What no trip switch?!?! (New regulations)

LouLouHelen

We have been looking as buying a house built around 1965. When we had the survey done it said there may not be an earth wire in the system as there was not a trip switch on the fuse box and may need to be upgraded to legally comply with current regulation.

I know nothing about electrics other than my current house c1996 has a standard fuse box with required switches.

My concerns are:-

What does this involve/cost?

Should we expect the sellor to undertake this before we move in if its not legal?

Any advice would be v.helpful. :-)

weekendwarrior

Hmmm,

I'd get the seller to sort it if possible or negotiate a reduction in price.

New rules are in place for electrical safety in the home, which came into force 1st Jan 2005. -
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/new%20rules.htm

It depends really and is impossible to price up without seeing!

If you need a new consumer unit you could be looking at £500 upwards, it takes approx two hours to do but needs testing for the new rules which makes a job that would of cost £200 in december 2004, now cost £500.
That is how the government makes us safe by hugely inflating prices for everyone!

The supply company normally supply the earth, but in some cases cannot.

Check the colour of the cables coming from the fuse box, if they are black you could be looking at a full rewire, which can cost thousands!

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/does_your_house_need_re.htm

Hope this does not worry you too much, I simply want you to get the best deal!

Good luck

LouLouHelen

Thanks WW - I am off to see the place tomorrow. So if I can find the fuse box what exactly am I looking out for?

weekendwarrior

Look at the wires that come out of the fusebox, if they are grey wires then the cables are PVC and should be ok. If they are black cables then they are Rubber and perish with age, these black cables can be 30 years old in some cases!

If you do not know what you are looking for it may be a good ideat to get an electrical survey done before going any further, some building societies insist on this now, like yorkshire building society. It should cost less than £50 and will give you a clear indication of what is involved.


Good luck

LittleJo

Hi,
The installation has to comply with the regulations in force when the work was carried out, I would have thought. Thus supply is OK unless work carried out on it, when it would fall under new regs.. The same with gas and condensing boilers.
However , if you feel the installation is unsafe then you must get a survey and satisfy yourself accordingly.
Jo

ben500

I would insist the vendor bring the property up to current building/Electrical regs as if you decide to work on the electrics at a later date it will be your responsibility and cost.

Somebody said earlier about the possibility of a complete rewire in the event the older rubber insulated cables have been used and not sleeved cable, there would also be redecoration costs to add to this unless you are prepared to accept visual defects until such time as you would have normally redecorated, also you probably have intentions of redecorating once in the property, you would have to consider getting the wiring up to spec prior to that or risk the loss on the cost of it and have it done later, if you get the survey done you will be better placed to see if it is an option to get the asking price reduced to account for the proposed expenditure post sale but I wouldn't recommend such action witout one as you really cannot anticipate the costs in its absence.

YorkshireBoy

LouLouHelen wrote:

When we had the survey done it said there may not be an earth wire in the system as there was not a trip switch on the fuse box and may need to be upgraded to legally comply with current regulation.

Any advice would be v.helpful. :-)

I'm an electrical engineer and, to avoid unneccessary speculation on what might and might not be required, could you please post the exact text from your surveyors report.

Only then will anyone be able to accurately advise you on the course of action required.

LouLouHelen

'The electrical wiring may not comply with current standards because there is no earth trip on the system and upgrading may be required.' Is what is states on the report.

Sorry if I mis-explained this before.

illuminate

The regs are not retrospective, but its quite feasible that there could be safety issues with an old wiring installation.

Find a reputable electrical contractor to do a rough inspection and estimate, then use it as a bargaining tool during the purchase negotiations.

JimArnold

Earth trip is a very poor phrase - I suspect he means an RCD - which detects a leakage to earth and cuts the current - like one of those things that you plug your lawnmower into

This is classic surveyer covering himself - after a quick look he noticed the lack of an RCD

I would expect that 95% of homes don't meet current regs - they don't need to! they need to meet the regs at the time - retrospective changes are very rare.

I don't know what % of houses don't have an RCD I would suspect at least half.

As mentioned rubber cables mean a complete rewire - several thousands of £ - and you should have it done pretty quickly.

Other indications that it is old include - rewireable fuses (very old) or even cartridges one - the modern ones have resettable MCBs

replacing a consumer unit costs £70 for the unit and until this year you could legally do it yourself - it's not that much harder than wiring a plug
Now it'll set you back at least £500

A decent contractor will give you a free quote - but he will have to bring it up to current standards - you'll be one of the 5%! Use it to get a reduction - your contractor should also tell you if it really needs doing. Personally I have 2 kids and a dog - I put an RCD in straight away. While I don't care to test it if the pup chews through the flex to a table lamp she should be OK

JimArnold

Sorry I should have added a good independant contractor - our local electricty board have a division which just checks houses and rewires them. As they only make money from those that need rewiring ..... most seem to need something and =then the whole lot has to come up to the latest regs!