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Fuse Boxes or Fuse Board Changes

Referring to a ‘fuse box’ is slightly outdated, more commonly known now as a ‘Distribution Board’ or ‘Consumer Unit’ by professionals, is where the electricity in your home is controlled and distributed.

Why you need to update or replace

There are a number of reasons why your Consumer Unit should require being updating or replaced. You’ve bought a new property and it has been picked up in a survey that it is an old unit. Maybe your modernising your kitchen or bathroom or having a new extension planned, or you are just making some small additions to your home like a few new sockets or an Electrical Vehicle (EV) charge point.

Finding replacement or additional parts often mean an upgrade due to older consumer units not being suitable for the more current MCB or RCBO that comply with electrical standards IEE wiring regulations BS7671 to 18th Edition (standards are updated to take into account latest advances in technology and technical data that have a direct impact on making installations safer). Typical of many of today’s products, after 10 years, manufacturers tend to stop supporting their older products, so the best option is to provide a quote for a new consumer unit.

When you call us out for any type of job, we will inspect your consumer unit to make sure it has the correct capacity to cope with the changes and that is up to latest regulations and electrical safety recommendations. We conduct tests after changing consumer units. This is to detect if existing electrical deterioration which have gone unnoticed until now, are present.
 
You can rest assured that when you replace, what you believed was a perfectly fine fuse board, with a new consumer unit, you have taken positive steps to improve the electrical installation in your home for the safety of your family and reduced the risk of residential fires from electrical faults.

Why are my electrics tripping?

It is recognised by most as an important element of a home, but few are aware of how they work or why!

The unit distributes power throughout the premises and is made up of key components that can be manually or automatically shut down to protect us from injury or damage to further areas of the property:

  • The Main Switch controls the supply. You would choose to switch this manually off to isolate your electricity; for repairs, or more importantly in an emergency, like a water leak from upstairs running through your light fittings.
  • We all know the phrase ‘tripped’ well. This is where a Residual Current Devices (RCD), Residual Current Circuit Breaker (RCBO) or Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB) automatically switches the power off to an area, where an overload or faulty item has been detected, protecting against electric shocks or electric fires.

How we can help

We cover all aspects of electrical works, on and above what is listed on this page. Why not start a live chat or browse our related pages. Alternatively, please phone us between 8am to 5pm on 01202 259884.

Registered company number: 05051301