Trying to understand the recommendations from DEIC

tristanjourney

When we purchase the house, the seller provided a DOMESTIC ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION CONDITION REPORT. Now we want to do what has been recommended from the report.

First of all, the overall assessment result is SATISFACTORY. However, there are in total 19 recommendations. 18 of them are C3 (improvement recommended) and 1 of them is F1 (further investigation required without delay).

The F1 is:

Inspection Schedule Item 4.19: RCD(s) provided for additional protection/requirements - includes RCBOs (411.3.3; 415.1) requires further investigation without delay.

In the section 8 (general condition of the installation), the report also mentions:

GENERAL ELECTRICS IN GOOD CONDITION
WOULD RECOMMEND A NEW RCBO CONSUMER UNIT IS INSTALLED

I am completely a noob in electricity safety. I did some google search, but still couldn't figure out what to do.

What exactly is the recommendation? Is it to install a new consumer unit (because there isn't one yet)? Or completely replace the existing consumer unit? Or add RCBO to the existing consumer unit? Or anything else?

Thank you.

grumbler

My feeling is that there are no (or not enough) RCDs in your CU. Are there?

knightstyle

Our friends who live in a 1980s house have just had their consumer unit replaced after a similar inspection report. The old unit only had 1 RCD which protected just the sockets.  Not dangerous but later consumer units give better protection.
Cost £600 which included checking all the circuits in the house, running a new cable to the garage and changing a few damaged sockets.

tristanjourney

grumbler said:

My feeling is that there are no (or not enough RCDs) in your CU. Are there?

Hmm, completely a noob here. How can I find that out?

tristanjourney

knightstyle said:

Our friends who live in a 1980s house have just had their consumer unit replaced after a similar inspection report. The old unit only had 1 RCD which protected just the sockets.  Not dangerous but later consumer units give better protection.
Cost £600 which included checking all the circuits in the house, running a new cable to the garage and changing a few damaged sockets.

So your friend has replaced the entire consumer unit?

mi-key

tristanjourney said:

grumbler said:

My feeling is that there are no (or not enough RCDs) in your CU. Are there?

Hmm, completely a noob here. How can I find that out?

Post a photo of the consumer unit or fusebox so we can see what is currently fitted to it. Replacing a consumer unit isnt a big job though, less than a days work in most cases, and not that expensive. 

Consumer units costs less than £100 so if that is all that needs doing then it should be less than £500 for the whole job

grumbler

tristanjourney said:

grumbler said:

My feeling is that there are no (or not enough RCDs) in your CU. Are there?

Hmm, completely a noob here. How can I find that out?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNe1xHlI5i4

ChasingtheWelshdream

tristanjourney said:

So your friend has replaced the entire consumer unit?

We are having a new consumer unit soon, along with a full electrical inspection and some remedial works we already know about. Quote is approx £800, but it is a large house and we know of some faults already, plus the CU will have spare capacity for future proofing.

Just in case that helps you budget.

tristanjourney

Thanks for the replies so far!

I'll share a photo of the consumer unit tomorrow (if I can find it). I am just trying to understand what exactly the report is recommending, so I can clearly describe it and ask quotes from electrician.

mi-key

tristanjourney said:

Thanks for the replies so far!

I'll share a photo of the consumer unit tomorrow (if I can find it). I am just trying to understand what exactly the report is recommending, so I can clearly describe it and ask quotes from electrician.

best thing is to email the report to the electrician, they will be used to working from them and will know exactly what needs doing

Ectophile

The consumer unit is also known as a fusebox.  But unless yours is really old, it will have circuit breakers, rather than fuses.  They are often found in a meter cupboard.  But can also be on walls in odd places.  Sometimes people don't like looking at them, so hide them at the back of a cupboard, in the most inconvenient place possible.

But your electrician must have found it to do the tests.

These boxes usually have a door on the front that you can easily open, to look at the breakers inside.  Depending on the age of the box, you could find some, many or all of the following:-

• A main switch.  A big switch at one end that turns everything off.
• RCDs.  A switch with a TEST button.  Hitting the button should turn the power off to any circuits that the RCD supplies. If the RCD doesn't instantly trip, don't hold the button in for longer in the hope that something will happen - it won't and the test feature will burn out.  RCDs detect current that's leaking to Earth when it shouldn't be.  If that current is leaking through you, then you really want that RCD to trip before you're electrocuted.
• MCB's - miniature circuit breakers.  Usually marked something like B6A, B20A or B32A.  The number is the amps rating.  The modern alternative to fuses.
• RCBO's.  And RCD and an MCB mixed together.  Will look like an MCB, but with a TEST button, as above.
• Surge arrestors.  A new thing, to protect your electrics from power surges.  Usually have a healthy/dead indicator, which changes colour once the device has taken one too many surges.
• Arc fault detectors.  Often mixed in with an RCBO.  A newfangled thing that many electricians are suspicious of.

Depending on the age of your consumer unit, you may have zero, one or two RCDs.  None isn't great, as you're getting no protection against electrocution if you touch something that's live.  If there's one, it may only be protecting the higher risk circuits, like sockets and showers.  Two would normally protect all the circuits, with each taking half of the circuits in the house.

Personal opinion...  If you have no RCD's, then it should be upgraded.  If you have one, it's worth considering.  If you have two, it's probably not worth the cost and inconvenience for very little improvement in safety.