A new Dual RCD 10 way consumer unit with surge protector

FreeBear

jonnydeppiwish! said: Does mum own the house? Can she not take equity out of it to pay for it? Saves the tax payer paying for it.

Highly unlikely that an equity release company would put up such a trifling amount. If they did, you can be sure it will end up costing considerably more in the long run.

A supportive son/daughter funding the work would be a much more sensible option.

Noneforit999

Lots of good advice here.

Unless the installation has been tested and deemed unsafe by a qualified electrician, your mum doesn't need a CU upgrade.

There must be millions of homes with pre RCD consumer units which are working perfectly fine and have been for decades.

Would she benefit from an upgrade to include RCD from a safety standpoint? Probably but that doesn't mean she needs it.

We have no RCD on ours and I was happy to have it upgraded as part of a kitchen replacement as the kitchen was being rewired anyway. Electrician started to do an EICR on the existing board and quickly determined I had a spur off a spur off off a spur in the lounge and combined with some other visual issues, he said a rewire was the best approach as an EICR will fail miserably and the time to rectify what is 50 year old wiring would be better spent fitting new.

We ended up getting a new board fitted in the garage for the new kitchen circuits and will leave the rest for now as we can't afford the rewire financially or from a mess/stress standpoint. 

mi-key

Noneforit999 said:

Lots of good advice here.

Unless the installation has been tested and deemed unsafe by a qualified electrician, your mum doesn't need a CU upgrade.

There must be millions of homes with pre RCD consumer units which are working perfectly fine and have been for decades.

Would she benefit from an upgrade to include RCD from a safety standpoint? Probably but that doesn't mean she needs it.

We have no RCD on ours and I was happy to have it upgraded as part of a kitchen replacement as the kitchen was being rewired anyway. Electrician started to do an EICR on the existing board and quickly determined I had a spur off a spur off off a spur in the lounge and combined with some other visual issues, he said a rewire was the best approach as an EICR will fail miserably and the time to rectify what is 50 year old wiring would be better spent fitting new.

We ended up getting a new board fitted in the garage for the new kitchen circuits and will leave the rest for now as we can't afford the rewire financially or from a mess/stress standpoint. 

Spurs off spurs and weird wiring are extremely common. In the past electricians would often just connect things up to the nearest available wire without really checking what it was. Again, lots of houses have had stuff like this for decades and it works fine

dil1976

Noneforit999 said:

Lots of good advice here.

Unless the installation has been tested and deemed unsafe by a qualified electrician, your mum doesn't need a CU upgrade.

There must be millions of homes with pre RCD consumer units which are working perfectly fine and have been for decades.

Would she benefit from an upgrade to include RCD from a safety standpoint? Probably but that doesn't mean she needs it.

We have no RCD on ours and I was happy to have it upgraded as part of a kitchen replacement as the kitchen was being rewired anyway. Electrician started to do an EICR on the existing board and quickly determined I had a spur off a spur off off a spur in the lounge and combined with some other visual issues, he said a rewire was the best approach as an EICR will fail miserably and the time to rectify what is 50 year old wiring would be better spent fitting new.

We ended up getting a new board fitted in the garage for the new kitchen circuits and will leave the rest for now as we can't afford the rewire financially or from a mess/stress standpoint. 

You will end up in a lot more mess and stress and if you don't sort out your issues with you wiring, never understood the mentality that if you cant see it its not a problem. There is a good chance too if you have any issues from those highlighted on your ICR you insurance wont pay out.

dil1976

mi-key said:

Noneforit999 said:

Lots of good advice here.

Unless the installation has been tested and deemed unsafe by a qualified electrician, your mum doesn't need a CU upgrade.

There must be millions of homes with pre RCD consumer units which are working perfectly fine and have been for decades.

Would she benefit from an upgrade to include RCD from a safety standpoint? Probably but that doesn't mean she needs it.

We have no RCD on ours and I was happy to have it upgraded as part of a kitchen replacement as the kitchen was being rewired anyway. Electrician started to do an EICR on the existing board and quickly determined I had a spur off a spur off off a spur in the lounge and combined with some other visual issues, he said a rewire was the best approach as an EICR will fail miserably and the time to rectify what is 50 year old wiring would be better spent fitting new.

We ended up getting a new board fitted in the garage for the new kitchen circuits and will leave the rest for now as we can't afford the rewire financially or from a mess/stress standpoint. 

Spurs off spurs and weird wiring are extremely common. In the past electricians would often just connect things up to the nearest available wire without really checking what it was. Again, lots of houses have had stuff like this for decades and it works fine

Just because its works fine sometimes doesn't mean its not dangerous now does it? 

FreeBear

dil1976 said:

mi-key said:

Noneforit999 said:

Lots of good advice here.

Unless the installation has been tested and deemed unsafe by a qualified electrician, your mum doesn't need a CU upgrade.

There must be millions of homes with pre RCD consumer units which are working perfectly fine and have been for decades.

