would save you money and be a better solution than a standard 17th edition split load, rcbo's feeding single circuits are better than RCD feeding multiples

fluffpot

brightontraveller wrote: »

Not true they can give a indicator but by no means guaranteed of no further cost plenty of things they don’t show,,,,,
If your an electrician that'll make you dosh but many hidden problems certainly doesn't show them ,,,,

There not a bad idea for the right reason but if you need a fuse board change there not really worth it if three electricians all come out and say it needs changing chances are it does and CU change most descent electricians when they walk in see socket / switch heights, pendants, cable routing remove the odd faceplate, Cu cover etc will tell them how old wiring is , what the chances of installation passing or not are without the expense of EICR if your doing them as you say to use to get quotes just because it says x doesn't mean other electricians would only do x or even think x is necessary...You can hide, avoid imply a multitude on paperwork that others don't agree with doesn't mean ones right others wrong just open to interpretation ....

I beg to differ, but then we are all entitled to our opinions.

I have tested an installation that was only 5 years old and it was all so rubbish (poorly installed) that I ended up rewiring it.

On the other hand, I have tested installations that are 20 years old and as they were installed really well, the IR readings were all 500 Megs.

Personally I like to know what I'm dealing with before I start a board change - it's not much fun trying to fault find at 7 o clock at night so that you can give your customer some power! :mad:

DavidF

I must say I am intrigued that an electrician would "upgrade" a consumer unit without doing any prior testing (Basically an EICR).
So you would have say an old CU without RCD protection so you have absolutely NO way of knowing if there are any neutral to earth faults as they will not blow fuses or trip breakers.
So you take the old board off fit the new one and hope for the best when it comes to switch on time ? Or do you do some testing after stripping out the CU ? Or even worse do you just ride in on your horse and do NO testing at all apart from the "bang test" ?
As said above it is basic to do a even a few basic tests prior to removing a CU just to make sure that your new shiny RCD protected CU will actually operate ok.

As for OP - sounds as if you are being taken for a ride. Get another electrician in and tell him your problem regarding tripping circuits. One who is registered by one of the many schemes if you are in England as the work (if consumer unit needs changing) is notifiable to local building control under the Part P scheme that operates in England and Wales.