Cannot afford repairs and unsure of options

Doozergirl

I'm not sure why you're worried about paying into a company account.  

There's nothing wrong with being a sole trader and you get no additional
protection for paying into a company account.  

The important thing is the invoice.  

trwil

Bendy_House said:

trwil said:

He said he thinks no rewire required, but would suggest he comes in and tests the circuits and wiring (condition report) to see if i am ok for a new rcd consumer unit.

Trwill, did you understand the point I made in my previous post about the choice of breaker for your new CU?

A modern CU provides protection in two ways. The first is from excessive current being drawn, like you'd get if two wires touched where they shouldn't (a 'short-circuit'), or if the circuit was over-loaded (say, by too many electric heaters being run).

That is what pops fuses, or trips their modern replacement, the MCB (miniature circuit breaker).

Then there's the RCD (residual current device?). This is very different, and detects TINY current 'leakages' or 'imbalances'. These leakages can happen when, for example, sockets and switches become damp, and allow tiny currents to leak to earth. Or if some twit accidentally touches a wire. (They can also work in a different, very clever, way; any appliance that draws power 'should' have EXACTLY the same current flowing in both the Live and Neutral wires, yes? If the appliance also has a 'leak' inside it, this will instead cause an imbalance between these two currents, and the RCD will pick up on this and trip. Fab.)

The tripping current is around 30mA, so tiny. Designed to cut the power before you're deed.

Ok, that's all good, but an issue can (and often does...) happen, especially in older wiring, where sockets and fittings can naturally leak teeny-tiny amounts, which is perfectly acceptable. A few mA here from an outside light fitting, a couple there from the TV, an older oven element even seeping 10mA all on its own, that sort of thing. Before long, the TOTAL leakage is hovering in the mid-high 20s of mA, which is still ok and not a concern. But CUs with a SINGLE main RCD is now a bit 'trigger-happy', and you might find turning on the oven, or even a light, will sometimes cause the RCD to pop as the total leakage even briefly touches the 30mA threshold. It even - as in my case last year - can go through a phase of tripping for no associated reason, and at different - seemingly random - times of the day and night, and my sparky put it down to an external situation, as he had a similar issue with another house in the 'hood. When the main RCD trips, you will lose all or many circuits - eg all the lights can go off - so it's not for nothing it's referred to as 'nuisance' tripping. It's not only a bludy nuisance trying to reset the RCD in the dark, but an even bigger one trying (often in vain) to locate the cause, as sometimes there just isn't 'one'.

So, that's why I suggested considering fitting a CU with RCBOs instead of MCBs and a single (or two) RCDs. These are effectively MCBs with an RCD built in to EACH one. If one circuit now leak-trips, only that one circuit goes off - much less of a nuisance. AND you'll know which one is the culprit.

They cost a bit more, but not that much.

Hi i mentioned RCBO's and he said they were a better choice in his opinion and he agreed with your comment 

He said modern RCD can be the bane of his life at times due to their incredible sensitivity (he had a customer constantly tripping the breaker which turned out to be a very marginal leak in the plumbing)

trwil

Doozergirl said:

I'm not sure why you're worried about paying into a company account.  

There's nothing wrong with being a sole trader and you get no additional
protection for paying into a company account.  

The important thing is the invoice.  

So you would be ok with paying into a personal account?

All i really need to check is that building regs are notified and that i get the certs?

I am going to proceed- its just, i would never have a plumber who is not on the gas safe register work on my gas and i thought the registration was similar.