Would she benefit from an upgrade to include RCD from a safety standpoint? Probably but that doesn't mean she needs it.

We have no RCD on ours and I was happy to have it upgraded as part of a kitchen replacement as the kitchen was being rewired anyway. Electrician started to do an EICR on the existing board and quickly determined I had a spur off a spur off off a spur in the lounge and combined with some other visual issues, he said a rewire was the best approach as an EICR will fail miserably and the time to rectify what is 50 year old wiring would be better spent fitting new.

We ended up getting a new board fitted in the garage for the new kitchen circuits and will leave the rest for now as we can't afford the rewire financially or from a mess/stress standpoint. 

Spurs off spurs and weird wiring are extremely common. In the past electricians would often just connect things up to the nearest available wire without really checking what it was. Again, lots of houses have had stuff like this for decades and it works fine

Just because its works fine sometimes doesn't mean its not dangerous now does it? 

Have seen bodgery on a ring main where 1.5mm² T+E was used to extend the wiring - Totally wrong size of cable... Here, I had an electric wall heater in the bathroom spurred off the immersion which was in turn, spurred off the ring main. All done with 2.5mm² T+E by a "professional" electrician. The heater was removed a long while ago, and the immersion taken out of commission. Also found a socket spurred of the ring main and earthed via an adjacent light switch (again, done by a "professional" electrician). That little bit of bodgery was ripped out when the kitchen was rewired a few years back.

GDB2222

dil1976 said:

mi-key said:

Noneforit999 said:

Lots of good advice here.

Unless the installation has been tested and deemed unsafe by a qualified electrician, your mum doesn't need a CU upgrade.

There must be millions of homes with pre RCD consumer units which are working perfectly fine and have been for decades.

Would she benefit from an upgrade to include RCD from a safety standpoint? Probably but that doesn't mean she needs it.

We have no RCD on ours and I was happy to have it upgraded as part of a kitchen replacement as the kitchen was being rewired anyway. Electrician started to do an EICR on the existing board and quickly determined I had a spur off a spur off off a spur in the lounge and combined with some other visual issues, he said a rewire was the best approach as an EICR will fail miserably and the time to rectify what is 50 year old wiring would be better spent fitting new.

We ended up getting a new board fitted in the garage for the new kitchen circuits and will leave the rest for now as we can't afford the rewire financially or from a mess/stress standpoint. 

Spurs off spurs and weird wiring are extremely common. In the past electricians would often just connect things up to the nearest available wire without really checking what it was. Again, lots of houses have had stuff like this for decades and it works fine

Just because its works fine sometimes doesn't mean its not dangerous now does it? 

How often do you think people should have an EICR done? 

We had our house completely rewired 25 years ago. The CU is out of date, but we haven't noticed any problems at all with the wiring. Ought we to get an EICR done? 

dil1976

GDB2222 said:

dil1976 said:

mi-key said:

Noneforit999 said:

Lots of good advice here.

Unless the installation has been tested and deemed unsafe by a qualified electrician, your mum doesn't need a CU upgrade.

There must be millions of homes with pre RCD consumer units which are working perfectly fine and have been for decades.

Would she benefit from an upgrade to include RCD from a safety standpoint? Probably but that doesn't mean she needs it.

We have no RCD on ours and I was happy to have it upgraded as part of a kitchen replacement as the kitchen was being rewired anyway. Electrician started to do an EICR on the existing board and quickly determined I had a spur off a spur off off a spur in the lounge and combined with some other visual issues, he said a rewire was the best approach as an EICR will fail miserably and the time to rectify what is 50 year old wiring would be better spent fitting new.

We ended up getting a new board fitted in the garage for the new kitchen circuits and will leave the rest for now as we can't afford the rewire financially or from a mess/stress standpoint. 

Spurs off spurs and weird wiring are extremely common. In the past electricians would often just connect things up to the nearest available wire without really checking what it was. Again, lots of houses have had stuff like this for decades and it works fine

Just because its works fine sometimes doesn't mean its not dangerous now does it? 

How often do you think people should have an EICR done? 

We had our house completely rewired 25 years ago. The CU is out of date, but we haven't noticed any problems at all with the wiring. Ought we to get an EICR done? 

It is recommended a domestic house has a EICR every 10 years, this can be shorter though if there are issues that arise when having one that show signs of potential future issues. Your CU isnt out of date just there will be vastly safer ones available to have fitted now.

warwick2001

dimbo61 said:

Wow I Love the Fire Service
Had them turn up at our home a few years ago with a Fire engine to inspect our smoke alarms.
Took them on the full tour.
Mains wired interlinked smoke alarms in hallway and landing,
Heat alarm in kitchen
CO Alarm next too gas boiler
2 more smoke alarms in dinning room and lounge.
They did leave me a booklet about Prostrate Cancer.
So now they are inspecting the Electrics as well.
Did they fit smoke alarms ?

Did you they give you a quick check as well? Bend over Sir, this won't take a minute....