Electrical Safety Group/My electrical safety

panyg

Has anyone heard of this company?

They called me and offered to give a free electrical check. They came round and said that the house needs a full rewiring and the wiring is dangerous. The cost will be about £5000.

Has anyone heard of this company or have any experience of them?

I don't think the house wiring has been replaced since the house was built in 1939.

Any advice would be appreciated!

grumpy_codger

panyg said:

Has anyone heard of this company?

They called me and offered to give a free electrical check....

Any advice would be appreciated!

Ignore any company cold-calling you.

FreeBear

panyg said: I don't think the house wiring has been replaced since the house was built in 1939.

If you still have wiring from 1939, then it is going to be rubber coated. Well past its use by date by about 60 years. The rubber insulation would be cracking and flaking off, presenting a very real safety risk and fire hazard. The fuse board, if original, will have crude rewireable fuses (probably just four), and contain asbestos. Still got the old round pin sockets and bakelite light switches ?

I'd suggest ringing a couple of local domestic electrical engineers and invite them to take a look. Chances are, the house has been rewired in the last 50 years, and just the consumer unit (fuse board) needs updating.

Albermarle

Assuming that the wiring is not from 1939 and sometime later, but still many years ago.
Then many houses like this ideally should be rewired, but it is not immediately necessary from a safety point of view.
It is a messy job and is best done when other work is being done and definitely before any decorating.

panyg

Thank you to everyone for their kind advice.

I've attached what is under the stairs. The white box was installed when an electric shower was installed last year.

FreeBear

The wires heading off to the (main ?) consumer unit at the bottom look to be very undersized. Also not double insulated. Most of the earth cables are uninsulated going to the earthing block. In addition, the tails from the service head (big black block under the meter) to the meter appear to be a bit on the lightweight side.

Overall, I think you are overdue for a rewire - First step would be to get your electricity supplier to install a smart meter and get them to fit an isolator switch at the same time (tell them you are planning on getting an EV charger in the near future). Having an isolator switch will make life a lot easier and safer for any electrician doing a consumer unit replacement.

Ectophile

The MEM fuse box and the weedy little black and red wires going to it definitely aren't from 1939.  But that doesn't look at all right to me.

Time to get a trusted local electrician in.  It might need a complete rewire.  Or maybe an EICR (Electricial Installation Condition Report) and fixing everything that fails.